April 25, 2005
The Children's Crusade
by Lorraine Berry
Save the Children UK reports today that of the approximately 300,000 child soldiers currently involved in combat, 120,000 or 40 percent of these, are girls, some as young as 8. Like their male peers, girls are kidnapped away from their families and forcibly conscripted. Like their male peers, they are trained in arms use, but unlike their male peers, the majority of these girls and young women are raped by older soldiers.
The report is available for full download at
Girls in War
From the summary:
The findings highlight a worrying global trend and are not unique to one country or continent:
* In Uganda, there are an estimated 6,500 girl soldiers captured in the rebel Lord Resistance Army (33% of the total army)
* In the Democratic Republic of Congo, there are thought to be 12,000 girls still associated with armed forces
* In Tsunami torn Sri Lanka, 21,500 girls are considered to be associated with armed conflict (43% of all the children fighting).
The report contains more than documentation of the horror, it also contains concrete suggestions for addressing the problems specific to these young women after they are able to leave the armies.
For girls, returning home often brings ostracism. They are shunned as victims of rape, and, if they find themselves pregnant, can be further cut off from the support of the village. The girls want access to information and education. They want intervention and assistance in helping their families to understand what happened to them. They want counseling. They want medical assistance, especially testing and treatment for STDs.
The problem at present is that while the UN has a model for dealing with child soldiers, the programs are designed specifically for young males, who need to be "demilitarized" and reintroduced, retrained, reprogrammed for life in civil society. The burden of these young women is that they do not need the "demilitarization" programming so much as they need gender-specific, gender-sensitive assistance in being reintegrated into their societies.
Save the Children UK has interviews with some of these young women, and specific ideas for accomplishing the goals of female reintegration. It will require international will, of course, but it will also require money. The money needed to care for these children is scarce. An increase in international aid is required. For example, it is estimated that in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the need is $200 million. $23.5 million has been ear-marked, a shortfall of almost 90 percent. President Bush has recently asked for an additional $81 billion to fight the war in Iraq. For those of you doing the math, $200 million is approximately 1/400th of that amount.
Speaking on the report, Mike Aaronson, Director General for Save the Children said:
"When people picture conflict they think of men in bloody combat, but it’s horrifyingly girls who are the hidden face of war. This report reveals a shocking and inhumane life for thousands of girls around the world who are failed by the international community.But our purpose is to do more than shock. We aim to change the system and ensure there is proper funding to help these girls so they can - with dignity - regain some sense of normal life. This appalling abuse of girl's rights demands urgent action. Its time to stop the war on children."
When Yitzhak Rabin was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, he read the following poem at the ceremony. It's a poem by Yehuda Amichai. Perhaps we should send it to our representatives of the "culture of life." Ask them to return these girl soldiers back to a culture in which they can live their lives, back in the communities from which they were brutally torn.
GOD HAS PITY ON KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN
God has pity on kindergarten children.
He has less pity on school children
And on grownups he has no pity at all,
he leaves them alone,
and sometimes they must crawl on all fours
in the burning sand
to reach the first–aid station
covered with blood.
But perhaps he will watch over true lovers
and have mercy on them and shelter them
like a tree over the old man
sleeping on a public bench.
Perhaps we too will give them
the last rare coins of charity
that Mother handed down to us
so that their happiness may protect us
now and on other days.
Posted by in Africa, Gender, Indecency, Kids, Violence, War
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