20000402

Basic schooling

can protect kids

from becoming child

soldiers: Unicef

UNITED NATIONS: Providing basic schooling for societies that have been shattered by war is the best way to protect children from becoming child soldiers, Unicef's Director Carol Bellamy said on Friday.

The United Nations estimates there are 300,000 child soldiers in the world who become fighters for many reasons.

"They are abducted, they are forced, they see their family members killed, their community is moved," she said, outlining some common reasons.

Unicef's policy was to provide schooling to introduce "an element of normality in what is otherwise an abnormal situation," she said.

When health and education systems broke down because of war, basic schooling Ñ even in a refugee camp with no facilities Ñ was "the closest thing to a silver bullet to keep kids from being used as child soldiers, or sex salves," she said.

Bellamy was speaking after a three-day meeting here between UN officials and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), held to help prepare a report by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on children and armed conflict.

Due in July, Annan's report will contain recommendations for enforcing a landmark resolution passed by the UN Security Council in August 1999. The resolution called on governments to prosecute those who recruit children for war. It urged governments and UN agencies to do everything possible to demobilise child soldiers and reintegrate them into society.

"Unfortunately there are not too many examples of reintegration of child soldiers because most of the conflicts are still going on," Bellamy said. In the West African state of Sierra Leone, she said, "the numbers have been much smaller than one expected Ñ a dribble rather than a flood".

But one lesson learned was that "it's not just a question of turning in the gun and the child returning to the community," she said.

"You really have to engage the community. It's not something the UN or NGOs can do alone".

Bellamy said, the Security Council resolution was part of a campaign to raise awareness of the impact of conflict on children.

"But in order to have a real breakthrough we need a truly global movement for children that will unite the UN with other partners, NGOs, civil society, private sector and, most importantly, children and young people themselves," she said.

Dean Hirsch, international president of World Vision, Ñ the world's largest privately funded Christian humanitarian aid agency Ñ told the news conference he would push for "a global identification system to identify abusers".

General pronouncements would not protect children, he said. "There must be specific actions, and there must be a will to move forward on actions," he added.

But Bellamy said political will was lacking. "Humanitarian interventions end up substituting for the really horrific failure of political will in the world today," she said.

Almost one-third of the countries where Unicef was working were affected by some degree of conflict, she said.

"One vital lesson we have learned is that education is one of the most important means to prevent the exploitation of children in conflict and that the early re-establishment of education programmes must be part of any effort to protect and rehabilitate children," she added.

Bellamy said that thanks to the efforts of NGOs working with Unicef, "there has been some definite increase of girls' attendance, particularly in Africa over the past couple of years".ÑAFP