Use Of Child Soldiers: Crime Against Humanity

Yuba Nath Lamasal
The decade-long violent conflict caused worst human tragedy in Nepal's modern history. Children and women have been hit worst during the bloody conflict. More than 14,000 people were killed, thousand others were injured and hundred of thousands displaced. According to reports, over 450 children were killed, 552 injured and 30,630 abducted during the violence that lasted for almost a decade. They were killed either in direct shootout or caught in crossfire, landmine explosions and stray bomb blasts. The children abducted were forced to take part in the political indoctrination and cultural programmers of the Maoists. Many of them were recruited in their armed group as child soldiers or child militias. Children as Zone of Peace (COP), a network of local child rights organisations, estimates that the Maoists armed force consists of at least 10 per cent children under-18 years of age, who wield fatal weapons and directly participate in the war. The Maoists claim that they have 35,000 battle-hardened soldiers which means child soldiers are over 3500. However, the Maoists deny recruitment or even presence of children in their armed forces.The Nepal Army does not recruit anyone below 18 years of age. However, the human rights and child rights activists have also accused the Nepal Army of using children as informants, couriers, spies and porters during the conflict. The Nepal Army also denies this allegation. The tripartite agreement reached by the government, the Maoists and the United Nations on monitoring of the management of the arms and armies has covered wide range of issues including human rights and child soldiers. The agreement, in its Article 5.1, has, prohibited the use of children who are below 18 years of age in the armed forces. The issue of child soldiers has been a global concern. The recruitment of children in armed conflict is rampant in the countries ravaged by civil wars. It is estimated that more than 3, 00,000 minors have been recruited child soldiers or child militias in almost three dozen countries including Nepal. In most cases the rebel groups have found to have recruited the child solders.The Maoists claim that children themselves joined their armed groups voluntarily and wholeheartedly. However, the claim looks unlikely as the Maoists have continued to force the students and children to join them. The reports of kidnapping and recruiting the minors in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) pour out in the media almost every day from different parts of the country. The activities of the Maoists have put Nepal on the global spotlight as one of the countries having children soldiers.Use of children in the armed conflict and child soldiers is a blatant violation of universally accepted norms and values of human rights. International human rights and humanitarian instruments have clearly prohibited the employment of children in any kind of work. These international instruments include UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ILK Minimum Age Convention 138, ILK Worst Form of Child Labour Convention 182, Security Council Resolutions including the Resolution 1612 and Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. According to the United Nations, war violates every right of the children? right to life, right to be with family and community, right to health, right to the development of personality and the right to be nurtured and protected.The optional protocol to the convention on the rights of the child on the involvement of children in armed conflict has explicitly set the minimum age for recruitment in the army or armed force as 18 years. Nepal has already been a signatory to this UN protocol. Similarly, the Security Council has passed resolution condemning the use of child soldiers and children in armed conflict and urged all the member nations not to misuse or abuse children in war and conflict. The Rome Statute of Criminal Court has also defined the use of children in conflict and war as a serious human rights abuse and a crime against humanity. Individuals, groups or governments that recruit and force children to take up arms or use in conflict could be brought to trial in the international criminal court. Human rights activists and civil society members in Nepal have also pressurised for the early ratification of this Rome treaty. Children may come to join the armed force. But they are not aware of the consequences once they are in the armed outfit. It is the responsibility of the citizens to stop the recruitment of children in the armed forces and their use in conflict. Children join the armed forces and armed groups without knowledge but those who recruit the children do so with full knowledge of the laws and consequences.Child soldiers are deprived of opportunity for education. Once they take up fatal weapons and are trained to kill, their psychology would not be normal even when they grow up. Experiences in some African and South American countries have shown that the former child soldiers have always been a threat to law and order as they form or join criminal groups after quitting the armed force. Many factors contributed to the recruitment of child soldiers in Nepal- the first being the Maoists' drive to strengthen their armed wing. The rebel groups everywhere in the world prefer children as they (children) do not fear the risk and consequences. They could learn quickly and fight more daringly. Once recruited in the armed group, they are indoctrinated and brainwashed so heavily and deeply that they consider the groups they once fought with as their greatest enemies throughout their life.The other reason is poverty. The children are at least provided with food when they are in the guerrilla camps. The education system itself is also partly responsible for the growing number of child soldiers. The societal behaviour and social structure have also a role. Nepal's caste as well as the discriminatory hierarchy systems force many children to join the rebels. The drop out rate in schools is higher among the Janajati, indigenous and Dalit students than the students belonging to other groups. It is estimated that more than 75 per cent fighters and militias in the Maoist army are from Janajati, indigenous and backward communities as they joined the Maoists fighting squad with an aim of taking revenge against the upper class and elites. This is also applicable to the child soldiers.Now peace has been restored after s the Maoists have declared an end to their decade-long armed insurgency. The United Nations has taken up the responsibility of monitoring and managing the Maoist arms and armies. More focus needs to be placed on the issue of child soldiers and conflict-hit children. Firstly, the displaced children should be reunited with their families and relatives. For this to happen a thorough research to find the exact number of children, who have been displaced and affected by the conflict, is must. These children have been under threat, pressure and trauma for many years. Their education has been discontinued and they are psychologically and mentally traumatised for years. Thus, special scheme and package programmes must be developed for their reunion with the families, rehabilitation, education, vocational skills and psychological counselling so that they could again return to normal life. It should be done in co-ordination with the government, UN agencies, national and international organisations working for the rights of children. The Children As Zone Of Peace (COP), a network of Nepali child rights groups, has already started a campaign to ensure safe return of children to their homes and rescue and rehabilitate the children affected by conflict. Similarly, UN agencies, international organisations and COP have created another broad coalition named Children Associated with Armed Groups and Armed Forces (CAGE) in order to specifically work in favour of the children in conflict and child soldiers. This is not the issue of children alone but an important human rights and development agenda. The challenge now is to strictly verify the age of soldiers through various approaches and separate them from the armed groups and political organisations. The civil war may be settled but its consequences would always remain because of the massive recruitment of child soldiers. If timely actions are not taken, Nepal will continue to face law and order problem even after the end of conflict. Thus, it is highly essential to rehabilitate all the child soldiers as well as all the children affected by the armed conflict financially, socially, psychologically and mentally so that they can be reunited with the family and lead a normal life in the society.

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