There are an estimated 300,000 child soldiers in the world, but retired general Romeo Dallaire wants to change that.
Dallaire’s organization, the Romeo Dallaire Child Soldier Initiative, is based at Dalhousie University in Halifax. The group is working to put a stop to the recruitment of child soldiers.
“I have had interactions with children who have been as young as five,” says Shelly Witman, executive director of the Romeo Dallaire Child Soldier Initiative.
“Because 40 per cent are girls, you can even use them as sex slaves and bush wives,” says Dallaire.
“What do you think they’re doing in Nigeria right now? They’re not just raping those 200 girls; they’re using them as recruits, they’re building their force.”
The former senator left the Senate in May. He says he wanted to focus all of his energy on his organization.
“Advancing the concept of preventing the recruitment and use of children as weapons of war,” he says. “They’re using kids to open up lanes in mine fields. They walk them through the mine fields so the kids blow up the mines.”
Witman negotiates directly with African war lords as well as militia and military leaders.
“We talk to them about the tactical disadvantages of using child soldiers,” she says.
She says she uses the argument that child soldiers are unreliable to sway the leaders, rather than the issue of morality.
“They don’t have the ability to think long term,” says Witman. “They think short term and they might make very irrational decisions as well, about when to shoot and how to operate in a particular instance.”
Although ending the recruitment of child soldiers is the organization’s main goal, they are also trying to get children away from rebels and militia.
“The younger the child is, the more they’re socialized into the armed group, the harder it is to get them out,” she says.
The initiative is also involved in training police, military and peacekeepers, and is having some success in the field where child soldiers are fighting. It is also making progress at the United Nations in regards to policies.
“Essentially, looking at the training that we created and the model and the core competencies that we created, to say that that is the training that all soldiers around the world need to have to improve child protection and their interaction with children around the world,” says Witman.
“We’re actually working with rules of engagement, where they can take the kids on without necessarily killing them,” says Dallaire.
Original funding for the organization came from Dallaire’s books and speaking engagements.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Rick Grant
