International Child Day - 20 November

Children Associated with Armed Groups
A ‘child soldier’ is any person under 18 years of age who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity – including, but not limited to, combatants, cooks, porters, messengers and anyone accompanying such groups, other than family members. The definition includes girls recruited for sexual purposes and for forced marriage. It does not, therefore, only refer to a child who is carrying or has carried arms. Some boys and girls might have been abducted or forcibly recruited; others have been driven to join by poverty, abuse and discrimination, societal or peer pressure, or to seek revenge for violence against them or their families.

Facts and figures
• Latest estimates suggest that more than 250,000 children are currently serving as child soldiers.

• In Colombia, an estimated 14,000 girls and boys were used as child soldiers2 by illegal armed groups.

• In Somalia, an estimated 200,000 children have carried a gun or been involved with a militia since the 1991 collapse of central government.

• In Sudan, in March 2004, an estimated 17,000 children were associated with armed forces and groups.

HUMAN RIGHTS
The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (2000) raises the minimum age for direct participation in hostilities from 15 to 18 (Article 1) and prohibits conscription or forced recruitment below the age of 18 (Article 2). The Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998) makes it a war crime to conscript or enlist children under 15 into national armed forces or to use them to participate actively in hostilities in international and internal armed conflicts.

The International Labour Organization’s Convention No. 182 (1999) defines the forced and compulsory recruitment of children as a worst form of child labour, which it prohibits.

Arabic Forum