DATE=4/11/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHILD SOLDIERS (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261174
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A U-N expert on children in armed conflict is
appealing to the international community to do more to
curb the practice of child soldiers and to help the
young people involved to resume normal lives. Lisa
Schlein in Geneva reports the expert outlined his
proposals for helping children in armed conflict to
the U-N Human Rights Commission.
TEXT: The United Nations estimates that more than
300-thousand children under the age of 18 are taking
part in armed conflicts in more than 30 countries.
The greatest number of child soldiers is found in
Africa. But the United Nations says children as young
as eight also are fighting in countries in Asia, Latin
America, and Europe.
The U-N expert on children in armed conflict, Olara
Otunnu, says the world has barely begun to deal with
the problem of child soldiers.
He says the international community must exert greater
pressure on governments and rebels not to enlist
children in their armies. He says more effort and
more money must be given to demobilize child soldiers
and to rehabilitate and reintegrate them into society.
And he says much more needs to be done to educate
local communities about the suffering endured by child
soldiers.
/// OTUNNU ACT ONE ///
Don't forget, the person who left the community
was a child. The person who has come back in
their being is no longer a child because they
now got used to violence. In many cases, they
were used cynically to commit atrocities. Some
of the worst atrocities in Sierra Leone were
committed by young people being used by others
and often under the influence of drugs.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Otunnu says children who are forced by others to
commit horrid acts are, themselves, victims. He says
these children need to be healed, not rejected by
their communities. He says local communities must
draw on traditional and modern practices to deal with
trauma -- techniques which he says have been used with
great success in Mozambique.
/// OTUNNU ACT TWO ///
Mozambique was one of the worst and earliest
cases of the massive use of children as child
soldiers. Today, when you go to Mozambique,
there are no ex-child soldiers roaming the
streets or in criminal gangs or various groups
terrorizing the communities. By and large, they
have been re-integrated and reabsorbed by the
various communities, using by-in-large
traditional methods of intervention traditional
methods of healing and of reintegrating.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Otunnu says other successes are to be found in El
Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. He says the
problem of child soldiers in these countries has been
resolved through the concerted efforts of local
private groups, church groups, and U-N agencies.
(Signed)
NEB/LS/JWH/KL
11-Apr-2000 12:55 PM EDT (11-Apr-2000 1655 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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