Effect of Armed Rebellion on Children: Innocence Scarred

- Sidhartha Jatari

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Abstract

Since the 19th century, nations have attempted to use International Law to circumscribe the effects of armed conflicts on civilians including children. In spite of these prolonged efforts at the international level, ground realities show a deteriorating condition for children in conflict-affected areas. If the world community is going to witness any further success in its endeavours, the 21’st Century will have to be an era of implementation.

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There is a stark contrast between the two worlds that exist today: one world offers comfort and hope to children in an environment where their social and developmental needs can be attended to while the other deprives communities and societies of the stability required to meet these welfare needs. Children are the future of every generation and are like saplings that require sufficient nutrition, sunlight, shelter and space to grow healthy and stay rooted. Families provide their first line of defence, giving them emotional strength and inculcating in them a basic sense of trust and bonding. Communities offer platforms for wider interaction, enabling children to develop a sense of belongingness and responsibility. Thus, it is in a salubrious climate conducive to peaceful development that children find opportunities for wholesome growth.

Armed rebellions rob a child of these essential ingredients. They upset the daily routines of life, destroy the social fabric of a community and leave behind a milieu that is unfavourable to value-based cultural and social development - the effects of this being noticeable at several levels: 1) Personal – biological and psychological 2) Family and relations 3) Social networks, schools and neighbourhoods 4) Norms and value-systems.

The deprivations of war and armed conflict result in poverty, disease, hunger, lack of clothing and poor sanitation with maximum brunt being borne by children. Children become active participants in heinous crimes as well as direct victims of violence. Through thematic references one can attempt to gauge the extent and nature of the effects of armed conflict on them.

Selective themes

Child soldiers

Armed rebels and militia forcibly recruit children to fulfil their manpower shortages for both military and non-military activities. While some child soldiers are trained to kill, others are used for support functions such as cooking and spying. Child recruitment by rebels and militia is a favourable option since these children don’t require pay and can be manipulated easily. There are some deeply disturbing stories, for example, of RUF soldiers in Sierra Leone forcing children to take part in slaughter campaigns against their own families and communities in order to sever ties. The RUF is also said to have also engaged in extreme brutalities such as cutting limbs of children to prevent government forces from using them to source diamonds. The LTTE in Sri Lankan is an example of a regularised military force which inducts children into its armed forces and provides them with weapons training. Land mines

These are one of the worst forms of weaponry with severe long-term effects. As sitting time bombs, they pose a significant threat to children who are curious and are unable to read or understand danger signs. While mines cost a pittance to make and take little time to embed, removing minefields is a costly and time-consuming proposition. Additionally, the danger posed by landmines continues well after their intended purpose has been served. Scarcity of medical aid and resources means that few child amputees have access to prosthetics. Many more are left unattended to and succumb to their injuries.

Small-arms trade

The small-arms trade has significantly increased the ability of children to participate in acts of violence. Small arms are found in plenty in conflict zones where weapons are unaccounted for and arms dealers are operative. Children can be taught to use these weapons and reload/reassemble them. Being easy to carry and handle, they form the perfect weapon in a child’s armoury.

Sexual violence

Girls are raped and forced into prostitution apart from being used as soldiers. It is said that they serve a double purpose of performing the function of a soldier by day and offering their services for enervated combatants by night. The mental trauma and debilitating physical effects on such children are but one of the many other problems they have to face. Social stigma, early motherhood, threat of HIV/AIDS all add up to cost the girl child her adolescence.

Children as witnesses/targets:

As witnesses to horrific crimes, the psychological impact on children can be destabilising to their personalities and character. The brutality and violence to which they are exposed has resulted in them being termed as “lost generations”. Where communities are sought to be wiped-out through genocide and ethnic cleansing, children become primary targets.

International Law and special protection for children during armed conflict

Since the 19th century, nations have attempted to use International Law to circumscribe the effects of armed conflicts on civilians including children. Prior to WW2, the laws of war (culminating in the Hague Convention) were the only rules that advocated maintenance of law and order during conflict and immunity of civilians including children. The devastating effects of WW2 on the civilian population, however, would provide impetus for a new legal order that expressed the resolute stand of nations to ‘humanise’ war and protect innocent persons. The Geneva Convention of 1949 and its Two Additional Protocols thus became pillars of what has come to be called ‘International Humanitarian Law’. The Fourth Geneva Convention in particular refers to special protection of children, their need for family support and their right to adequate care, maintenance and education while Protocol I prohibits recruitment of children below the age of 15 for military purposes. In 1989, a significant step was taken through the creation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), a legal instrument that specifies rights of children. The Convention embodies a few basic principles:

o Best interests of the child shall be of primary consideration o No discrimination on grounds colour, sex, religion etc o Childs inherent right to life o Child’s right to freedom of expression o

The Optional protocol to the CRC on Armed conflict then recognised the rights of all persons below 18 years of age to special protection and non-recruitment for use in hostilities by armed forces and non-State actors.

The international legal framework has also been bolstered by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court that recognises child recruitment as a war crime and a crime against humanity and seeks to ensure that egregious violations of human rights don’t go unpunished. The arrest and trial of Thomas Lubanga (leader of the rebel forces in Congo) is a decisive step towards strengthening the international enforcement machinery and deterring future perpetrators who might think that they can go on unwatched and unpunished. Political commitments made via the Paris Principles towards disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of children associated with armed conflict have confirmed the resolve of several conflict-ridden nations and their governments towards protection of children’s rights. In spite of these prolonged efforts at the international level, ground realities show a deteriorating condition for children in conflict-affected areas. Just over the last decade, some 6 million children have been wounded in armed conflict. Current estimates peg the number of child-soldiers at 300,000. Where has the international community failed and what is the way forward?

“Era of application” and strategies for execution

If the world community is going to witness any further success in its endeavours, the 21’st Century will have to be an era of implementation. This is easier said than done considering that the nature of conflict has changed i.e. battles are increasingly being fought intra-state by non-state actors including disbanded militia and rebel forces. Additionally, terrorism has literally brought war into ‘one’s own backyard’ requiring the use of precision strikes and aerial bombings that cause collateral damage. Application of international law to such non-state actors and its enforcement remains a challenge.

Some other strategies that might help reduce the negative impact of armed rebellions on children:

• Removal of small arms stockpiles • Cutting shipment lines for illegal trade in arms • Ending political/financial/military support to groups that conscript children • Certification systems e.g. the Kimberly certification scheme which imposes strict

standards before which a diamond can be termed as conflict-free • Improved monitoring and reporting (as has been envisaged by the Security

Council’s Working Group): This will help in gathering data, creating records, supporting future prosecutions of offenders etc

• Increasing awareness amongst families and communities regarding human rights and international norms

• Convincing non-state actors to demobilise child soldiers • Renewal of support to anti-mine groups

Reintegration and Peacebuilding

Reintegration of children in society is an essential function of peacebuilding and the UN sends child protection officers along with peacekeeping forces to provide, amongst other things, training to its soldiers. The task of reintegration is complex given the heterogeneity of experiences children face during armed rebellions. How does one ensure that children aren’t painted with the same brush (especially through institutionalised mechanisms)?

Does the international community have an overly simplified understanding of the mental state and condition of children in conflict-zones? Perhaps there is a greater need for reintegration to be ‘age appropriate’, ‘gender focused’ and ‘community based’? A girl who has been a child soldier, rape victim and a child mother might need counselling on different fronts for her ‘double trauma’. A child soldier turned major will need a different approach to reintegration that someone of lesser age. There could be children who don’t require counselling at all and show signs of “spontaneous reintegration” whereas others might need spiritual healing for their sense of alienation, guilt and anger.

Just as the approach towards reintegration can be varied, the healing process itself could involve both institutional and non-institutional mechanisms. Through combined efforts

involving political will, community structures and youth led initiatives children of war and conflict can hope to attain emancipation from its scourges.

i IV BSL LL.B