Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone: Human Rights Watch (HRW ) News

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Human Rights Watch (HRW ) News

From Human Rights Watch

Call Your Senator – Stop US Funding of Child Soldiers
National Phone-In Day, JULY 12, 2007

SUPPORT THE CHILD SOLDIER PREVENTION ACT OF 2007 (S. 1175)
Restrict US Military Assistance to Governments Using Child Soldiers

On July 12, please take a moment to phone and ask your senator to support S. 1175, the Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2007. This important legislation would restrict US military financing, training and arms transfers to governments that are involved in the recruitment and use of child soldiers.

Of nine governments worldwide implicated in the recruitment or use of children as soldiers, eight currently receive US military assistance. US tax dollars should not be used to support the exploitation of children as soldiers. US weapons should not end up in the hands of children.

The Child Soldier Prevention Act was introduced by Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sam Brownback (R-KS), and is already co-sponsored by over a dozen other US senators, including both Republicans and Democrats. We need additional co-sponsors to get the bill passed.

Please Call Your Senators on July 12.

Sample message:
“My name is ____, and I’m calling from (town/city, state). I’m very concerned about the recruitment and use of child soldiers around the world. I am calling because I would like the senator to co-sponsor S. 1175, the Child Soldier Prevention Act. I believe this bill can make a difference in ending the use of
child soldiers, and believe it deserves the Senator’s support.”

Calls to senate offices are usually taken by receptionists who briefly note the topic you are calling on. You will not be asked for detailed information.

Find your senators’ phone numbers at: www.senate.gov

Senators who have already co-sponsored the bill (as of July 2, 2007):
Bingaman (D-NM), Boxer (D-CA), Brownback (R-KS), Casey (D-PA), Coburn (R-OK), Cochran (R-MS), Durbin (D-IL), Feingold (D-WI), Feinstein (D-CA), Johnson (D-SD), Kerry (D-MA), Menendez (D-NJ), Mikulski (D-MD), Reed (D-RI), Roberts (R-KS), Snow (R-ME).

We particularly encourage calls to members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who have not yet co-sponsored the bill:

Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) (202) 224-4524
Norm Coleman (R-MN) (202) 224-5641
Bob Corker (R-TN) (202) 224-3344
Jim DeMint (R-SC) (202) 224-6121
Christopher Dodd (D-CT) (202) 224-2823
Chuck Hagel (R-NE) (202) 224-4224
Johnny Isakson (R-GA) (202) 224-3643
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) (202) 224-6665
Bill Nelson (D-FL) (202) 224-5274
Barack Obama (D-IL) (202) 224-2854
John Sununu (R-NH) (202) 224-2841
David Vitter (R-LA) (202) 224-4623
George Voinovich (R-OH) (202) 224-3353
Jim Webb (D-VA) (202) 224-4024

Thank you for your time.
Your call WILL make a difference.

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Uganda: Child soldiers at center of mounting humanitarian crisis

With an armed rebellion threatening to undermine Uganda’s progress to economic development, child soldiers emerge as central figures amid deadly violence and growing humanitarian emergency.

The bustling capital city of Kampala, located in the south, exemplifies Uganda’s transformation from a country plagued by economic decay to prosperity. With a revitalized GDP growth of more than 8% over the past three years, Uganda comes across as a compelling story of hope for other African nations. However, an armed insurgency in northern and eastern Uganda has created one of Africa’s largest displaced populations.

The 18-year old rebellion of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) against the government has forced over 1.6 million Ugandans - half of them children - to flee to squalid and overcrowded camps in order to escape wanton attacks and killings. The number of internally displaced persons has almost tripled since 2002. Attacks on soft civilian targets continue, carried out by child soldiers much younger than their victims.

The most disturbing aspect of this humanitarian crisis is the fact that this is a war fought by children on children - minors make up almost 90% of the LRA’s soldiers. Some recruits are as young as eight and are inducted through raids on villages. They are brutalized and forced to commit atrocities on fellow abductees and even siblings. Those who attempt to escape are killed. For those living in a state of constant fear, violence becomes a way of life and the psychological trauma is incalculable. Fearing abduction, streams of children, often with mothers in tow, leave their homes every night and walk for hours from surrounding villages to reach the relative safety of major towns, only to trek their way home in the first light. Some 40,000 “night commuters” sleep under verandas, in schools, hospital courtyards or bus parking places to evade the snare of the LRA.

Since the rebellion began in the 1980s, some 30,000 children have been abducted to work as child soldiers and porters, or to serve as “wives” of rebels and bear their children. These numbers have soared, with 10,000 children abducted in the past 18 months alone.

Despite the gravity of the humanitarian situation, less than 10% of the $130 million requested by the humanitarian community for 2004 has been received. In some areas, malnutrition rates as high as 30% have been recorded among children. Fear of rebel attacks badly hit the planting season for 2004, threatening to aggravate the already severe food shortages in the coming months. Health facilities barely function as stocks run out and health workers flee to escape LRA attacks.

Even as a peace process makes significant progress in neighbouring Sudan, the peace in Uganda is made tenuous by these developments. The “success story” that Uganda represents in the minds of the world’s economic policy makers presents a jarring contrast with the tragedy of conflict in the north and east that shows no signs of abating.

Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone

Advocates for Child Soldiers

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Human Rights Watch (HRW ) News

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Sierra Leone

Governmental Organizations

United Nations Organizations

Non-governmental Organizations

Child soldiers

Child soldiers in Uganda

Uganda: Child soldiers at center of mounting humanitarian crisis