Topic: Reintegrating Former Child Soldiers
Country: Congo
Delegate Name: Gus Hlavacek
School: Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Congo position papers GLIMUN 2014 committees
Since the war between North and South Kivu ended in 2002 the amount of children enlisted as soldiers has gone down, with tens of thousands of child soldiers being released since then. However, there are still children in the army that were drafted in through integration processes, and truly effective ways and tools to completely keep children out of the draft are still missing in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Unfortunately in late 2011 to early 2012 conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo intensified, leading to a slight increase of the amount of child soldiers in our nation particularly in Eastern regions, as well as allegations of support from Rwanda of these groups.
In March of 2012, International Criminal Court convicted Thomas Lubanga of the war crime of enlisting and conscripting under-15s and using them in hostile environments, and on October 4th, 2012, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo signed an Action Plan to end the use of child soldiers in their forces.
Our nation recognizes not only the physical damage that happens to these child soldiers but also the mental damage of being forced into the army at such a young age as well as the importance of addressing this issue. Because of this, we are currently working with Child Soldiers International with a goal to “Support national NGOs working on child soldier prevention at provincial and community levels to carry out advocacy with administrative, military and judicial authorities, and engage with armed forces, armed groups and affected communities.”
