Merry Christmas
By Lila Schow
December, 2003
They tied me and laid me down. They told me not to cry. Not to make any noise. Then one man sat on my chest, men held my arms, legs, and one held my neck.
Another picked up an axe. First he chopped my left hand, then my right. Then he chopped my nose, my ears and my mouth with a knife. 3
-David, Ugandan Abductee
David suffered this torture when the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) abducted him, accusing him of being a child soldier for the government of Uganda. He wasn’t, but at least 20,000 Ugandan children are.12
This Christmas Eve in Uganda, at least 14,000 children will abandon their homes to spend the holiest night of the year surrounded by strangers. Twenty thousand of them will spend the holidays with their abductors. Girls as young as seven will be raped and impregnated by their captors. Those that give birth will be “forced to strap their babies on their backs and take up arms against Ugandan security forces. “2
Since June of 2002, Uganda’s abduction rate has skyrocketed to one child every three hours. The children are taken for one reason, the LRA needs soldiers. Running from the possibility of routine abuse like David’s, Uganda now has a population of 14,000 "night dwellers." These kids leave their homes seeking protection at centers run by non-governmental organizations. Every night, these children flee, some walking five miles just to find somewhere safe to sleep. They wake up to repeat the journey home.12
There is a fear that thousands of children sleeping in one location may soon become too tempting a target for the LRA, which is made up almost entirely of abducted teenagers. 3
On Christmas, the average American will gather around a brightly decorated tree, while 300,000 children fight in wars worldwide. As one child tears open the wrapping paper on a new toy train, another child will be forced to march through a mine field, clearing it for the older soldiers. 9
“Child soldiers are being used in more than thirty countries around the world.”2 Human Rights Watch has interviewed child soldiers from Angola, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lebanon, Liberia, Myanmar, Sierra Leone, East Timor and Uganda.
In Sierra Leone, thousands of children abducted by rebel forces witnessed and participated in horrible atrocities against civilians, including beheadings, amputations, rape, and burning people alive. Children forced to take part in atrocities were often given drugs to overcome their fear or reluctance to fight.2
Preferred over others because of their physical weakness and vulnerability, children are fast gaining popularity as soldiers in today’s world. Those who are not abducted or conscripted into service join out of desperation.
As society breaks down during conflict, leaving children no access to school, driving them from their homes, or separating them from family members, many children perceive armed groups as their best chance for survival. Others seek escape from poverty or join military forces to avenge family members who have been killed. 2
With modern advances in warfare, new lightweight weapons facilitate their efficiency in combat. “They wield AK-47s and M-16s on the front lines of combat, serve as human mine detectors, participate in suicide missions, carry supplies, and act as spies, messengers or lookouts.”2
Since 1993, over two million children have been killed by war, while another five million have been severely disabled.5
While many organizations, such as Amnesty International, the UN and Human Rights Watch make tremendous progress in the elimination of child soldiers, these countries lack resources for follow-up programs.
There is a desperate need for adequately resourced programs to rehabilitate child soldiers and offer them opportunities to develop their lives and potential so that they are not compelled to rejoin armed groups to survive or to live on the street where they are vulnerable to crime and exploitation. 11
Angola
April 2002, marked the end of Angola’s civil war. Both the FAA (government forces) and UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) used children as soldiers in the war, 11,000 were involved in the last stages of fighting.14
The FAA targeted the poorest areas in Angola for conscription, where roundups occurred at night. Underage soldiers are still found in government barracks.15
While the FAA abducted only boys, UNITA forces preyed on both sexes. After a major victory the soldiers would celebrate. “It was following such celebration that girls would be sexually abused, given out to the various commanders as rewards for their bravery.”15
One year after the fighting ended, no programs exist to rehabilitate these children “in contravention of Angola's treaty obligations.”14
"These boys and girls have been victimized twice. First, they were robbed of their childhood as soldiers, and now they are denied access to government demobilization programs," said Tony Tate, a researcher in the Children's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. "These children-especially girls-are being forgotten in post-conflict Angola."14
Colombia
As in Angola, both the government and the guerilla forces use children. While no one knows the number of children in combat; estimates put the figure at the tens of thousands.2
Colombian guerillas call their child soldiers "little bees," because they sting before the enemy realizes it's under attack. Paramilitaries call them "little bells" because child soldiers are usually deployed in forward positions, where they warn the adults of an early attack -- and often bear the worst of it.16
Roget Kambule joined the ADLF (Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire) and Zaire’s own military when he was nine. A veteran of three rebel armies and two Congolese wars he served as a presidential bodyguard, and was wounded by a grenade.10
''I killed people, but when you are fighting in the jungle you never know how many. It is difficult to verify.''10 Despite the ceasefire negotiated in Sun City South Africa at the start of 2003, children are still used in the fighting, often sent in place of their parents.
Lebanon
Suffering from a three pronged religious civil war for almost 30 years, the SLA (South Lebanon Army an Israeli auxiliary militia) has begun recruiting boys as young as 12. “When men and boys refuse to serve, flee the region to avoid conscription, or desert the SLA forces, their entire families may be expelled from the occupied zone.”2
Liberia
The removal of President Charles Taylor has generated an upsurge in children joining both the government’s army and LURD (Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy). Many of these children join “voluntarily” seeking revenge for the murder of family members in this bloody war.17
As with Columbia, the number of children in combat is unknown, but “[c]hildren have been at the forefront of fighting in Liberia ever since Taylor fought his way to power during the country's first civil war in the early 1990s. His National Patriotic Front of Liberia movement grouped its child soldiers in a special Small Boys Unit.”17
Myanmar (formally known as Burma)
Human Rights Watch estimates that the fighting Myanmar uses the largest number of child soldiers in the world, most serving the national army.8 Food and candy are used to recruit some, others are conscripted. One nine year old boy “was dragged from his house because he was considered an adult.”7
“[B]oys are threatened with jail if they refuse to join, are not allowed to contact their families after being abducted by recruiters and are routinely beaten while in service.”8 Any caught trying to escape are beaten to death.
Sierra Leone
Canadian Lieutenant-General, Romeo Dallaire, visited Sierra Leone in 2002 to asses the rehabilitation child soldiers were receiving.
The children, some as young as nine, had been
captured, forcibly addicted to drugs, and then kept under control by a perverted
buddy system in which each was assigned a watcher and given responsibility to
watch another for signs of escape. One older child explained how, after years in
the bush, logistical problems with the drug supply had allowed his head to
clear. Previously, he had risen to command a Small Boy Unit, playing a
leadership role in abusing other children and killing adults. He now seems keen
to get an education that would allow him to rejoin the wider society.4
Many of these children have been dehumanized by their experiences. Therapy aims
to help them through the introduction of mutual respect, storytelling, and
opportunities to talk about their experiences, as well as dancing and singing.
When accompanied by decent food, medical care and security, this seems to be
working for most of the children; but they are still a long way from returning
to a "normal" life.4
During the war, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) would abduct young girls,
forcing them into "marriage." These child mothers, or "bush wives," present a
special challenge for reintegration into the community. Some of them are so
emotionally scarred that it is difficult for them to love and care for their own
children.4
Timor
East Timor’s bloody war for independence from Indonesia used children as soldiers. Vasco joined the militia when he was 14, and told UNICEF, “When the militia came, my parents were very afraid and said to me, 'If the militia ask you to do anything, just do it or they will kill us. They ordered us to rape. They beat me with a piece of wood everyday ... I wake up still from bad dreams. I am still constantly afraid."7
Uganda
Stella Ojera, helps run GUSCO center (Gulu Support the Children Organization), counseling former child soldiers. They average nine new children a day at a facility that can only accommodate 200 victims. All the children bear scars, from physical bullet wounds to starvation to mental torture. While most have only been with LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) a short time, others have achieved high status among the rebels.12
Ms Ojera explains that girls find it difficult to escape as they have been made wives of LRA soldiers and therefore are kept in close proximity.12
In our experience of the girls who do turn up to our centre, the women tend to have had an average of three children while they are in captivity. They have been there a long time and, in some cases, their children become fighters. The LRA consider the age of seven a fighting age.12
With child abductions on the rise, Ms Ojera fears for the future of vulnerable generations of Ugandans.12
The situation just seems to be getting worse. I thought it had peaked in 1997, but now there are more and more children being abducted. And just think how many are being killed every day. If we have nine children turning up on a daily basis, how many others have been killed while trying to escape?12
Meanwhile in the United States . . .
According to the Consumer Counseling Credit Service, the average American spent $1,600 during the 2002 winter, with retailers making half their profit during the Holiday Season. 1
Last year, during the busiest shopping day of the year (the day after Thanksgiving), Wal-Mart raked in over $1.43 billion in sales.1
Michele Miller, a public relations writer in San Antonio, estimates that their family spent at least $3,000 during 2002, mostly directed at their 7 year old child.
Our list is topping 40 presents, and it's been
running that way for several years now. By the time we add in our nuclear
family, our extended family, friends, co-workers -- my husband's and mine -- the
neighbors and my son's teachers, it's impossible to keep that list down.1
Miller says she's entertained ways to cut back: "I've
thought about sending out a letter: 'I'll quit if you quit,' " she says. "I
don't know if that would help."1
Maybe not. Surveys showed that last year people
planned to cut back -- and ended up spending about $700 more than they
intended.”1
One fourteen-year-old girl’s joyful Christmas quickly became overshadowed by the nightmare of the New Year in Sierra Leone.
I’ve seen people get their hands cut off, a ten-year-old girl raped and then die, and so many men and women burned alive... So many times I just cried inside my heart because I didn’t dare cry out loud.
- Fourteen-year-old girl, abducted in January 1999 by the Revolutionary United Front, a rebel group in Sierra Leone 2
We live in a nation of privilege. You have a good Christmas now.
TAKE ACTION-END THE ABUSE
Human Rights Watch-Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
Amnesty International-End the Use of Child Soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
SOURCES
- MSN Money When did Christmas get so crazy? By MP Dunleavey http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/SavingandDebt/P43220.asp
- Human Rights Watch Stop the Use of Child Soldiers http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/crp/index.htm
- BBC
Uganda's atrocious war By Will Ross
BBC, Kitgum, Uganda Thursday, 12 June, 2003 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2982818.stm - excerpt from LGen Romeo Dallaire’s 2002 report Children Brutalized by War in Sierra Leone Reclaim their lives CIDA
- André Clavet Healing the Wounds: A Canadian Nurse Faces the Challenges of Sierra Leone CIDA
- Amnesty International Control Arms http://www.amnestyusa.org/arms_trade/whoisselling.html
- CBS News Adult Wars, Child Soldiers BANGKOK, Thailand, Oct. 30, 2002 By Alisa Tang http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/30/world/main527493.shtml
- UN Report Says Nation Is World's Worst On Child Soldiers Wednesday, October 16, 2002 http://www.unwire.org/unwire/20021016/29634_story.asp
- Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers ABOUT CHILD SOLDIERS
- Dodge Globe Odyssey of child soldier tells Congo's tale of war and destruction By Chris Tomlinson Associated Press Writer http://www.dodgeglobe.com/stories/050901/nat_odyssey.shtml
- Amnesty International Children’s Day 2003, Democratic Republic of Congo: Stop the Use of Child Soldiers http://web.amnesty.org/pages/cod-061003-action-eng
- Sex
slavery awaits Ugandan schoolgirls By Kathryn Westcott
BBC News Online Last Updated: Wednesday, 25 June, 2003, 15:18 GMT 16:18 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3019838.stm - Revealed: how Africa's dictator died at the hands of his boy soldiers President Laurent Kabila's blind faith in his teenage warriors was a fatal error, reports Stuart Jeffries Guardian Unlimited Observer Sunday February 11, 2001 http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0%2C4273%2C4134554%2C00.html
- Human Rights Watch Child Soldiers Forgotten in Angola April 29, 2003 http://hrw.org/press/2003/04/angola042903.htm
- Human Rights Watch Child Soldiers Forgotten in Angola April 29, 2003 IV. USE OF CHILDREN IN THE WAR SINCE 1998 http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/angola0403/Angola0403-03.htm#P168_28055
- Human Rights Watch Child Soldiers Used by All Sides in Colombia's Armed Conflict October 8, 1998 http://www.hrw.org/press98/oct/childsold1008.htm
- Liberia: Child soldiers are back on the frontline ABIDJAN, 9 June (IRIN) UN OCHA Integrated Regional Information Network