Expanding the Dialogue: The Preventions of the Recruitment of Child Soldiers

On August 28th - 30th, one hundred people from key sectors involved with the issue of child soldiers came together in Winnipeg, Canada to discuss new approaches to the prevention of the recruitment of children in fighting forces. This is not a new issue; many groups have been working to address the problem for some time. Peacekeeping, military, humanitarian, human rights, intergovernmental as well as the affected communities and young people themselves, all have significant roles to play. Yet, they have largely worked independently and often find communication and collaboration difficult. In response, the Child Soldiers Initiative is working to promote a global dialogue that engages a range of stakeholders to find more effective ways to address issues of common concern. Through a determined effort to develop integrated, mutually reinforcing approaches, the ultimate goal of this initiative is to develop a new set of tools to reduce the number of child soldiers.

Through dialogue and small group work, participants in the workshop were challenged to develop integrated plans in response to cases of child recruitment in one of our three focus regions: South Asia, African Great Lakes and West Africa. In multi-sector working groups, with representatives from the military, humanitarian assistance, human rights, academic and conflict transformation sectors, participants produced detailed action plans addressing the multi-dimensional nature of programming surrounding the prevention of the recruitment and re-recruitment of children into fighting forces. Significantly, the workshop had a substantial youth participation component, bringing together youth leaders, including former combatants, to address the issue. Their presence and participation reinforced the need for a youth voice in all aspects of programming related to the issue.

The Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Honourable Peter MacKay spent an evening with the participants, stating his commitment to the issue and appreciation of the work being done by the Initiative. His presence during the workshop exemplified the Canadian commitment to this issue and the level of support the initiative has received to continue its work to prevent the recruitment of child soldiers.

The Child Soldiers Initiative is organized by Search for Common Ground in cooperation with Senator Romeo Dallaire, UNICEF Canada, USAID's Displaced Children and Orphan's Fund and the University of Winnipeg. A 'war game"/simulation will follow this workshop, estimated to take place in May 2007, and will provide an opportunity for a smaller group of participants to test tools for collaboration and integrated programme implementation. Following the simulation, the Initiative will take the lessons learned into a conflict area where children currently are being recruited. During this on-the-ground engagement phase, we will work with local counterparts to implement collaborative approaches to programming.

Please contact Nicole Dial at ndial@sfcg.org or visit www.childsoldiersinitiative.org for more information.

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