OpenForum – a blog by the Health and Human Rights community

A former child soldier from Uganda, Grace Akallo, recently spoke at the UN Security Council about her experiences being abducted, sexually assaulted, and forced to fight for the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) at the age of 16. She described being sent into battle with an AK47 and forced to kill other children who attempted escape. The Security Council is now discussing using stronger methods to stop “repeat offenders” from recruiting children.

It is estimated that 250,000 children, some age 10 or younger, are currently recruited into armed conflicts around the world and used as soldiers, guards, messengers, or sex slaves. Such recruitment of children occurs most often in conflict zones such as Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Sri Lanka. The use of child soldiers has been officially prohibited by a UN treaty ratified by 126 countries since 2002. Children in conflict areas are guaranteed special protection under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention.

It is no surprise that rehabilitating child soldiers is a difficult and lengthy process. Because of the severe trauma they suffer, children who have been in combat require extensive long-term support to be re-integrated into communities, says UNICEF spokesman James Elder. He explains that child combatants “live in a theatre of violence and suffering…Instead of hope, fear defines their childhood.” Read more

Internally displaced person in Sri Lanka

Civilians trapped in a government-designated ‘no fire zone’ are facing a humanitarian crisis, according to The Guardian (March 23, 2009). The 25-year-old civil war between the rebel Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan army may be drawing nearer to an end, but the situation remains dire for displaced civilians. Although designated for safe assembly of those fleeing the fighting, this ‘no fire zone’ is no safe haven; over 150,000 people are running short of food, clean water, and medicine, while they are bombarded with shells by the Sri Lankan army.

The rebel territory has shrunk with the advances of the Sri Lankan army, and the Tamil Tigers have forced all civilians under their control to flee with them. Those civilians who make it to a ‘no fire zone’ face the risk of being killed by government shells if they stay or getting shot by rebels if they try to leave. According to Human Rights Watch, civilian casualties have increased significantly since the fall of the Tamil Tigers’ administrative center, Kilinochchi, in early January 2009; The Guardian reports that UN figures show more than 3,000 lives lost since the end of January. In addition to wounds, civilians in the conflict zone are at risk of dying from disease and malnutrition, which could be prevented if more medical supplies and facilities were available. There are only three rudimentary medical facilities in one of the ‘no fire zones,’ with a UN estimate of 5,000 patient visits a day. Read more