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The Future for Child Soldiers in Liberia

As previously noted, plans to begin a comprehensive demobilization program were postponed following problems at the initial demobilization site which opened in Monrovia on December 8, 2003. At the time of writing, the demobilization program is scheduled to re-open on January 20, 2004 in Monrovia, with other sites to open in the countryside contingent upon UNMIL troops reaching full strength and deploying throughout Liberia.

Child soldiers are to benefit from demobilization plans; they will be separated from adults within a 72-hour period of arriving at the sites and will receive benefits as former combatants. According to UNICEF staff working with the Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DDRR) Program, children will pass through one of three demobilization sites in staggered periods from which they will proceed to established interim care centers. The centers are envisioned to provide space for children to distance themselves from their military past and to prepare for eventual reintegration into their home communities. Family tracing, counseling, medical care, and skills training are planned for the care centers provided by national and international organizations. Further support is to be provided to the children upon placement in their home communities, from six weeks to three months later.86

Demobilization programs for children have been tried before in Liberia with limited success, in part due to the resumption of conflict which frustrated efforts at longer term rehabilitation. In a formal DDRR program that was established in 1997, fewer than one third of the estimated 15,000 children who had fought entered the program. Of these, only 78 were girls despite evidence that their numbers were considerably greater.87

Agencies working with children in Monrovia are determined to improve on past attempts, drawing on lessons learned earlier in Liberia and from DDRR programs in neighboring Sierra Leone. The large presence of U.N. peacekeepers, currently deployed in the country for a projected two-year mission, is expected to create sufficient stability to complete community rehabilitation and reintegration. Admitting children with or without their commanders (children presented by their commanders has been a pre-requisite in past programs for admittance) and immediately separating children to interim care centers is expected to yield better results in terms of numbers and quality of programming.88

Child care specialists and counselors who worked with previous programs remain concerned about two principal areas: the inclusion of girls and the longer term reintegration of children. In past programs, few girls benefited from the DDRR process despite the fact that many had been forced to join the fighting forces and were at the end of the war, separated from their families. They were either unaware of the program’s existence or reluctant to identify themselves as fighters. In many cases, this left them with no other alternative than to remain with the commander or combatant who had abducted them in the first place. In a UNICEF report on past DDRR experiences in Liberia, recommendations for future programs include increased efforts to reach out to girls and to inform and include them in the process.89 While more attention to girls in the DDRR process may increase their numbers in the program, many girls, especially younger ones, may fear negative stigmatization and may not want to be involved. Some specialists believe the only way to reach these girls is outside the formal DDRR program, through projects within their home communities where they can be assisted. In addition, working with all children affected by war in communities helps to diminish the perception that children who took up arms are being privileged or rewarded for their behavior.90

Counselors who have worked with children in past DDRR programs also underlined the need for long-term programs that focus on community rehabilitation. They explained that in the past, money that was initially promised to help children was prematurely exhausted. As a result, many projects to build skills and provide basic education were never completed. After 1997, children were quickly placed in their communities but insufficient follow-up was done. In some families, problems between the children and their relatives or community members led to children being abandoned or running away. Coupons given to children to be redeemed for health care and education were useless; either because they were refused or because centers for such services did not exist. Liberians working at child care agencies stress that a successful program must include long-term provisions for assisting children with rehabilitation and that the community is the best place for programs.91

For children who went through the past DDRR program, many told us that upon return to their home communities there was little help for them and they saw no alternative other than to take up arms again. Jeremy P. described his situation. “After the first demobilization, I went to a trade school in Tubmanburg. But I could not complete the course. I was living on my own. I didn’t have any financial support, so I dropped out of the school.”92

Daniel V. a former fighter with the United Liberian Movement for Democracy in

Liberia (ULIMO-J) and the NPFL explained that upon completion of the initial program, the children were left on their own:

I went through the program in 1997 and received some assistance but it soon ran out. For a while, I did some small jobs around Monrovia, but there was not much to do and I couldn’t afford to go back to school. So two years ago, I decided to join the LURD. I figured it was better to fight and try to get something, than hang around town doing nothing.93

After the DDRR program in 1997, John J. returned to primary school and resumed second grade. But lack of money for schooling and his parents’ own worsening financial situation caused him to leave school after less than one year. He spent the next few years selling goods on the streets of Monrovia before finally taking up arms again.94

For one counselor who works with children, the key to successful reintegration lies in the community. “These kids did not fall from the sky, they are Liberian children. They came from communities and they need to go back to the communities. But we need to look at factors which caused them to leave and take up arms in the first place. Beyond the warfare lies poverty, neglect and lack of opportunity. Perhaps the biggest disservice to children in Liberia is the failure of the state to provide education.”95

Education

I’ve got no Ma, I’ve got no Pa. I have no books and no learning. No what am I supposed to do?

—girl commander, LURD, Tubmanburg, October 30, 2003.

Most of our brothers, they have been fighting since 1990, so all they think about is war. But if you are educated, you can think of other things. Many do not know right from wrong, they don’t know the danger of carrying arms and the damage they have done to our nation for our children and grandchildren.

—Roland B., Montserrado County, November 5, 2003.

The vast majority of the children interviewed for this report highlighted their desire for education in the future and their wish to return to or to begin school. They stressed the need for education to make something of their lives and put their pasts behind them. Yet, the presence of prohibitively high school fees makes primary education an impossibility for many children in Liberia today. In the past, families have paid over one hundred US dollars in fees per year to send a child to primary school.

Some former child soldiers had to drop out of school before the war, as they lacked the money to pay school fees and other associated costs such as uniforms and materials. Lack of any educational or vocational alternative was a reason given for which some of them took up arms in the first place. Child soldiers expressed their concern about future schooling and how they and their families could afford an education.

For Brian M. the cost of schooling denies many children a future in Liberia:

Young people need education, some had their learning interrupted, others never stepped into a classroom. But where will they get the money for uniforms and school fees? Are these same young people going to be content to sit around when from their experience they can get things with fighting? If they are not given possibilities, they will fight here or go and fight in other countries.96

One child rights specialist reported that, in a conversation with a military commander about child soldiers in Liberia, the officer declared that children with education, those that can read and write, are more difficult to recruit and are generally more questioning of authority. The key to fully integrating former child soldiers and breaking the cycle of future child recruitment in Liberia lies in education for all children.97

The system of education in Liberia is in need of massive rehabilitation. Schools are in disrepair, teachers have not been paid, and books and supplies have been systematically looted. According to a deputy Minister at the Ministry of Education, more than half of the population of Liberia is illiterate and the burden of education on families is enormous. School fees and money for supplies, books, and other materials have recently been beyond the means of a majority of Liberians.98

Despite the obstacles, the new government in Liberia, working with UNICEF, has committed itself to providing universal primary education.99 Under the new program, school fees will be waived for the poorest children. According to this deputy, to make such a program successful, long term investment by the government and the international community in paying teachers’ salary arrears, training new teachers and rebuilding schools will need to be substantial to make primary education for all a reality.100

After years of warfare, Liberia’s infrastructure lies in ruins, with roads, bridges, hospitals and municipal buildings destroyed and social services to the population non-existent. In his December 2003 report on Liberia to the Security Council, the Secretary-General stated that “assessments confirmed reports of massive destruction and vandalizing of physical infrastructure, as well as the total collapse of basic social services in practically all parts of the country and in all social and economic sectors.”101

In a meeting with Human Rights Watch researchers, the US ambassador to Liberia also spoke of the devastation in the country and suggested that rebuilding the nation is linked to an ultimately successful rehabilitation program for former fighters. In his words, “We need to extend our thinking on what encompasses DDRR, for the successful reintegration of combatants will require massive infrastructure remodeling, building roads, schools and clinics.”102

To embark on an ambitious rebuilding program and to guarantee the rights of children to primary education, Liberia will need significant, long-term assistance from the international community. The government of Liberia must fulfill its international obligations to provide social services to its people but remains in severe need of outside assistance. While it remains a daunting task, rebuilding communities and assisting all children affected by war remains the most effective method of ensuring that children do not take up arms again and that the rights of children in Liberia will be respected.



86 Human Rights Watch interview, Monrovia, November 10, 2003. See also, Liberian Disarmament, Demobilisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration Programme, Draft Strategy and Implementation Framework, Monrovia, October 9, 2003, pp. 30, 59–62.

87 Human Rights Watch interview, Monrovia, October 21, 2003.

88 Human Rights Watch interview, Monrovia, November 10, 2003.

89 Kelly, David, The Disarmament, Demobilization & Reintegration of Child Soldiers in Liberia, 1994-1997: The Process and Lessons Learned, A Collaborative Report by UNICEF-Liberia and the U.S. National Committee for UNICEF, March 1998, pp. 72-73.

90 Human Rights Watch interviews, October 23, 26 & November 10, 2003.

91 Human Rights Watch interviews, Monrovia, October 23, 26 & November 7, 2003.

92 Human Rights Watch interview, Montserrado County, October 26, 2003.

93 Human Rights Watch interview, Montserrado County, October 31, 2003.

94 Human Rights Watch interview, Monrovia, September 1, 2003.

95 Human Rights Watch interview, Monrovia, October 23, 2003.

96 Human Rights Watch interview, Montserrado County, October 26, 2003.

97 Human Rights Watch interview, Monrovia, October 22, 2003.

98 Human Rights Watch interview, Monrovia, November 10, 2003.

99 See, The News (Monrovia), “Government Reduces School Fees – Releases 2003/2004 Calendar,” November 19, 2003 [online], http://allafrica.com, (retrieved November 23, 2003).

100 Human Rights Watch interview, Monrovia, November 10, 2003.

101 United Nations Security Council, First Progress Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Mission in Liberia, S/20003/1175, December 15, 2003, p. 11.

102 Human Rights Watch interview, Monrovia, November 7, 2003.


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February 2004