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Recruitment into armed forces, groups and gangs
The recruitment of girls and boys by a variety of armed actors is recognized as one of the most egregious violations of children's rights. Children are targeted for recruitment because of a number of reasons: they are easier to control and manipulate, they look to adults to protect them, they are seen as cheap substitutes for adult soldiers and children can handle and carry weapons with high impact as a result of the development of small arms.
The involvement may be forced or voluntary. The children take on a range of roles including fighting, acting as spies or messengers, cooks and porters, to lay mines, as suicide bombers and for sexual purposes. Usually unpaid, they are performing tasks adults do not want to do and may also be coerced into carrying out grotesque acts of violence, including killing family members. In cases where children join voluntarily, they may do so to get food and shelter in a chaotic existence where attacks, abuse and poverty might have become the rule. Children can also join for cultural or ideological reasons or get influenced by the peer pressure that often occurs in war zones. Some children could be driven by the desire for vengeance against those who have carried out atrocities against their family.
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Child Soldiers. Care & Protection of Children in Emergencies- A Field Guide
The "Field Guide to Child Soldier Programs in Emergencies" is one in a series compiled by Save the Children (SC) as part of its Children and War Capacity Building Initiative. The SC Children in Crisis Unit developed this initiative in order to support SC
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State of the World’s Mothers 2003 Report: Protecting women and children in war and conflict
The 2003 annual report on the State of the World’s Mothers focuses on the women and children whose lives have been shattered by armed conflict, bringing attention to critical protection needs in war-torn communities around the world. The report suggests a
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Stolen Children: Abduction and recruitment in northern Uganda
Supplementary report to Uganda's 2nd periodic report on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child presented by Human Rights Watch. This report was published in March 2003 as Vol.15 No.7(A), and is based on field research conducted
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Bangladesh NGO report
Supplementary Information to Bangladesh's second periodic report on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, submitted by The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers to the Committee on the Rights of the Child at its Pre-ses
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Resolution 1460 (2003) adopted by the United Nations Security Council at its 4695th meeting, on 30 January 2003
Resolution 1460 was adopted unanimously by the Security Council at its 4695th meeting, on 30 January 2003, reaffirming its resolutions 1261 (1999) of 25 August 1999, 1314 (2000) of 11 August 2000 and 1379 (2001) of 20 November 2001, which contribute to a
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Fighting back- Child and community-led strategies to avoid children’s recruitment into armed forces and groups in West Africa
This report reveals the complexity of the issue of children’s recruitment into armed forces. It highlights the need for context-specific responses that focus on child protection mechanisms, attitudes towards recruitment, education and poverty alleviation.
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Children not soldiers- Guidelines for working with child soldiers and children associated with fighting forces
"Children not soldiers" provides guidance for those working with children directly involved in armed conflict on these and other key areas. Drawing on existing and emerging lessons of experience from different countries, it highlights issues of special co
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NGO Complementary notes on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child- Sierra Leone
Supplementary report to Sierra Leone's country report on the implementation on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by the World Federation Of Methodists & Uniting Church Women. This report, which is written in conformity with Article 45 (a) of th
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Report of the Secretary-General: The Role of United Nations Peacekeeping in Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (reference: S/2000/101)
The Secretary General's report to the United Nations Security Council relating to the United Nation's role in Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR), with special attention being paid to the problems of disarmament and demobilisation of child
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Untapped potential: Adolescents affected by armed conflict- A review of programs and policies
A desk study that highlights programmes and policies which focus on the needs of refugee, internally displaced and returnee adolescents. The literature compiled is described in the annotated bibliography. Chapters include an introduction to adolescents, t
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Faktablad- Barnsoldater
A fact sheet that describes why children become child soldiers and the adverse physical and psychological effects it has on them. Save the Children's achievements against the use of child soldiers in all circumstances are raised in this document.
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Colombia: Children affected by armed conflict
This Alternative Report was submitted by Human Rights Watch at the 25th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which concerns children affected by armed conflict in Colombia. Political violence continues to harm children, both as victims and