|
AFGHANISTAN: UNICEF makes progress in child-soldier demobilisation work
© IRIN
Thousands of children are still serving in military units across the country
KABUL , 20 Feb 2004 (IRIN) - The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has
announced that it has made progress in demobilising child soldiers in
Afghanistan, an initiative targeting an estimated 8,000 such children in the
country.
Over the last 23 years of conflict in Afghanistan, thousands of children
have been used by warlords and fighting forces. And while hundreds of these
have been identified, some 150 have been demobilised in four districts of
the northern city of Konduz since the demobilisation programme began in
early February. "It is very positive that we have had over 500 young people
from over four districts in Konduz that have already come forward in one
week," Edward Carwardine, a UNICEF spokesperson, told IRIN on Thursday.
The child soldier demobilisation effort is running parallel to the UN-backed
main disarmament demobilisation and reintegration initiative (DDR)
programme, which is expected to target over 100,000 ex-soldiers across the
country.
UNICEF, in collaboration with its partners, will undertake community-based
rehabilitation projects enabling ex-child soldiers to obtain education and
create opportunities for an alternative to military life.
UNICEF said that all of the demobilised children underwent medical and
psychosocial assessments and participated in briefings on mine risks, drug
abuse, HIV/AID prevention and basic health education. "In addition, each
child has signed an oath, underlining their civic responsibilities and has
been issued with a personal identification number," Carwardine noted.
UNICEF said all the demobilised children had also been offered voluntary
testing for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases.
According to UNICEF, the criteria for eligibility in the scheme are that a
child soldier should have been or still is in a military unit which has a
formal command structure and a clear commander, and they should have been
involved in activities that are directly related to that unit. "The
programme is not open to young people generally... there has to be a clear
link to some sort of a fighting unit with a command structure," Carwardine
said.
Being a new exercise, it is proving challenging and difficult for UNICEF
implementing partners in the field. One implementing partner staff member,
who declined to be named, told IRIN from Konduz that local commanders wanted
to benefit from the scheme by introducing non-combatant children or
non-eligible people to verification teams.
"Commanders are introducing hundreds of children. Many of them are not or
were not in military units, thinking like DDR we are paying them
incentives," he said, noting that it was difficult to verify eligible
underage children as many such children had either a direct or indirect
connection to local commanders who wanted them to be part of this UN-backed
process.
UNICEF said around ninety people were excluded from the demobilisation
process on the basis of being over the age of 18, or not meeting the
definitions for former child soldiers.
UNICEF estimates that there are a total of 8,000 former child soldiers in
Afghanistan, many of whom have already left the fighting forces informally
over the past year. "All are in urgent need of assistance to fully
reintegrate into civilian life, especially in the areas of education and
sustainable income-generation," the UNICEF spokesman said.
|
|