Dora Vrdlovec is Soroptimist International’s lead UN Representative in Vienna. In this week’s SoroptiVoice blog, she writes about meeting Kon Kelei, a former child soldier from South Sudan who is now an advocate for the rights of young people affected by war.

 On the 12^th February 2002 the General Assembly adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which outlaws the enforced recruitment and use of children and adolescents under 18 in armed conflicts. (Resolution A/RES/54/263). 144 Member States have ratified this important document.

In spite this huge international concern armed groups and even regular government forces, continue to recruit and use child soldiers. Many of them have been recruited by force or under misleading information and cannot leave the armed unit.  

“Children are easy to manipulate and can be forced into violence they are too young to resist or understand, they are taught not to trust anybody, but to hate everyone. Discipline and obedience are enforced by brutal methods, lack of food and drinking water, by long marches, cholera, malaria and wild animals while staying in the bush" explained Kon Kelei – a former child soldier from South Sudan and now an advocate for the rights of young people affected by war.

To mark the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers on February 12, a photo exhibition of the UN on Child Soldiers and their Broken Childhood was shown at the Heeresgeschichtliches (Military History) Museum in Vienna, aimed particularly at schools. Kon Kelei spoke to students about his experiences; he was taken by the SPLA (The Sudan People’s Liberation Army) at the age of 4 and managed to escape at the age of ten.

"Most conflicts today are fought with small arms and light weapons. Lightweight automatic weapons are becoming cheap and simple to operate and carry. Children learn how to use an AK-47 in 45 minutes”

“Both boys and girls are sent to the front line of combat or into minefields ahead of older troops. Some serve as porters, cooks, guards, servants, messengers, or spies. Others have been used for suicide missions or forced to commit atrocities against their own families and neighbours’ quite often under very strong drugs in order to switch off fears, conscience, and hunger. “

Many children, who live under inhuman circumstances, survive handicapped, blind or traumatized for the rest of their lives. Boys are not the only ones at risk. Approximately one third of child soldiers are girls. They have to carry out the same tasks as the boys but, in addition, they are frequently subjects of sexual violence and are forced to be the commanders’ "wives" or sex slaves. As a consequence many of them are infected with HIV/AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases and a lot of them become pregnant.

“Their suffering is not over once these young people return home. Some discover that their families have been killed or their homes are destroyed. Many have to cope with their physical disabilities. There is hardly a chance of finding a job or to return to school, and crime or prostitution seems to be the only alternatives.”

These girls are stigmatized and have to live with their babies under extreme conditions. They don’t want to be identified as  "bush wives" and their children labelled as "rebel babies". Very often rebel groups refuse to give up the girls at all, they would rather release their children.

Communities may find it difficult to accept former child soldiers, and the adolescents may reject community rules and traditions. Communities, families and former child soldiers need financial support and assistance to re-establish social structures and psychological boundaries and create opportunities to rebuild their lives

Kon Kelei has a Master’s degree in International Law taken in Holland, where he managed finally to escape. Having returned to live in South Sudan, he founded the Cuey Machar Secondary School Foundation (www.cmsf.nl), a secondary school where boy and girls can study together and learn to respect each other. He is also developing reintegration and rehabilitation standards for international organisations.

Responding to a question I asked about NGOs, he was slightly critical of the international organisations working in the field of reintegration of children and youth affected by war. He feels that they don’t have a holistic approach, social and psychological, and they don’t identify the special qualities of each young person. IN addition, their programs are far too short, so when the organisation leave thse country, they leave behind only bigger social problems. Kelei believes that we shouldn’t make separate programs for boys and girls, but programs for children, for all of them. This is very important to him.

Facts and figures

• 250,000 child soldiers worldwide
• 2 million children killed
• 6 million children permanently disabled
• 20 situations of concern
• 56 parties recruit and use children

 Read more about the exhibition at www.hgm.or.at.

Find out more about former child soldier Kon Kelei.

Image: www.warchild.org.uk