Child Soldiers

Child Soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo has a long history of war and conflict. It has been labeled as Africa’s worst war, and the world’s deadliest conflict since WW2, with almost 5.5 million people dieing as a result of the conflict since it began in 1998. Poverty and disease are key issues: it is estimated that over 75% of the population live on less than US$1 a day, 2.6 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, the infant mortality rate is 83 deaths/1000 live births (in comparison to Australia’s 4/1000) and over 30% of the population is illiterate.

Ongoing conflict has created widespread instability; it is estimated there are still 1.36 million internally displaced people.

It is against this setting of instability, poverty, and lack of infrastructure that the problem of child soldiers arises. According to the Child Soldiers Global Report 2008, there are some 7,000 child soldiers currently active in the DRC. In the past 4 years, some 30,000 child soldiers have been demobilised. All of these children now need to be rehabilitated.

My project will address this issue by giving children the chance to move forward, and the opportunity to make a positive contribution to the future of their country.

The centre I am fundraising for supports children associated with fighting forces, both boys and girls, in Uvira, South Kivu, run by the Jesuit Refugee Service based in Spain. The children go through a formal disarmament and demobilisation process to get them out of the fighting forces and are then taken to transit centres, where the children receive initial medical care and counselling. The Jesuit Refugee Service runs one such centre.

Family members are traced while they are in the transit centres. Once families are identified, the centre helps reunite the child with their family and provides subsequent follow up support to the child. Depending on age and the child’s aspirations, the children are supported to return to school or provided with vocational training to help them gain new skills.

In this way, the centre provides the children with an opportunity to start afresh, and while they will never forget their past, the process of DDR (disarmament, demobilisation, and rehabilitation/reintegration) enables them to move forward in life.

References:

§ BBC news, DR Congo: Africa’s worst war http://www.news.bbc.co.uk

§ Geopolitics, Conflicts in Africa, The Democratic Republic of Congo, http://www.globalissues.org

§ DFID, Democratic Republic of Congo, Country Plan, http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/32/50/40692153.pdf

§ DFID, Country Profiles, Democratic Republic of Congo, http://www.dfid.gov.uk

§ CIA, Library, Publications, The World Factbook, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, http://www.cia.gov

§ Child Soldier Global Report 2008, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, http://www.childsoldiersglobalreport.org

2 Comments

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI