One Day the Soldiers Came - Charles London [78]
He was finally demobilized officially when Save the Children intervened and lobbied on his behalf. Save the Children works with army commanders and recruiters, educating them on the rights of children and the responsibilities of the army under international law. They lobby on the policy level with the United Nations as well as on a case-by-case basis for children like Michel, who said that when he grows up, he wants to be “a driver or a mechanic. A civilian.” But this lobbying is hardly successful. What do the recruiters care about children’s rights when they have quotas to meet and money to earn? As Dr. Peter Singer, author of Children at War, points out, most armies already know that using child soldiers will be frowned on by history, that they will be judged for doing it. Why else would belligerent parties that use child soldiers constantly deny or seek to justify doing so?
Michel’s sister was still in the army, and her chances for survival were slim. Very few girls are released from armed groups that use child soldiers. They are kept as domestic workers and “wives,” or are reluctant to leave of their own volition because, as victims of rape, they fear becoming pariahs in their own communities. If they have had a child while with the military group their ability to escape is hampered. Given the physical and psychological trauma of rape, the exposure to sexually transmitted diseases, and the harsh conditions of life in the bush, I imagine not many of the young women survive, or if they do, can reintegrate back into society. In some cases, a sense of duty to the families they have formed with their commanders holds them captive.
In my time at various recruiting centers, I never saw, let alone talked to, a demobilized girl, though I had seen one in uniform, still serving in the army, at the border when I entered the RCD territory and another at a checkpoint where I was stopped. Worldwide, from Colombia to Sri Lanka, there is near-total denial that girls serve in combat as more than “bush wives” and that they have unique needs that need to be addressed when the fighting stops. Of the 130,000 combatants processed by CONADER (Commission Nationale de Désarmement, Demobilisation et Réisertion), the national institution in charge of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration in the Congo, only 2,000 females have participated in their programs.
All indications suggest that, despite the establishment of more and more international norms against using child soldiers, the practice continues and spreads. The use of child soldiers in West Africa spread from Liberia to Sierra Leone to Guinea to Ivory Coast. In the Great Lakes region it has spread through Rwanda, the DRC, Central African Republic, Angola, Kenya, Uganda, up to Sudan, down through Zimbabwe and into Congo Brazzaville. And this trend is not isolated to Africa. In the twentieth century, child soldiers have been used on every continent except Antarctica. Right now there are an estimated 300,000 child soldiers around the globe, and given the continual flare-ups in violence in the Middle East, that estimate is no doubt low.
To fight this trend, several resolutions have been passed and non-governmental organizations have been working with state armies, rebel groups, and militias to make them aware of the harmful effects of child soldier use and the norms of international law protecting children. Passing laws and sensitizing commanders to children’s rights is hardly a solution. The militias know they are operating outside the legal and moral fold. Often, they make their money in the illegal trade in drugs, diamonds, or other natural resources. Often they exist solely to make money from these illegal trades. They also know that no one is capable of enforcing any law against them, because, in the regions where they use the young soldiers, they are the law. As Dr. Singer says, “You cannot shame the shameless.”
In March 2004,