The Use of Child Soldiers: The Children of Conflict.
Featured Image: A child soldier of the Liberian rebel group LURD at the Po River (2004). By United States Army Africa, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
12 February is the United Nations sponsored International Day Against the Use of Child Soldiers. Efforts to counter the use of persons under 18 years of age in the military began with non-governmental efforts in 1979 – which the U.N. had proclaimed as “The International Year of the Child”.
Nicolas Hulot, who later became well known in France for his reporting on ecology and the defence of the environment, had written “Ces Enfants qui souffrent” (Paris: Sipa-Press, 1978). He highlighted children dying from malnutrition, disease, and injury caused by wars and natural disasters. Hulot’s cry of conscience showed children fighting and being trained to fight in a number of countries in different parts of the world.
Nicolas Hulot at the Fête de l’Humanité 2008. By Olivier « toutoune25 » Tétard, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.
Impact of Armed Conflict on Children.
Concern with the welfare of children has been an inter-governmental concern going back to the League of Nations days. However, the use of child soldiers was rarely mentioned as the professional military prior to the Second World War had persons over 18, usually the youngest were in their 20s. However, the German Nazi used very young men in the last days of the war to try to limit the impact of the Allied forces within Germany. There were a number of films and books which told of their efforts. However, attention did not carry on once the Nazi forces were defeated.
Building on the NGO efforts in 1979 during the International Year of the Child, in the period 1993-1996, there was a U.N. study on the “Impact of Armed Conflict on Children” led by Ms Graca Machel, later the wife of Nelson Mandela. She wrote:
“For too long, the consequences for children have been tolerated as an unfortunate but inevitable side effect of war. In reality, children have increasingly become targets and not incidental victims, as a result of conscious and deliberate decisions made by adults.”
Image: Stanley Bruce chairing the League of Nations Council in 1936. Joachim von Ribbentrop is addressing the council. By Commonwealth of Australia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
The League of Nations and its unused Peace Army.
As a result of the Graca Machel study in 1997, the U.N. General Assembly named Ambassador Olara A. Otunnu as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. He placed an emphasis on the moral vacuum in which all restraints have been eroded and discarded – a world in which children are no longer precious. He wrote:
“At the heart of this growing phenomenon of mass violence and social disintegration is a crisis of values. Perhaps the most fundamental loss a society can suffer is the collapse of its own value system. Many societies exposed to protracted conflicts have seen their community values radically undermined, if not shattered altogether. This has given rise to an ethical vacuum – a setting in which international standards are ignored with impunity and where local value systems have lost their sway. Distinctions between civilians and combatants have broken down. Children, women, the elderly – all have become fair game in the single-minded struggle for power.”
Madame Graça Machel at the Sports for Peace Gala 2010 in Johannesburg. By Madame_Graca_Machel.TIF: Sportsforpeacederivative work: Rosentod, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Ambassador Otunnu was from Uganda which had seen more than its share of the breakdown of social norms and resulting violence such as that carried on by the Lord’s Reistance Army which systematically abducted children to be used as soldiers, porters, and sex slaves starting in 1987 but building on earlier armed movements. He was in exile and given citizenship by the Cote d’Ivoire which had appointed him Ambassador to the U.N. During the sessions of the U.N. Committee on Human Rights, he was in Geneva, and we had long discussions. He was very open to the spirit of Citizens of the World and the need to develop universal norms so as to move beyond an unregulated struggle for power.
Olara Otunnu wrote:
“Children represent the future of human civilization and the future of every society. To permit them to be used as pawns in warfare, whether as targets or perpetrators, is to cast a shadow on the future. From generation to generation, violence begets violence, as the abused grow up to become abusers. Children who are thus violated carry the scars of fear and hatred in their hearts and minds. Forced to learn to kill instead of pursuing education, the children of conflict lack the knowledge and skills needed to build their futures and the futures of their communities. For a society, the lives destroyed and the opportunities lost could have a devastating effect on its long-term stability and development.”
René Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens.

President, Association of World Citizens (AWC).
Estudied International relations in The University of Chicago.
Estudied Special Program in European Civilization en Princeton University
Here are other publications that may be of interest to you.
Alternatives to War: Renewal and Impact.
Featured Image: Ukrainian T-72AV with a white cross during the 2022 Ukrainian Kharkiv counteroffensive. By Mil.gov.ua, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. One year into the Russia-Ukraine War, one…
Education in Tibet.
Featured Image: Foto de 和 平 en Unsplash. 17 Feb 2023 – Three United Nations Human Rights Council Special Rapporteurs have recently highlighted the quality and methods of education of Tibetan students. Farida…
United Nations Appeal to Facilitate Aid to Syria by Removing Sanctions.
Featured Image Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels. On 10 February 2023, Special Rapporteurs of the Human Rights Council made an urgent Appeal to facilitate aid to Syria by removing…
Kuan Yin : She who harkens to the cries of the world Wise in using skilful means, She manifests her countless form.
Photo by xiaochi1989 in Pixabay By Rene Wadlow. May all living beings recognise others as part of the same family; and so develop kindness towards all. May we contribute to peace…
When will we meet again?
Featured Image: Picture By Boris Ulzibat: https://www.pexels.com/es-es/foto/arquitectura-china-la-gran-muralla-china-lugares-de-interes-3262994/ In an article “Tensions in the Asian Trinity: China, Japan, U.S.A.” I noted that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was to visit Beijine…
Stronger Respect for International Humanitarian Law Needed: NGO Action Required.
Featured Image: Foto de Pavel Danilyuk: https://www.pexels.com/es-es/foto/estatuilla-burocracia-ley-firma-8112193/ The carnage in the Ukraine conflict and the continued actions by ethnic militias in the Democratic Republic of Congo has highlighted the fact…
Reconciliation in Africa: A Vital Need.
Featured Image: USAID has integrated reconciliation and trauma healing into peace building. This has helped communities moveout of the cycle of violence and revenge.Photo credit: Pact/Aernout Zevenbergen. By USAID in…
Biodiversity: A Pledge, Now Action.
Featured Image: Photo by Jeevan Katel on Unsplash. In the early hours of 19 December 2022, the delegates to the U. N. Convention on Biodiversity (COP 15) reached an agreement…
Ongoing Armed Conflicts and the Need for Stronger Track Two Efforts.
Featured Image: Photo by Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash. The continuing armed conflict in Ukraine and the likelihood that the conflict will drag on through the winter, the 11th…
U.N. Human Rights Council Focus on Iran.
Featured Image: Ebrahim Raisi By Nasim Online, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons. On 24 November 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Council held a Special Session on the…