The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2004

ness to loot, rape women and abduct children. Child Soldiers In 1999, Convention 182 of the International Labor Organization was adopted to eliminate the worst forms of child labor, including the use of child soldiers. The conven- tion is also the first international treaty to set 18 years of age as the minimum age for military participa- tion. NGOs monitoring the situa- tion estimate that during the past 17 years of fighting in Uganda, more than 20,000 children have been abducted by the LRA. The United Nations reports that currently 10 to 20 children are abducted daily in northern Uganda. Human Rights Watch estimates that over 4,000 children were abducted between June and October 2002 alone. They also note that while nearly 8,000 children have escaped, the boys who are unable to escape are forced to live as child soldiers, while girls are held captive as child brides, sex slaves or laborers. Abducted children live in virtual slavery at clandestine LRA camps, serving as guards and being forced to participate in the killings of other children who attempt to escape. Child soldiers are faced with only two choices — kill or be killed. Children between 12 and 16 years of age make up 90 percent of the LRA. The majority of these chil- dren were captured when they were quite young: they have been indoc- trinated, trained to fight and have had to endure a life filled with vio- lence. The majority of children in the LRA do not remember living a life free of violence and chaos. Children who do succeed in escaping or have been rescued by the UPDF are eligible for a U.S government-funded program aimed at rehabilitating and reintegrating them back into their communities. This program provides services and assistance to former child soldiers, including child wives and IDPs, to transition back to a normal commu- nity lifestyle. Further, the U.S. is funding a program to expand access to quality education in the wartorn area of the north for children at risk of being exploited as child soldiers and those who have been rescued. Families are usually more willing to accept the males back into the com- munity. The females, who have been raped or forced to be child brides, often have a more difficult time being accepted. There are reports by several NGOs alleging that the UPDF is also involved in recruiting child sol- diers, sometimes forcibly, despite Uganda's ratification of Convention 182. Much of the forced recruit- ment of children is alleged to take place within “protected” villages and camps in northern Uganda, where the children are recruited by government forces as trackers to help locate LRA camps. Human rights monitors in the region report that UPDF personnel offer former- ly abducted children financial incentives to join their ranks. The UPDF has publicly declared it would spare no efforts to maintain 68 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 4 Child soldiers are faced with only two choices — kill or be killed.