Fighting someone else's war
Despite the fact that international law forbids the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict, adults still use children to fight their wars. Around 300,000 children under the age of 15 are associated with armed groups around the world.
Monday 10 December 2007
A five-year conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo involving government forces and rebels, backed by a number of African countries, officially ended in 2003. But parts of the country are still volatile, and rebel groups still operate in parts of the east. This year, we have reunited 2,057 children (43% of them girls) who were separated from their families when they fled their villages to avoid armed groups. We have also secured the release and interim care of 3,650 children formerly involved with armed groups and reunited another 5,000 children who were formerly associated with armed groups with their families. A successful UK fundraising appeal, which surpassed our target of £250,000, will enable us to help girls formerly abducted by armed groups in the country rebuild their lives.
Families flee the fighting in Bavi, Ituri, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. They travel the 40 kilometre journey to the town of Gety with what they can carry on their backs. Photo credit: Marcus Bleasdale.
A 20-year war has ravaged communities in Southern Sudan. Last year, we reunited 248 children formerly associated with armed groups with their families. We also challenged the government of Southern Sudan over its own record on child recruitment. As a result, 111 children were released from the Sudan People's Liberation Army.
Despite the signing of a ceasefire in 2002, there has been a recent resurgence of fighting between the government's armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka. Last year, we helped reunite 229 children formerly associated with armed groups with their families.
Young asylum-seekers and refugees have often fled to the UK to escape conflict in their own countries. Save the Children's Befriending Unaccompanied Minors project (BUMP) aims to reduce the isolation felt by young asylum-seekers and refugees living in England and to help them build supportive friendships. A music group, formed by young people who are part of the BUMP project, reached the final 20 in the BBC World Service's Competition to establish the best young international band. Their song "We don't want no war" was chosen from thousands of entries.
Protecting children from sexual exploitation
During wars and natural disasters, sexual exploitation often intensifies, as children and parents resort to desperate measures to survive. Our research published this year revealed that the sexual exploitation of children in Liberia by humanitarian workers, peacekeepers, local businessmen and people in positions of power is widespread. Girls as young as eight are exploited because adults can have sex with them very cheaply and have not faced prosecution in the past.
Some of these girls have just returned from spending years with armed groups where they would have already experienced prolific abuse - 75% of the girls interviewed in camps for people who fled the conflict and in communities where they've returned home from the war in Liberia reported being sexually abused. Now they are being exploited again, often by people in positions of trust. We think that's appalling.
People who sexually exploit children need to be held to account. Save the Children's Liberia programme is supporting systems, at both the local and national level, to ensure that sexual abuse is increasingly reported and that girls and women who have experienced gender-based violence receive support, such as medical help and counselling. It goes without saying that we expect nothing less than the highest professional standards from our own staff. This is enforced through strict internal policies and staff monitoring.
As a result of our research and advocacy, a UN special meeting in New York in December 2006 prioritised tackling the issue. Chief Executive Jasmine Whitbread, who was a keynote speaker alongside then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, urged leaders to take responsibility for preventing and responding to the problem.
In Cote d'Ivoire, Save the Children has helped local communities establish child protection committees in more than 40 villages which have helped identify vulnerable and extremely poor children in need of support. The committees have helped approximately 3,000 children, many of whom are formerly associated with armed forces and groups, attend education centres, where they learn literacy and basic maths, and participate in recreational activities. Approximately 20% of these children have since rejoined the formal schooling system. We have also helped 920 of these children earn a living through providing skills training and start-up materials. The committees have also reported cases of sexual abuse to the authorities, including abuse carried out by soldiers of the UN Operation in Cote d'Ivoire.
In Honduras, we helped formulate and implement national legislation for the prosecution of sexual abusers and helped define a national action plan which was approved by the government. Hundreds of cases of sexual abuse have been processed and abusers sentenced. We have also established municipal protection committees in the department of Atlantida to defend sexually abused or exploited children, and have trained more than 5,000 police officers, officials and cadets on issues related to sexual abuse and human trafficking.
Improving the lives of child labourers
Girls weave carpets inside a loom in the Punjab region of Pakistan. Save the Children supports classes for 14,000 children in the region who work full time. We also work with parents and factory owners to reduce working hours and get children into formal schools. Photo credit: Aysha Velani
Around the world, 218 million children are working as labourers. Of these children, 8.4 million are still working in the worst forms of child labour - degrading and dangerous work such as working in mines.
In the Sindh Province of Pakistan, an estimated 60,000 children work in hazardous jobs such as carpet weaving, mining and road construction. Our research revealed that in the Thar desert region of the province, 4,000 children were working for more than 12 hours a day in the carpet weaving industry as bonded labourers because their parents were indebted to money lenders in the carpet industry. The children had to work until their family's debts were cleared. We offered credit and business advice to these families. As a result, 3,300 children are no longer working and have started going to school. Comic Relief has agreed to scale up its funding to the project with a £3 million grant to help us reach a further 20,000 children.
What you can do
We're working flat out to get every child their rights and we're determined to make further, faster changes. We'd like you to get involved too.
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