CHILD SOLDIERS

This comes from a fellow Culture Kitchen contributor. I want to note that the book, A Long Way Gone, is amazing. This is a hugely important issue and I thank Robert Harding for posting it. I also will note that the inclusion of Israel on the list of government forces that use child soldiers below is slightly misleading. See this report on Israel and Palestine's treatment of children with regards to military issues (PDF) for a clearer picture.

If you want to read a truly gripping book and educate yourself about a key international issue, read A Long Way Gone: Memoirs Of A Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah (pronounced bay-uh).

Beah spoke Wednesday at the University at Buffalo. He read excerpts from his book and talked about many issues regarding child soldiers, especially in Africa. He also answered many questions, including one about hip-hop music. If you read the book, you'll understand why that question was relevant.

I took a lot out of Beah's appearance because he did address U.S. foreign policy regarding the issue of child soldiers. According to Beah, 9 of the 20 countries with known child soldiers in combat have received military aid from the United States.

That might be surprising (or not), and when I heard this, I got angry. Obviously, we have made some poor foreign policy decisions in recent years, but this definitely is one of the worst I've heard. We are, directly or indirectly, condoning and ignoring the issue of child soldiers worldwide.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), there are over 300,000 child soldiers fighting throughout the world. HRW also listed 33 countries in the world where child soldiers are fighting and what type of groups they are serving in. Here is the complete list (also from HRW):

G indicates children are serving in government forces
P in paramilitaries, and
O in opposition forces.

Colombia (P,O)
Mexico (P,O)
Peru (O)
Russian Fed (O)
Turkey (O)
Yugoslavia (P,O)
Algeria (P,O)
Angola (G,O)
Burundi (G,O)
Chad, (G)
Repub of Congo, (G,O)
DRC (G,O)
Eritrea (G)
Ethiopia (G)
Rwanda (G,O)
Sierra Leone (all groups)
Somalia (all groups)
Sudan (G,P,O)
Uganda (G,O)
Afghanistan (all groups)
Iran (G,O)
Iraq (G,O)
Israel and OT (G,O)
Lebanon (O)
India (P,O)
Indonesia (P,O)
Myanmar (G,O)
Nepal (O)
Pakistan (O)
Philippines (O)
Solomon Islands (O)
Papua New Guniea (O)
Sri Lanka (O)
East Timor (P,O)
Tajikistan (O)
Uzbekistan (O)

Notice Iraq on the list? How about Israel and Afghanistan? Sierra Leone is where Beah lived, so if you read the book, you would know that one. Myanmar look familiar? How about Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda? And probably more disturbing, considering our proximity to the country, what about Mexico?

This should be a wake up call, not only to citizens of this country but to politicians who have virtually ignored this problem.

Yet, Congress might make a move --- a postive, bi-partisan move on this issue. Beah mentioned during his lecture at UB that there was legislation introduced by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). After I returned back from the lecture, I decided to check out this legislation to see what I could find out about it, what it contains, etc.

Senate bill no. 1175, or the Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2007 defines what a child soldier is, sets forth goals in diplomacy to remedy this worldwide problem and also provides statutes that say that the United States will not provide military or any other foriegn aid to countries who recruit and use child soldiers.

And the best part about this legislation that Durbin introduced is that in the Senate, it has received 29 co-sponsors. I don't think you'll see too many bills with Barbara Boxer and Tom Coburn co-sponsoring legislation. Same goes for Chris Dodd and Sam Brownback. I would hope that this bill can make it through Congress and it would be approved by the president.

To close, a hearing on this topic was held before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law. Among those who testified before the committee, Beah provided outstanding testimony that was similar to what I heard Wednesday at UB and what Beah wrote in his book. Please read all the testimony given at the hearing and the statements made by Durbin, Coburn, Brownback and Sen. Russ Feingold.

Watch the full hearing here. This is an important issue. Contact your representatives and senators about this and tell them to support the Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2007.