Topic: Reintegrating Former Child Soldiers
Country: Tunisia
Delegate Name: Alison Pinos
School: Forest Hills Northern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Tunisia position papers GLIMUN 2014 committees
Although Africa has a very high percentage of child soldiers, the Republic of Tunisia bans children from participating in the military. Over 300,000 children are soldiers in the world today, and Tunisia doesn’t believe that is right. What is most important for children is a good education; if learning is affected because of militaries, following generations will not be educated enough. If the UN plans on eradicating children soldiers by 2016, other countries are going to need to join together and fight this. But not with kids.
Technically, a person must be 20 years old to join the military. But, if the person’s parents are okay with them joining and if they give the government their consent, they can join at 18 or 19. Anyone under the age of 18 is prohibited from this, though. This is expressed in articles 1 and 27 of the Act of 14 March 1989. In 2013, improvements to the constitution were written which gave children legal protection from the military before 20 years of age, also known as the National Plan of Action to Combat Child Labor.
It is not only important, but vital for former child soldiers to receive the education they need to find jobs. Schooling needs to be accessible to these children, so that they will go. Also, they need to be able to receive medical and psychiatric attention when and if they need it. What is most important for these children is to feel safe after they were forced to join the military; the best way to ensure that this does not happen is to prevent it, but not every country is considering the lives of these children an issue, so making sure that they get what they need after all they have gone through is essential.
