Child soldiers in Burundi and Sudan, 1992-2002

Child Soldiers in Burundi and Sudan: 1992-2002

The convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 is one of the most prominent international humanitarian treaties in world history. It entered into force quicker than any other treaty and currently only two countries (the United States and Somalia) have not ratified it.

Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF says that the Convention has become "the centerpiece of a global movement, a movement that reflects a growing awareness of the importance of safeguarding human rights, and child rights in particular."

Yet, during the 1990's, more children in Africa became victims of, and combatants in, war than at any time in history according to a report in Human Rights Watch entitled "Promises Broken."

Named by the International Community for being two of the worst violators of children's rights are the countries of Burundi and Sudan, the situation in both countries is described as critical. Devastating civil wars continue and the Burundi and Sudanese people are subject to gross human rights abuses, such as slavery, hunger, and forced relocation. In the case of Sudan, the army and government militias forcibly recruit underage boys.

While in Burundi, the existence of military schools known as training centers have dramatically increased the number of children 13-18 years involved in military activities.

Perhaps even more alarming than the fact that there are so many children being forced to participate in the military, especially armed combat is the fact that the International Community has done relatively little to stop this gross human rights violation. There has been no major, concerted effort to stop the violence in these two African countries. On the contrary, the limited assistance that has been given to innocent civilians has often been so haphazard that it has actually aided those at war. Hundreds of thousands of people are displaced, living in refugee situations, yet none of the major world powers has offered asylum to the victims. In fact, the United States has not even endorsed the one international law that attempts to prohibit the use of children in military situations.

There are almost certainly racist implications for the failure of the Western world to become involved in Burundi and Sudan. However, chalking up the inaction to racism is overly simplistic and ignores the many complicated factors that have helped contribute to the world ignoring this problem and allowing these children to be so vastly mistreated. In addition, there is a question of how the International Community could provide meaningful assistance to these children. Any military action against the countries would undoubtedly result, at least in the short-term, in the deaths of the very child-soldiers that the intervening countries would be attempting to save. Furthermore, there is a question about what to do with these children if they were rescued from the area. It is well-documented that adults experience post-traumatic stress disorder and other combat-related mental health issues. The world's mental health community has not found adequate ways of treating those disorders in adults, much less addressing them in children.

Problem Statement

There are more than 120,000 children under 18 years old who are currently participating in armed conflicts across Africa. Two of the countries most affected are Burundi and Sudan. Both of these countries have been locked in violent civil wars, which are the result of strife that has been building for generations among different subgroups. The violence in both areas quickly erupted to include civilians, many of whom had played no role in the initial attacks or violence. However, as the violence has grown, so has the division in both countries, polarizing people and greatly exacerbating existing tensions. Moreover, as the violence has grown, these countries have seen their adult male populations shrink dramatically due to civil unrest and the HIV / AIDS pandemic, so that, in order to carry on a war effort, leaders have felt it necessary to turn their children into soldiers.

Sub-Problems

In order to understand the extent of the problem of child soldiers, one must first understand the backgrounds from which these children come. Their countries have both been ravaged by long-standing wars and by the HIV / AIDS pandemic, leaving children vulnerable to exploitation by adults. In Burundi, it is currently estimated that 2% of the adult population is infected with HIV / AIDS.

In Sudan, it is currently estimated that 1.4% of the adult population is infected with HIV / AIDS.

Current estimates may be gaining accuracy, but previous estimates, at least from the governments themselves, tended to be lower than the actual prevalence, with ignorance about the disease, its causation, its transmission, its prevention, and its treatment rampant, especially in Sub-Saharan countries like Burundi. Moreover, it is important to consider how much higher those rates are than in Western countries, and who in the population is most impacted by HIV / AIDS. It is a pandemic that has disproportionately impacted the young and those of reproductive age. In addition, due to a lack of treatment availability, especially in the 1990s, it was a diagnosis that was frequently synonymous with death. Of course, this left many children infected with HIV / AIDS, but infected children were not the group left most vulnerable to this condition. On the contrary, older children, born before parental infection, were oftentimes orphaned, and left to care for younger siblings, many of whom may have also been impacted by HIV / AIDS. In addition, nationwide percentages do not give an accurate view of how HIV / AIDS can impact isolated or semi-isolated rural areas, where it is possible, perhaps even likely, for entire generations of families to fall prey to the disease. The parentless children of that generation were especially vulnerable to predation and intimidation.

In addition to wars and AIDS, these countries have experienced problems with hunger and famine. For example, Sudan had the second-highest rate of childhood malnutrition in the Middle East and North Africa for the period in question.

While sub-Saharan Africa generally has higher rates of malnutrition and underweight children, the rates in Burundi were among the highest in the area, with nearly 40% of children considered underweight or malnourished.

While the armies and armed gangs certainly used intimidation and threats to coerce children into being in the army, it is important to consider that some of these children ostensibly chose to become involved in the military, because they could eat if they were in the military. Of course, the choice between starvation and being a child soldiers seems to be clearly no choice at all, but the ugly reality is that military service may certainly have seemed to be a more appealing alternative to some of these children.

Currently it is estimated that there are over 17,000 children serving as combatants in Burundi and Sudan, though that number is extremely difficult to estimate.

Over the ten-year period from 1992-2002, it is estimated that approximately 14,000 children, some as young as 12, served as combatants in Burundi.

However, that estimate was based on the current number of children serving as combatants, leading one to the conclusion that the overall number must be much higher due to the high rate of fatalities among child soldiers. In that same period, tens of thousands of children served in the military in Sudan.

One of the problems with addressing this problem is that it is difficult to quantify, as described in the above paragraph. The best estimates of the number of children who have been used in soldiers in the Sudan places the number in the tens of thousands, but with 2,000,000 dead as a result of the civil war, attributing the cause of death and determining whether casualties were among combatants and non-combatants can be virtually impossible.

Unlike the armies of well-developed countries, which keep meticulous records about their military forces, the armies in Burundi and Sudan are rag-tag operations. They fail to keep even the most rudimentary written records about their armed forces. In addition, it can be virtually impossible for outside organizations or agencies to obtain access, so that they can document the number of children forced into the army. Therefore, the problem of statistical reliability plagues any discussion of this issue.

Legal Standards

Although not all countries agree as to the legal standards governing the use of children in combat, there is an overarching agreement that children should not be used as combatants. Moreover, the vast majority of countries have agreed that children should not be used in military activities. There is an international agreement on the minimum age of recruitment and participation in armed conflict, however that agreement is difficult, if not impossible, to enforce, especially during times of conflict. Non-governmental organizations, such as the United Nations, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch can provide guidance to countries, but generally tend to lack the enforcement power to ensure that countries comply with these guidelines. An Optional Protocol to the Committee on the Rights of the Child could play a significant role in establishing legal standards for the military use of children.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, established a legal and ethical instrument for promoting and protecting the rights of children. The International Community responded enthusiastically to the Convention, and that type of broad participating "symbolizes something very special about the Convention, something that gives it unique importance and authority."

Carol Bellamy with UNICEF believes that this support for the Convention suggests that human rights, particularly child rights, have gained a growing importance in the International Community.

However, the existing legal standards are painfully inadequate for protecting children's rights. First, the United States, still one of the world's superpowers, has failed to give full support to the efforts to keep children from being soldiers. This makes the United States the only recognized country in the world besides Somalia that has failed to ratify the Convention. Despite the U.S.'s failure to ratify it, the Convention was still the "single most widely ratified treaty in existence."

Ten years after the Convention, these promises continue to be mainly illusory. While this may seem unusual, one must consider the fact that the United States has refused to sign the treaty, even though it only bars conscription of anyone under the age of 15. In the United States, children under the age of 18 can volunteer for the army with parental consent, and the U.S. has been the most vocal opponent of provisions that would increase the protected age from 15 to age to 18, despite the fact that only a very small portion of U.S. soldiers are under the age of 18.

Perhaps the most enforceable prohibition against using children as soldiers is featured in the Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court. Using children as soldiers is also considered a triable international offense, and is governed by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Article 8(2)(b)(xxvi). The language of that statute provides that "Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into the national armed forces or using them to participate actively in hostilities" is a war crime.

Therefore, it is clearly established the use of child soldiers, even their use as porter, spies, or checkpoint guardians, is a triable war crime.

One of the most significant problems with cracking down on the use of children in the military is that this is not traditional warfare. Keith Suter makes some interesting observations about guerrilla warfare and how it impact international policy-making.

What is the most interesting is that the child soldiers are not always being used by recognized governments. In Burundi and Sudan, opposition forces use child soldiers at approximately the same rate as the government's forces. Moreover, even if the government agreed to stop using child soldiers that would not guarantee that these children would be free from acting in conflict. Having once been used in conflict and without other skills, the children might have few alternatives but to begin working as opposition soldiers. Obviously, such a position would be untenable for the established governments. However, the most difficult issue is that these rebel or opposition governments have little authority in the global community, and are not in a position to help shape international policy. Therefore, there is really no incentive to get these opposition governments to conform to the standards of international law. Yes, they may face the threat of being tried as war criminals, but that threat is remote and so unlikely that it does not seem to have a meaningful impact on behavior. Furthermore, given that many powerful Western nations regularly engage in the use of troops under the age of 18, but over the age of 15, it is exceedingly unlikely that any international organization with any power to enforce its rules will suggest the criminalization of all use of children as soldiers.

Of course, people have suggested changing legal standards in a meaningful way, in order to bar the use of children as soldiers. The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers offers several suggestions for how the International Community can crack down on the problem of child soldiers. It strongly supports the use of the International Criminal Court, which was established in 1998, to prosecute those using child soldiers. This has been a successful tactic in other countries. That court "announced its first investigations in 2003, in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, where child soldiers are extensively used by armed groups. In 2006 it successfully prosecuted a Congolese warlord for recruitment of children."

This tactic may be more successful than individual prosecutions may seem because:

Some armed groups are seeking international legitimacy and support for their political objectives. Negative publicity arising from child soldier use might undermine such support and lead to pledges and action to stop the practice. Armed groups may also respond to pressure from governments tacitly supporting their activities or providing military or other assistance. In some cases armed groups may be open to negotiations with governments or the UN aimed at demobilizing child soldiers. If children continue to be used, the Coalition considers that the international community should act decisively with targeted sanctions and prosecutions to stop the operations of such groups.

Hypothesis

Despite international laws and treaties aimed at increasing human right for children, the International Community has failed to eliminate the use of children in military activities.

Delimitation

Although the use of child soldiers is a significant problem in many African countries, this case study is limited to the countries of Burundi and Sudan, the time period from 1992-2002, due to an overabundance of reporting stemming from increased civil unrest. However, it must be acknowledged that the civil wars in both of these countries have resulted in border skirmishes in addition to inter-country combat. It is not unusual for forces in Burundi or Sudan to send child troops for training in a neighboring country, or to prevent child refugees from leaving for a neighboring country. Therefore, while this study is focused on Burundi and Sudan, it will, necessarily, also consider the use of child soldiers in all of Africa.

Definition of Terms

For the purposes of this thesis, the term "military activities" includes any military-based activity and is not limited to combat. For example, the use of children in intelligence-gathering would be considered a military activity, as would the use of children in the front lines of battle. Furthermore, for the purposes of this paper, child will be defined as it was defined by the United Nations General Assembly in The Convention on the Rights of the Child, as "A person under age 18."

It is important to keep in mind that this paper's definition of a child soldier differs from the definition under international law, which only prohibits the use of children under 15.

Assumptions

The International Community has failed to adequately protect children from being engaged in military activity. One of the assumptions contained in that statement is that children suffer unique harm when forced to engage in military activity:

Physically vulnerable and easily intimidated, children typically make obedient soldiers. Many are abducted or recruited by force, and often compelled to follow orders under threat of death. Others join armed groups out of desperation. As society breaks down during conflict, leaving children no access to school, driving them from their homes, or separating them from family members, many children perceive armed groups as their best chance for survival. Others seek escape from poverty or join military forces to avenge family members who have been killed.

In addition to facing the same risks of harm as adult combatants, "Children are often at an added disadvantage as combatants. Their immaturity may lead them to take excessive risks."

In addition, children are perceived as more dispensable than adult soldiers, so that they frequently receive inadequate training and supplies, resulting in them being massacred in combat.

Children begin being used for military service at very young ages, frequently as young as age seven, when they are used as porters, messengers, and spies.

Once able to carry full-size weapons, children are used in combat and at checkpoints. In fact, adult soldiers are seen standing behind children manning checkpoints, so that the children will be the ones to die in the event of an attack.

In some countries, child soldiers are forced to take drug and alcohol, which, combined with the systemic abuse they face from adults and the pervasive culture of violence, leads these child soldiers to commit atrocities.

In addition, while boys are more likely to be pressed into military service than girls, members of both sexes are recruited. However, while boys are expected to be soldiers, in addition to taking up arms against enemies, girls are expected to act as wives, providing sexual services for soldiers. So, child sexual abuse is intricately linked to the use of children as soldiers.

Moreover, none of these countries provide any type of services to transition former child soldiers into civilian life, nor to protect civilians from the impact of having children encouraged to engage in violence rejoin the civilian population. In fact, "there are reports that the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), which have used many thousands of children in their struggle against the regime in Khartoum, is finally realizing that they have created a generation of children who cannot read or write and know only the respect that is earned by the barrel of a gun."

As a result, the use of child soldiers in Burundi and Sudan has become a cause for international concern, not only because of the abuses suffered by these children, but because of the real danger created when an entire generations of males is raised to view violence as the only alternative.

Methodology

This thesis will use a review of the available literature to uncover the facts behind the use of the children in the military in Africa, specifically in Burundi and Sudan. The review will focus on the impact of this service on the affected children, the impact of this service on the rest of the civilian population, and the international community's response or lack of response to the problem.

Discussion

It is important to understand that the use of children in the military did not develop in a vacuum. On the contrary, it is an after effect of tremendous violence in both of the impacted countries. For example, Burundi had a long history of political violence, which began before its civil war started in 1993. Prior to that time, the government engaged in political violence, usually aimed at its Hutu civilians. However, it is important to understand that this violence was not unprovoked; it was generally a response to Hutu attacks on the Tutsi-controlled government. This violence begot "a seemingly endless cycle of reprisals and counter-reprisals.

The direct origins of the current violence in Burundi began in October 1993, and the violence was sparked by a military coup attempt and the subsequent assassination of Burundi's first Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye.

This incident led to a tremendous increase in what has been referred to as tribal violence by many Western nations, but is more accurately described as a cultural conflict. Supporters of Ndadaye responded to his assassination by killing Tutsi civilians. The Tutsi, working on the same side as the government's forces, retaliated by attacking Hutu civilians, many of whom were unarmed.

These events culminated in a division of Burundi's population: the Tutsi fled to towns and sought the protection of the armed forces, while the Hutu went to the countryside.

The events also may provide the secrets for the origins of the use of child soldiers. Fighting-age males were the members of the populations most likely to flee in the face of coming violence, initially; it appears, with the belief that their absence would prevent violence against women and children. However, when it was clear that the armed bands, on both sides of the dispute, would not hesitate to use violence against women and children, it became somewhat necessary for children to arm themselves. In addition, the armed political gangs were largely youth-oriented. "Gangs of young unemployed and delinquent youth s…formed the nucleus of armed political groups which came into being after October 1993. Such gangs existed in both the Hutu and Tutsi communities."

Burundi, which has not signed the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, has no legal provision for conscription in Burundi. Prior to 1993, it is believed that the minimum age for voluntary enrollment was 18 years, which the government acknowledges has been reduced to 16 years, although the government has been unwilling to turn over copies of national recruitment legislation.

The government of Burundi continues to deny that they use children in combat, but does acknowledge using children under the age of 15 to collect information. "In fact, these children, who serve as kind of housekeepers, are completely integrated into the military environment. They wear military uniforms, they sleep in the same rooms as the soldiers, and they are taught to use weapons. It is rare to see them actually training with soldiers, but they are obliged to work for them -- cooking, carrying water, coal or wood, or washing uniforms."

Furthermore, the government uses other means to bring children into the military. First, it has set up compulsory civic service for students, allegedly to reduce the hold that extremist groups have over youth. However, available information suggests that this civic service is actually military in nature.

In addition to the regular military, the government encouraged the Tutsi to form armed groups, which were composed of people, aged 12 to 25 who were recruited from sports and school groups.

In addition, the Burundi government uses military schools, which generally have a minimum age of 13 for entry. There are an estimated 36,000 children attending the different levels and areas of study at the schools, and all of these children are believed to be members of the armed forces.

What makes the use of child soldiers such a difficult problem to surmount in a country like Burundi is that the country is basically involved in a civil war. However, the Hutu opposition is divided into several different groups, with no single group having bargaining authority for the others. However, the different groups seem to agree on at least one thing:

No opposition armed group has, so far, pledged not to recruit children into its ranks, and according to the army the Hutu groups are increasingly being made up of child soldiers, including both boys and girls under 15 years of age. The Hutu groups recruit children from the most vulnerable groups, such as street children, and train them. At the beginning of the conflict, it is estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 children below the age of 18 had been sent to the Central African Republic, Rwanda and Tanzania for training. Between 1,000 and 1,500 children of both sexes were recruited. Boys became spies and were sent to the camps of the regular forces and girls were used as wives and cooks. But most of the time these children are not well trained and are therefore often massacred in combat.

Like Burundi, Sudan is involved in what amounts to a civil war. In 1983, the Sudanese Government began fighting a rebellion in the South. The rebellion was led by several different groups, including the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA). In 1989, "Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan el-Bashir seized power and the National Islamic Front (NIF) emerged as the power behind the coup."

In response, the Sudanese government attempted to divide the opposition. Its attempts were successful and the SPLA split into the SPLA and the Southern Sudan Independence Movement/Army (SSIA). The SSIA joined forces with the Sudanese government. The fighting in the south led to tens of thousands of civilian deaths, as well as the displacement of a large proportion of the population, many who sought refuge in neighboring countries. The Sudanese government faces opposition from the North and the South, under the nominal leadership of the National Democratic Alliance, headed by John Garang.

The opposition and government forces have aligned and realigned on numerous occasions. Furthermore, Sudan is also fighting with the neighboring countries of Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Sudan has also not signed the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

However, Sudan is open about the fact that it conscripts people into the army; every citizen is subject to conscription, and in 1992, mandatory military service became part of Sudanese law. Despite these laws, the regular call-up failed to establish a standing army of sufficient size, and the government turned to forced recruitment:

Children as young as 12 years of age were forcibly enrolled into the armed forces or the Popular Defence Forces; street children were an easy target for such recruitment. In late 1997, it was further reported that the Government had decreed, in June of that year, that all boys, typically of ages 17 to 19, were obliged to do between 12 and 18 months compulsory military service to be able to receive a certificate on leaving secondary school. Students need such a certificate for entry into university, and the decree effectively broadened the conscription base.

In fact, Omer Abdul Marouf, the Minister of Defence, made it clear that students who did not report for military service could not go on to higher education, go abroad, or do business in the country.