Saturday, May 10, 2008 Oledan: Suffer the children By Radzini Oledan
SPARE the children.
It's another classic tale of children caught in the crossfire. Just last April 26, two girls were caught in crossfire between government soldiers and the New People's Army in a remote village in Monkayo, Compostela Valley.
All over the world, young boys and girls are stripped of their innocence, unable to go to school and living a hard life either in their own homes or in the streets. Children in far-flung rural areas are caught in armed conflict.
Studies show that as young as seven years old, children are use not only in combat duty but also as couriers. Whether as battle hardened combatants or taking part in activities such as foot patrol, guard or medical team duties and doing chores such as preparing food or carrying supplies, they live under harsh and hazardous conditions.
They suffer from physical and mental abuse, facing the danger of getting injured or killed in encounters.
Armed or not, they are children with human rights.
The International Law Office of the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-Ipec) said the invisibility of their condition makes it hard to provide an accurate picture of children in armed conflicts, the Department of Social Welfare and Development said.
The ILO-Ipec estimated that anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of the children in any given community influenced by either the NPA or MILF are drafted as soldiers. This means that if there is a child population of 1,000 to 1,500 in such a community, anywhere between 100 and 450 of them are soldiers.
Peculiar in the local context is the phenomenon of "part time" child soldiers.
Children, who joined the armed groups, do not necessarily stop going to school. Also, overall membership to any of these armed groups swell or decrease depending on developments in the national and international scene.
Children most likely to become child soldiers are those from impoverished and marginalized rural or urban communities and families.
Many of these at risk children live in the conflict zone and while most child soldiers are male adolescents, there has been an increase in the number of girl-child soldiers in recent years.
Poverty, injustice, displacement, lack of access to education and other opportunities, a culture of violence and militarization, the proliferation of small arms, economic disparity and other factors contribute to the involvement of children in armed forces and armed groups.
Children voluntarily join the armed groups for their own protection and also due to peer pressure and curiosity. Many children become members of armed groups to escape conflicts in the family.
Military life under armed groups becomes the best option for survival, considering the lack of basic resources and access to education in their areas.
Nobody can claim innocence over a condition that robs children of the best start in life. (Email comments to roledan@gmail.com.)
