Despite the fact that 99 countries have signed up to international efforts spearheaded by Canada to eradicate the use of child soldiers around the world, children are “still being used as expendable fuel of war,” UN officials say.
As the world marks the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers on Friday, Virginia Gamba, UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, said children continue to suffer from the consequences of conflicts.
Tens of thousands of children are being killed, maimed, sexually assaulted and forced to fight in armed conflicts around the world, according to UN statistics.
In 2020, the UN’s annual report on Children and Armed Conflict documented cases of recruitment and use of child soldiers in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria, Syria and Yemen, among others.
“Armed forces and armed groups continue to recruit and use children, tearing them away from their families and communities, cruelly stripping away their dignity and destroying their lives and their future,” Gamba said in a joint statement with the European Union’s top foreign policy official Josep Borrell.
Only a fraction of the children released by these armed groups are benefiting from reintegration programs, they warned.
“Insecurity prevents thousands of children from accessing quality education and health care while schools and hospitals continue to be targeted,” the joint statement said. “Despite being victims, children remain unlawfully in detention for their alleged or actual association with armed forces and groups.”
A child soldier attends a release ceremony in South Sudan on Feb. 7, 2018. He was one of more than 300 released by armed groups that day. (Sam Mednick/AP Photo)
Canadian officials say they are committed to ending the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict.
“Worldwide, too many boys and girls continue to be robbed of their most basic rights by this appalling practice. Some are killed, and many others suffer severe, lasting physical and emotional scars,” Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau, International Development Minister Karina Gould and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said in a joint statement.
Canada is working with the UN and the international community and civil society groups to implement the Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers, they said.
These principles were developed by Canada and its partners in 2017. The set of 17 political commitments aims to end the recruitment and use of children as soldiers in contexts where UN peacekeeping missions operate. To date, 99 countries have signed on to the Vancouver Principles.
“A key component of the Vancouver Principles is to equip peacekeepers with the training and tools they need to prevent the recruitment and use of child soldiers,” Canadian officials said.
Canada also established the Dallaire Centre of Excellence for Peace and Security in 2019 within the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) to assist the Canadian military in the implementation of the Vancouver Principles.
“No child should ever be used in armed conflict. Canada will continue to work with partners to put an end to this practice worldwide,” the ministers said.
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