About former child soldiers
The status of “child soldier”
According to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, a “child soldier” is a minor combatant, boy or girl. Also considered “child soldiers” are children used as sex slaves, spies, cooks or carriers of ammunition.
According to UNICEF, there are still 300 children in the world involved in armed conflicts or by paramilitary criminal groups.
In 1990, Uganda ratified the Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, which prohibits the recruitment of children under the age of eighteen. At least officially...
A LIRA • Rehabilitation center
former child soldiers in Uganda
The Lira Rehabilitation Center is located in the northeast of the country. Nearly two hundred children and young adults formerly held captive by the LRA are currently hosted in boarding schools. During their stays, specific programs (medical care, psychological assistance) are planned for the reconstruction of these former child soldiers.
These centers located in the north of the country, particularly in the town of Gulu, are supported by UNICEF and WFP. Opened in the 90s, they have welcomed nearly 200 children and young adults.
Uganda: the first African land of asylum!
Surrounded by countries at war, Uganda currently hosts 1,4 million refugees. This country is the third host country in the world, the first in Africa. Of the 22,5 million refugees, 5,6 million are in Africa, including 1,4 million refugees in Uganda.
An innovative migration policy: a unique model in the world!
Since March 2006, the Ugandan parliament has enacted a law on the status of refugees, considered one of the most generous in the world. Each family is offered a small plot of land to build a shelter and to cultivate. Refugees also have access to health and education services on the same terms as Ugandans.
A give-and-take strategy: refugees have 5 years to become self-sufficient and thus contribute to the development of the country.
“Bosco, a child soldier”
Bosco was taken in by “Children of Peace”, a Ugandan NGO founded by Jane Ekayu in 2010. This NGO works on the reintegration of children and young adults victims of the LRA-Lord's Resistance Army. The Lord's Resistance Army is a mystical movement created in 1988 by Joseph Kony in rebellion with the Ugandan government. The LRA is on the official list of organizations considered terrorist by the United States Department of State.
The LRA is accused of numerous acts of violence, notably the kidnapping of children and adolescents forced to become “child soldiers”. In 25 years, nearly 60 adolescents have been victims of the LRA.
66 million refugees in the world...
The number of displaced people in the world is equivalent to the French population!
More than 66 million* people were forced into exile in 2017 according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. A record figure which shows the extent of the uprooting of populations, under the pressure of conflicts and human rights violations.
(Sources: United Nations) – * 22,5 million refugees forced to leave their country and 44 million refugees displaced within their country.
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Former child soldiers from Lira in Uganda
Their life story is that of all children traumatized by war. Unbearable but real. What to do with these traumas? A positive force to help them build their autonomy. This is the commitment of the “Voices Without Borders” association. Working on the resilience of these young people through choral singing.
Direct or indirect victims of the LRA (the Lord's Resistance Army)
For 34 years, Uganda has been in the grip of an insurgency against a relentless militia, the LRA, the Lord's Resistance Army. A conflict where children are on the front lines. Child soldiers, child sex slaves, child victims of barbarism. At the head of this organization, Joseph Kony, still wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. According to the UN, the LRA has massacred more than 100 people and kidnapped more than 000 children since its creation.
The refugees of Bidi Bidi
Victims of the civil war which began in August 2013, 495000 South Sudanese (mainly women and children) took refuge in Uganda, in the Bidi Bidi camp. It is in this camp, as big as the city of Strasbourg, that Voix without Borders created a choir of 500 children in February 2019.
