Nowhere Left To Hide

Two Hundred Thousand Children At Risk
(Part of the Lost Childhood series)

 

 Within twenty four hours of capturing Goma the Congolese rebels of M23 began their search for anyone loyal to the government. Those who had worked for the city were hunted down and executed in mass. Anyone who had ties to the military were also rounded up and killed. The numbers of how many were killed are still being estimated as the rebels prepare to move onto their next city.

As for the 200,000 estimated children (under the age of 18) within Goma, the roundups are still happening. These children are now at risk of being forced into conscription with the M23 rebels. This would mean that they would be turned into child soldiers and used as slave labor by the rebel army. Their task would be more dangerous than their adult captors. They could be facing task such as placing landmines, running ammunition under fire, and fetching weapons off fallen soldiers. 

According to UNICEF around 600 children are in immediate danger due to having been separated by from their families. "We know from the recent practices of the groups involved in this latest fighting that unaccompanied children in this part of DRC are in immediate and real danger of forcible recruitment into armed groups," reported World Vision. Once again it is important to remember that nobody can say for sure how many children are being forced into the rebel army. Yet reports of forced recruitment are coming in. 

"Children have nowhere to turn, we can't get to them, and we are hearing reports of groups arming people around Goma. Local partners have seen armed people passing guns and ammunition to civilians this morning, including children aged 16-18. A former child soldier we have worked with in the past told us today: 'I have seen some of my friends receiving weapons and going to fight... they are being told to go and fight the rebels and take their guns'." As reported by World Vision.

These children are, just as everyone else in Goma, afraid and lost as confusion sets in and lawlessness take over. Loyalist are just as likely to take advantage of this sense of helplessness as they too force children into makeshift militias in an attempt to fight off the M23 rebels... something the Congolese military refused to do. With this irony the children of Goma are quickly finding themselves with nowhere left to hide.

Organizations like World Vision and UNICEF are urgently petitioning the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to take action to stop this criminal activity. Many of the human rights groups working in the area have tried to get permission to enter the conflict areas to rescue innocent civilians caught up in the battle. However it is more than likely that nobody will be able to reach the conflict region until most of the atrocities and crimes have already been committed.

As the M23 rebels prepare to march on their next target, Kinshasa, the citizens of Goma will continue to suffer mass executions, gang rapes of women and children, and the looting of their homes and businesses. One can only hope that the majority of the 200,000 children of Goma will escape with their lives.... and avoid the horrors of becoming a child soldier.

Hide And Go Seek

Rebels Accused of Using Children as Weapons.
(Part of the Lost Childhood series)

(Children of Refugees in the Congo)

As the rebel group M23 marched into Goma, in the eastern part of the Congo, they bore weapons more sophisticated than most Congolese soldiers. Rwanda, and Uganda to an extent, have been funding these barbaric rebels and supplying weaponry such as night vision goggles and 120mm mortars. And for this reason the Democratic Republic of Congo's government has declared the M23 rebels are nothing more than "mercenaries". 

For the children of Goma, a city of nearly 1 million people, the approach of the M23 rebels was a sign of terror. It has been recorded that the rebels have in the past and currently engage in the deployment of child soldiers. These young combatants are often forced into battle against their will. And those who do not fight are often killed by the forces that brought them into the war in the first place. 

So far the United States has imposed sanctions upon the M23 rebels for the use of child soldiers. This measure is odd in the light of Obama's decision to relax sanctions on the government of the Congo itself. Meaning that while the United States is going to be sending goods and providing aid to a government that fled Goma like dogs with their tails between their legs. So it is hard to imagine that any aid provided would somehow not make its way into rebel hands. 

Meanwhile both the United States and the United Kingdom both offer aid to Rwanda and have lucrative trade deals with their ally in the region. It is now questionable whether or not this very aid provided to Rwanda is simply being funneled into M23 rebels' hands. And if the aid is being diverted into a proxy war with the Congolese government then any sanction imposed upon the Congo will further aid the rebels. 

As for the children trapped in the path of the M23 rebels the horrors of war still await. An untold number of children will be forced to flee as the rebels attack their villages. Others could face the terror of being forced to fight for the rebels. But most could simply grow up in refugee camps facing starvation, disease, and the lack of what could be considered a normal childhood. 

All of this could be prevented however. UN peacekeepers could be given a mandate to engage and stop the march of the M23 rebels across the eastern part of the Congo. Currently the UN peacekeepers (MONUSCO) can not and do not fight back against rebel attacks. Instead of defending the international airport in Goma, the UN stood down. Their actions helped the rebels in their war against the Congolese government. 

If the UN does not change its approach to defending even the most basic of human rights we could be watching Rwanda play out its genocide on foreign soil.

Sinking To A New Low

Syria's Hope Lost To War
(Part of the Lost Childhood series and The Darkness Visible post)

(Syrian Boy Recruited To Fight For The Rebels)

Every time I think about Syria a part of my soul screams out. I pray for the people there. I pray for their safety. I pray for peace. The images of their youth being killed by Assad's forces haunt me. The images of their cities burning never leave the back of my mind. Every day I do not write about their struggle is a day where my soul remains restless. It pleads with me to scream. 

That is why it has hurt in ways I never thought imaginable to see this struggle for freedom to be degraded into a fight for survival. I have watched as Russia (the motherland of oppression) has continued to supply Assad with the tools he needs to continue his reign of terror. I have watched China stand in the way of diplomacy as it trickles money into Assad's pockets through Russian hands. And I have been sickened to see Iranian snipers remaining diligent in their attacks on innocent Syrian citizens. 

This could have all been avoided... this could have been stopped. 

(Wounded Innocence) 

When Barack Obama took action in Libya he claimed he was stopping "genocide". It was the key word he knew would justify pushing regime change on the Libyan people. He didn't mention the black Africans that were being killed by the Libyan Arabs. He didn't mention that the people he was helping were already a group of armed combatants... combatants that had sparked the conflict. Obama just knew that by using the word "genocide" he could justify using American might to get his way. 

This is why Obama does not act to stop the genocide in Syria. I have posted in several articles in "The Darkness Visible" series why this war of Assad's can be classified as genocide. I have made it clear that Assad is pushing his version of Islam while attempting to subdue or destroy an opposing religious sect in the process. The rebellion in Syria is a response to Assad's own actions. Unlike Libya, this conflict was started by the regime... for the regime... and will only be ended with a change of regime. 

Something Obama and the West seem reluctant to approach. 

But that is not what has drawn me back to Syria tonight. It is the fact that the Free Syrian Army (the rebels) are now openly using child soldiers that has troubled me. The use of a child as a combatant for any cause can not be ignored. These children are the very source of Syria's hope. And this act of abuse is now poisoning any hope Syria has left. 

For over a year now I have watched as images of Syria's youth flashed before my eyes. Their young lifeless bodies captured in horrific images that have robbed me of sleep. Those who remained shown the sheer horror of what had happened upon their faces. For over a year those most innocent of souls have been my driving force in writing and screaming for them.... for their future. 

If Syria is to live, if it is to thrive, it must have a source of strength to draw upon. When a child is robbed of their most valuable years this source of strength is damaged. The inspiration for their future is crumbled. And the evil we wish to protect them from is given a place in their soul from which it can not be removed. These acts leave scars that time can only fade... not heal. 

For the Free Syrian Army it has taken over almost two years to reach this point of desperation. They have been massacred. They have been imprisoned in hellish conditions. And they have watched as their cities, homes, and families were stripped away from them. But this act, even out of desperation, can not go unpunished. 

It takes grooming and force to make a child fight. It takes abuse, both physical and emotional, to keep a child on the battlefield. And it takes a heartless monster to allow these children to die fighting a battle grown men could not win. 

(Wounded Rebel Leaving the Battlefield)

Sadly it appears that the West is set to act now that the fighting has claimed so many. They do not seem to have the stomach to send in troops though. They don't have the spine to send in planes though. Instead, the West is ready to prosecute the Syrian rebels for the use of children soldiers. This crime against humanity seems to be the straw to have broken the camel's back. 

We will not go after Assad for bombing out cities and hiding his troops amongst mosque and schools. We will not go after Assad for organizing massacres of children and then calling the dead terrorist. We will not go after Assad for systematically targeting a specific religious sect of Islam. 

We simply will target the rebels for crossing the last line in the sand we had left. 

I believe that if it is to be the place of any court to prosecute war crimes and genocide then it is the court's responsibility to prosecute these sins every time by every side. Assad should be the first of the murderers to be marched out and executed for his sins against humanity. Then we can start finding those responsible for the massacres on both sides. And we must track down those who brought children to the battlefield... both as weapons and shields. 

We can not pick and choose our battles when it comes to these issues. Not even when it become inconvenient.

Like Lambs Among Wolves

Children Soldiers on Colombian Battlefields
(Part of the Lost Childhood series)

The War on Drugs has long raged in Colombia. United States presidents have committed large numbers of soldiers and special forces to combat the problem. We have fortune in tax dollars to prop up the Colombian government and even support militia groups that were supposed to combat organizations like FARC. But all this has led to a war we can not win yet can not afford to lose. 

For decades now the guerrilla armies of Colombia have been abducting victims that are often forced into slavery and at times conscripted into combat. Many have been sent to concentration camps deep in the jungle where they are forced into slave labor. Countless victims have perished in FARC captivity due to disease, starvation, and out right massacres. 

Children are the most vulnerable victims of this barbaric practice of slavery and forced conscription. In the past the bulk of these children forced into combat roles were young boys. Today an estimated 43 percent of the children are now girls. This sudden increase of girls in FARC captivity can be directly linked to their use as sexual slaves and the human trafficking coming out of South America. The boys are still used and subjected in the same manner although sexual abuse of boys in FARC captivity is on the rise. 

In 2012 the number of children currently acting as child soldiers in Colombia was estimated in a recent study (titled "Like Lambs Among Wolves" by Natalia Springer) to be 18,000 children. With just under half of these children thought to be young girls. All these children are currently used to secure the leftist FARC goal of bringing about a Communist state in Colombia. All are slaves to a cause not their own. All are subject to a mortality rate of nearly 90 percent. 

Outside of Colombia the children soldiers have few people who are willing to fight for them. In Europe and the United States their cause is subjected to politics and the lack of will to wage full scale war on the Colombian rebels. Politicians in the developed world rarely admit to the use of child soldiers in Colombia unless they want to sink more money into private projects. In South America the politicians support FARC for the most part. Hugo Chavez and Castro both sink what funds they have into overthrowing their neighboring country's government. Both Venezuela and Cuba view the use of child soldiers as a simple tactic of war.... a means that justifies the rise of a communist regime. 

As for life amongst their FARC commanders, the child soldiers are given little protection or care. They are forced to find their food or pillage and fight for it. Medicine is rare if ever given. And the task they are used for are considered to be the most dangerous task FARC carries out. These include the laying of landmines and improvised explosives... task that often end in the deaths of the children. 

In many cases of mass atrocities in which FARC takes credit the children soldiers are often forced to participate. Young boys and girls are forced to take captives and torture their victims at the direction of the FARC commanders. The female child soldiers are then forced to take part in rapes as they too are sexually abused in the process. These young girls are considered the sexual property of their FARC commanders. 

When Obama waived the sanctions on governments that employ the use of child soldiers he unfortunately did not have to lift restrictions on a single South American country. Countries like Venezuela, who support the use of child soldiers in neighboring countries, are not subjected to the sanctions imposed by the Child Soldier Protection Act of 2008. These rouge nations who support the exploitation of children and actively participate in human trafficking are left untouched by such laws in Europe and the United States. Instead they are allowed to continue with normal trade with the developed world. And in the case of Venezuela, who's natural resources Europe can't live without, their trade with the West goes uninterrupted. 

If the Western world is to actively fight against the enslavement of our world's greatest resource, our children, then we must go after all who support it. Countries like Venezuela must be punished as harshly as Iran has for its human rights abuses. We must cut trade, embargo their exports, and isolate these nations in such a manner that they can not continue to violate the inalienable rights of innocent children. As for those who more directly participate in the use of children as combatants... they deserve direct military intervention. 

This is not a war to stop the flow of drugs anymore. This is a war to liberate those put into slavery by the enemy. This a war for independence. This is a war to restore the dreams of childhood to those from whom it has been stolen.

No Place in a Civilized World

"...That's Slavery"
(part of the Lost Childhood series)

(Children in Yemen's Army)

In October of 2010 the Barack Obama administration began to put into place actions that would lead to United States military aid to countries using children as soldiers. This meant that countries like Libya, Yemen, and South Sudan would receive weapons, ammunition, and food for their armies while the children of those countries were being forced to kill or be killed. Yet this was the president that claimed to be the biggest humanitarian to ever take office in United States history. This was the guy who ran on a slogan of "Hope". But here he was offering the life blood of any military to countries forcing children to fight... countries who offered no such "hope" to their own future. 

“When a little boy is kidnapped, turned into a child soldier, forced to kill or be killed — that’s slavery,” Obama said in a speech at the Clinton Global Initiative. “It is barbaric, and it is evil, and it has no place in a civilized world. Now, as a nation, we’ve long rejected such cruelty.” (October 2012)

Slavery you say mister Obama? Barbaric you say mister President? Evil even? 

For three years now the United States has been offering military aid to the Congo and South Sudan. We have also been waiving almost all sanctions on Yemen and Libya. These are all actions that were banned under the Child Soldiers Protection Act of 2008 by the United States Congress. These are all actions that were banned so that we, the United States, would not be seen as offering comfort to armies that employ slavery and children as weapons. 

In 2010 Obama told the New York Times that the waiving of these sanctions were of "the national interest". But what is the national interest in allowing children to be "kidnapped" and dragged off to war? Why are we so invested in allowing children to serve in militias in Chad, Yemen, Libya, South Sudan, or the Congo? 

There is no national interest in allowing the oppressive regimes of these countries to continue to recruit and abduct children from all over the globe. In Nepal the children soldiers are used as front lines human shields and gun runners. Do we have a national interest in teaching children to run guns a little faster or to zig-zag a little more while being shot at? Do we have a national interest in telling children to not fall over when the first bullet hits them? 

“After such a strong statement against the exploitation of children, it seems bizarre that Obama would give a pass to countries using children in their armed forces and using US tax money to do that,” Jesse Eaves - World Vision.

When it comes down to the bottom line it should be obvious to all Americans that it is unacceptable for our tax dollars to be funding children on the battle field. We can not nor should not take the word of a President simply because he thinks the ends will justify the means. This is not an issue that can be compromised on. We are not a nation that holds such low morals that we can accept the abuse of children anywhere for any cause. We are a people that believe that all men are created equal and this applies directly to children and women. Therefore we can not accept a president that calls it "slavery" but will take no action to stop it. 

After all, was it not a previous president that went to war to end slavery of Michelle Obama's ancestors? So why is it that Barack Obama now finds it suitable that our military and our tax dollars would help keep children around the world in bondage?

Sources Used 

(Note not all Sources Listed)

The Malay Mail

http://www.mmail.com.my/story/barbaric-yet-us-turns-blind-eye-child-soldiers-32432

UPI.com

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/10/04/Groups-say-US-weak-on-child-soldier-ban/UPI-73781349364001/

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/10/28/Obama-waives-child-soldier-sanctions/UPI-40901288304465/?rel=73781349364001

Trick Or Treat

Human Rights Violations Ruin Halloween
(Part of The Darkness Visible series)

As Halloween passes and Christmas approaches it is hardly inappropriate that we start asking where the resources come from that end up in our children's trick-or-treat buckets. For it will not be to long before the same resources end up in their stockings and once again on the store shelves. Then comes Valentines Day and Easter. The resources for all this candy has to come from somewhere. It has to be put on the shelves. And it has to be supplied for the ever expanding appetite for chocolate amongst the developed world. 

For corporations such as Nestle and Hersey's Chocolate the supply continues to flow out of countries such as Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). It is in these countries that slave labor and child labor are used interchangeably. The most innocent of lives are ruined by ruthless plantation owners who maximize profits for the corporate giants while selling human beings. The trafficking of humans in these countries is dependent upon the flow of cocoa. 

As your children chow down on their Reese Cups and Kit Kat bars there are children around the world working for little to no pay. They are owned by masters that will use them in the fields... in the factories... and at times, in brothels. These children will never grow up in a world where you go to school, graduate, go to college, and then off to a career of your choosing. These children will be bought and sold till they are too old to work for free. They are the children that make it possible for your child to eat his next M&M. 

There is no certain figure available to give when it comes to just how many children are enslaved in the Ivory Coast. Large companies like Hersey's have gone out of their way to block legislation in Western governments that would help identify the scale of the problem. These companies have also gone out of their way to block organizations from carrying out independent studies on child labor in West Africa. The irony is that companies like these make their profits from the gluttony of children in the Western world. 

This desire on the part of corporations to secure the resources of underdeveloped countries like the Ivory Coast has allowed the continued trafficking of children onto battle fields as far away as the Sudan. These children are brought to the coastal cities where they are sold off for the highest offer. Others are kidnapped from villages and refugee camps around the country. But all child soldiers are doomed to suffer the same fate... death on the front line as their grownup commanders hide behind them. 

Young girls from all over the Ivory Coast are taken as sex slaves and sold to masters from all around the globe. Pedophiles from Western countries often end up in the Ivory Coast where they are sold sex slaves or visit brothels in the cities. Many of these sex slaves will end up in other countries... and yes, many will end up in Europe and America. 

In essence, the leaders of the Ivory Coast are exporting the most valuable resource their nation has to offer... its children. Those who remain in the country are often forced to work as slaves or "domestic servants" in the fields and factories. Their little hands produce cocoa, cotton, and coffee for the rest of the world. Their lives are made miserable by the lust the developed world has for the cheap goods and seemingly free labor the third world's children have to offer. Their stomachs go empty more often then not so that your child's can be coated with the fruits of their labor.