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Child Soldiers: Solutions from a Humanistic Lens Ursula Wylan [email protected]

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Child Soldiers: Solutions from a Humanistic Lens Ursula Wylan Ucwylan@Usfca.Edu The University of San Francisco USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center Master's Theses Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects Winter 12-16-2011 Child Soldiers: Solutions from a Humanistic Lens Ursula Wylan [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.usfca.edu/thes Part of the African Studies Commons, American Politics Commons, and the Other International and Area Studies Commons Recommended Citation Wylan, Ursula, "Child Soldiers: Solutions from a Humanistic Lens" (2011). Master's Theses. 2. https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/2 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects at USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. For more information, please contact [email protected]. i University of San Francisco Child Soldiers: Solutions from a Humanistic Lens A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences Master’s Program in International Studies In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in International Studies By Ursula Wylan December 2011 ii Child Soldiers: Solutions from a Humanistic Lens In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS in INTERNATIONAL STUDIES by Ursula Wylan December 2011 UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO Under the guidance and approval of the committee, and approval by all the members, this thesis has been accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree. Approved: ________________________________ _____________ Advisor Date ________________________________ _____________ Academic Director Date ________________________________ _____________ Dean of Arts and Sciences Date iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I - Introduction 1 Statement of the Problem 1 Child Soldier Prevention Act 3 Background for the Study 5 Purpose of the Study 7 Research Questions/Hypothesis 8 Theoretical Framework 9 Methodology 10 Limitations of the Study 11 Significance of the Study 11 CHAPTER II - Review of the Literature 13 Introduction 13 Child Soldier Definitions and Evidence 14 Child Soldiers and International Law 17 Contexts and Rehabilitation of Child Soldiers 21 CHAPTER III - Data/Findings 30 Case Study: Uganda 30 Child Soldier Rehabilitation in Northern Uganda 39 The Sudan/LRA Connection 41 Case Study: Sudan 43 Darfur 46 Child Soldiers in Sudan 48 Case Study: Sierra Leone 51 Demobilization of Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone 56 Connecting the CSPA to the Research 57 CHAPTER IV - Discussions/Conclusions/Recommendations 60 Discussion 60 Conclusion 63 REFERENCES 65 LIST OF FIGURES Figure I: Children at War 3 Figure II: LRA in Uganda 33 Figure III: Districts in Northern Uganda 39 iv Acknowledgements I wrote this thesis for my son Sean Ethan Wylan. I hope he will grow up to a world where children no longer fight in wars that adults choose to wage, a world where the innocence of a child is a right, not a privilege. Also, a special thanks to my Thesis Advisor Professor Dr. Anne Bartlett. Thank you for helping through this writing process. 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Statement of the Problem The use of child soldiers is probably the world’s most unrecognized form of child abuse. - New York Times, 2002 More than ever war is affecting children in a disturbing and direct manner. Not only are children affected by a conflict because they live near the violence that an armed conflict produces, but more than any other time in history we are seeing children directly participating as perpetrators of violence (Brett and McCallin, 1998). It is estimated that 300,000 children are participating in armed conflict around the globe (UNICEF, 2002). This fact makes the issue of child soldiers an increasingly urgent issue that needs to be addressed and eliminated. That children, as young as eight years old, have participated in violent acts associated with war, is a sure sign that there are significant issues that will affect developing nations for years to come. The Civil War in Sierra Leone, the Conflict in Uganda headed by the Lord’s Revolutionary Army (LRA), and the Civil War in El Salvador are just a few modern examples of children being exploited as soldiers. The problem of child soldiers is not a trend that is unique to one country, let alone one continent. It is a global issue which requires a global response. The role that international law plays, and should play to a greater extent, in the protection of children holds the only hope for preventing the phenomenon of child soldiers. The prosecution of those who violate international conventions and statutes aimed 2 to protect the child, is how these instruments will affect change. This means these instruments must be enforceable. There needs to be a clear condemnation of countries which violate international law as it relates to children and conflict. Military and economic aid should not be provided to those countries found to violate those laws. The message needs to be clear: the use of children to fight in, or against, rebel movements is unacceptable and countries with international reach, such as the United States (US) have a responsibility in the fight to end child soldiering by choosing not to support governments who have children fighting within their borders. Military and economic aid should not be given to these countries until they eliminate child soldiers. Furthermore, the examination of the context that creates the environment and conditions for child soldiers is just as important. Preventing the use of child soldiers could be the most critical aspect to eliminating the problem. While international law plays the part of condemning violators of international law and is meant to deter the use of children as soldiers, preventing developing countries from slipping into the conflicts that produce child soldiers, will prove to be the most effective way to stop the child soldier problem. Prevention includes economic and political stability as well as government transparency. This will be examined in later sections. Figure I illustrates how widespread the issue of child soldiers is on the African continent in particular. This paper will examine some of these case studies specifically. 3 FIGURE I Image courtesy of Scholastic http://teacher.scholastic.com The Child Soldier Prevention Act The US has attempted to affect the problem of child soldiers through domestic legislation with international reach. The US Congress enacted the Child Soldier Prevention Act (CSPA) in 2008. This legislation, passed by Congress, is intended to eliminate military aid from the US to governments who have been found by the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, released annually from the State Department, to have child soldiers fighting in their borders. In the CSPA there is a clear condemnation of the use of children in armed conflict and it is the first 4 legislation of its kind in the US. There is also a clause in the CSPA, which provides for a national interest waiver. This waiver can be applied to the countries that would be affected by the CSPA and would be ineligible for US military aid. This activation of the waiver means those countries would still receive military aid which in turns funds the very conflicts in which the child soldiers were found to be fighting in. This waiver is issued by the President of the United States and would be based on US “national interest”. Section 404(c)(1) of the CSPA states: “The President may waive the application to a country of the prohibition in subsection (a) if the President determines that such waiver is in the national interest of the United States. The message that this waiver sends is: if a country is considered a national interest of the US, then the issue of child soldiers and the elimination of this global problem is overshadowed by what is solely best for the US. The first year that the CSPA was set to go into effect was 2010. This meant that the countries on the TIP report, found to have child soldiers fighting within its border, would not receive military aid in FY 2011. Those countries included: Burma, Somalia, Yemen, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Sudan. On October 25, 2010 President Obama made use of his powers under the waiver provision of the CSPA releasing a Memorandum which waived Sudan, Chad, DRC, and Yemen from the CSPA (Obama Memorandum, 2010). In summary: the TIP report identified six countries in total which would then not receive military aid in FY 2011. With the waiver of four countries, only two were left: Somalia and Burma. Interestingly enough neither of these countries receive 5 US military aid anyway and so would not be affected by the CSPA (LaFranchi, 2010). The result of the national interest waiver is that any meaningful affect that the US may have hoped to have on the issue of child soldiers, by enacting this legislation, has been nullified. By waiving these four countries, the conclusion has been drawn by some that the CSPA is a document which may look good in theory but is has no effect (Becker, 2010; Fortenberry, 2010; LaFranchi, 2010). US national interest trumps the rights of children and this is not a message that should be sent to the rest of the world. The US should not be funding governments with military aid when those governments have been found guilty, based on the US’s own State Department Report, of failing to eliminate child soldiers within those countries borders. Background and Need for the Study Human rights in general have been a concern on the forefront of global politics since World War II. The United Nations has adopted many resolutions and conventions aimed at protecting the human race as a whole from the violence and injustice that occurs in times of war as well as in times of peace.
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