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H.E. Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah
President of the Republic of Sierra Leone
Minister of Defence and Commander and Chief of the Armed Forces
Freetown, Sierra Leone

Dear President Kabbah:

Human Rights Watch would like to commend the government of Sierra Leone on its pledge to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, not to recruit children under the age of 18 for its armed forces and to facilitate the demobilization and reintegration of child combatants.

Human Rights Watch is deeply concerned about recent reports from journalists and children's rights advocates that the Kamajor civil defense force has recently recruited large numbers of children in Bo and Kenema. After initiation into the Kamajor society, many children and adolescents are called upon to perform more dangerous functions than have traditionally been the province of Kamajor local defense forces. They are often placed into combatant roles in the national conflict and are involved in significant military operations. In accordance with its international commitments, the Government of Sierra Leone should instruct commanders, recruiters, and initiators of the Kamajors and other Civil Defense Forces (CDFs) not to recruit or initiate children under 18, or to deploy children in combat activities. In addition, the government should monitor the Kamajors and other CDFs to ensure that minors do not participate in armed forces.

Human Rights Watch commends the Government of Sierra Leone on its efforts, together with UNICEF and the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), to demobilize former child soldiers who have been released by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council and Revolutionary United Front. We urge the government to follow through on its international commitments to effectively oversee the demobilization and reintegration of child combatants from all sides, and to take measures to ensure that these children are not re-recruited.

Finally, as the Government of Sierra Leone prepares for the eventual departure of ECOMOG and begins recruiting and training its own national army, we are pleased to note that steps are being taken to ensure that new recruits are age 18 or older. To aid this goal, Human Rights Watch recommends the following steps if not already implemented:

  • make the 18-year minimum explicit in all recruitment materials and announcements;
  • require new recruits to provide proof that they are at least 18 years of age;
  • ensure that the policy is communicated to all commanders, and particularly those overseeing the recruitment and enlistment process; and
  • monitor the recruitment and training process to verify that no children under the age of 18 have been recruited.

Although international law (as defined in the Geneva Conventions of 1949, their Additional Protocols of 1977 and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child) clearly prohibits the recruitment of any child under the age of 15, an international consensus is building in favor of the prohibitions on any military recruitment below the age of 18. The decision by the government of Sierra Leone to establish 18 as the minimum age is consistent with this emerging consensus, and sets an important example for other military forces.

Emotionally and physically immature, children are ill-equipped to deal with the harsh realities of armed conflict. Because of their inexperience and lack of training, child soldiers suffer far higher casualty rates than their adult counterparts. Those who survive may be permanently disabled, or bear psychological scars from being forced to both commit and witness horrific atrocities. Former child combatants often require much more intensive rehabilitation and reintegration services than adult soldiers following a conflict. Often denied an education and the opportunity to learn skills that are beneficial to civilian society, former child combatants are often drawn back into conflicts, and are easy prey for armed groups and criminal gangs.

Last month, more than 250 representatives of Governments and civil society from fifty countries participated in the African conference on the use of child soldiers, held in Maputo, Mozambique. On April 22, participants adopted a declaration condemning the use of any child under the age of eighteen by any armed force or armed group, and calling upon all African states to ensure that children are not recruited into armed forces or militia forces under their jurisdiction, and that all child combatants are demobilized, rehabilitated, and reintegrated into society.

The growing condemnation of the use of child soldiers by the international community is also reflected in Graca Machel's 1996 report to the United Nations on the impact of armed conflict on children, the United Nations Security Council statements of June 1998 and February 1999, the UN Secretary General's announcement in October 1998 of a new policy establishing 18 as the minimum age for all UN peacekeepers, and the formation last year of the international Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, which is actively campaigning for the adoption and implementation of international standards prohibiting the recruitment or participation of children under the age of eighteen in armed conflict.

We have also sent a letter to the leadership of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council and Revolutionary United Front, urging them to respect international standards and stop using child soldiers.

The use of children as combatants contravenes common standards of decency. Human Rights Watch commends your efforts to exclude children from your new national army. We also urge you to take further steps to ensure that children are not recruited for military service by the Kamajors or other CDFs and to follow through on your commitment to demobilize children and reintegrate them into society.

We greatly appreciate your attention to this vital matter.

Sincerely,


Peter Takirambudde
Executive Director, Africa Division

Lois Whitman
Executive Director, Children's Rights Division

cc:

  • Brigadier General Mitikishe Maxwell Khobe, Chief of Defence Staff, Armed Forces of Sierra Leone
  • Captain Retired Samuel Hinga Norman, Deputy Minister of Defence
  • Olara Otunnu, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict

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