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| Drawings by children recruited in Sierra Leone |
They can not erase the past, and its memory haunts them day and night, endless nightmare that it is impossible to wake up.
They are locked in a present without the possibility of looking to the future, because their memories of the past are the ballast that keeps them from moving forward.
Terrible memories of killings, rapes and mutilations. Of dehumanized life, full of hate and fear.
The vague memory of a happier time yet cause even more damage, because it was violently taken away.
A childhood of games, friends, family and neighborhood that was broken the day when the military arrived. They killed men and women, also the babies. Suddenly, the flames only. The younger boys and girls were taken with them, either fled and joined an armed group seeking safety and shelter. Children who have seen how their parents and siblings were murdered and their homes burned down.
Boys forced to kill a friend in exchange for their own lifes to show loyalty and courage. Girls used as sex slaves, raped over and over, pregnant and forced to abort. Minors beaten, tortured, raped, brutalized, scared ... and so a long list of abuses.
Fear, hatred and uprooting are the keys to turn a minor into a soldier. It is estimated that there are more than 300,000 worldwide.
The disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs turn them again into civilians when they achieve to leave the army, whether regular or irregular. But it is not easy to return to civilian life when they have spent so much time as soldiers in armed conflicts. Orphans, homeless, rootless, with shame for the atrocities committed and the fear of not being accepted back by their communities. This, together with the strong links forged with military life, makes reintegration very difficult but not impossible. Many of these children return to study and learn a trade. Hopefully, they will be forgiven and accepted by their communities. Other re-enlist, unable to forget their past and find their future.
Any peace process requires to look forward, remember the innocent victims, to forgive and regret.
As we age we only left our memories. If stealing a life is death, stealing the memories is like dying in life. It is disheartening to think that child soldiers have died in life twice. The first when their families were snatched from them, the second when they were forced to kill or die in a forgotten war. Both memories are so heartbreaking that they prefer not to dwell on them. Memories stolen, postponed childhood.
They are locked in a present without the possibility of looking to the future, because their memories of the past are the ballast that keeps them from moving forward.
Terrible memories of killings, rapes and mutilations. Of dehumanized life, full of hate and fear.
The vague memory of a happier time yet cause even more damage, because it was violently taken away.
A childhood of games, friends, family and neighborhood that was broken the day when the military arrived. They killed men and women, also the babies. Suddenly, the flames only. The younger boys and girls were taken with them, either fled and joined an armed group seeking safety and shelter. Children who have seen how their parents and siblings were murdered and their homes burned down.
Boys forced to kill a friend in exchange for their own lifes to show loyalty and courage. Girls used as sex slaves, raped over and over, pregnant and forced to abort. Minors beaten, tortured, raped, brutalized, scared ... and so a long list of abuses.
Fear, hatred and uprooting are the keys to turn a minor into a soldier. It is estimated that there are more than 300,000 worldwide.
The disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs turn them again into civilians when they achieve to leave the army, whether regular or irregular. But it is not easy to return to civilian life when they have spent so much time as soldiers in armed conflicts. Orphans, homeless, rootless, with shame for the atrocities committed and the fear of not being accepted back by their communities. This, together with the strong links forged with military life, makes reintegration very difficult but not impossible. Many of these children return to study and learn a trade. Hopefully, they will be forgiven and accepted by their communities. Other re-enlist, unable to forget their past and find their future.
Any peace process requires to look forward, remember the innocent victims, to forgive and regret.
As we age we only left our memories. If stealing a life is death, stealing the memories is like dying in life. It is disheartening to think that child soldiers have died in life twice. The first when their families were snatched from them, the second when they were forced to kill or die in a forgotten war. Both memories are so heartbreaking that they prefer not to dwell on them. Memories stolen, postponed childhood.
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| ©UNICEF/Olivier Asselin |
"I remember the day I decided to join the mayi-mayi. It was after an attack on my village. My parents, and also my grand-father were killed and I was running. I was so scared. I lost everyone; I had nowhere to go and no food to eat. In the mayi-mayi I thought I would be protected, but it was hard. I would see others die in front of me. I was hungry very often, and I was scared. Sometimes they would whip me, sometimes very hard. They used to say that it would make me a better fighter. One day, they whipped my [11-year-old] friend to death because he had not killed the enemy. Also, what I did not like is to hear the girls, our friends, crying because the soldiers would rape them."
Jacques, from DRC, was recruited into an insurgent group (mayi-mayi) when he was 10 years old
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