Today, the 12th of February 2022 marks the lnternational Day Against the Use of Child Soldiers. This day is also known as the Red Hand Day. In many war torn countries children are recruited and use as child soldiers which is a grave violation of their rights as children. These children are exposed to all sorts of violence, they are either witnesses or victims of war. The lnternational Day Against the Use of Child Soldiers has been observed on February 12th each year since 2002. Pleas are made to political leaders, and events are staged around the world to draw the attention to the use child soldiers in combat and armed conflict, children under the age of 18 who participate in military organizations of all kinds. On February 12th 2009, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon accepted the red hands, pledging to stamp out the use of child soldiers. Since then, thousands of hand prints have been collected in more than 50 countries and handed over to political leaders and to responsible parties including the then UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
CHILD SOLDIER.
Armed conflicts disproportionately affect children. As the primary victims of wars, many girls and boys are subject to killing and maiming, recruitment and use as child soldiers, sexual violence, abduction and denial of humanitarian aid. They are also increasingly victims of attacks on schools and hospitals. On February 12th 2002, an international treaty banning the participation of children under 18 in hostilities came into force. Since then , the global community marks February 12 as red hand day to raise awareness about the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict. When children are recruited and used in armed conflict, they are not only exposed to extreme violence and grave human rights abuses, they often also lose access to education, health and other human rights. The aim of red hand day is to call for action to stop the practice of the use of child soldiers in conflict situations, and to support children affected by it. When you raise your red hand, you raise awareness about this critical issue and take a bold stand against these harms.
In many conflict-ridden countries, peace keeping missions are the largest actor on the ground and their contribution is vital to protecting children. The security council of UN has addressed this issue since the late 90's, requesting the Secretary General in resolution 1261(1999) to ensure that "personnel involved in united nations peacemaking, peacekeeping and peace building activities have appropriate training in the protection, rights and welfare of children". In resolution 1379 (2001) and subsequent thematic resolutions, the security council called for the inclusion of specific provisions for the protection of children in the mandates of united nations peace keeping operations, and for the deployment of child protection observers (CPA's) in peace keeping operations. In 2017, 55 countries endorsed the " Vancouver principles ". Today, 105 countries are actively working with united nations peace keeping missions to prioritize and operationalize the prevention of recruitment and use of child soldiers. Thousands of children have been forcibly recruited and exploited by armed groups and other entities in armed conflicts. They are victims of war. On this red hand day, we must take action to keep children from being recruited into armed conflicts, and promote policies that improve the lives of all children in armed conflict situations.
It is observed just days after a united nations report stated that nearly 2,000 children, some as young as seven years old were recruited by Yemen's Houthi rebel group, were killed on battlefield between 2020 and mid 2021. But it is not only in Yemen that the practice is happening, child soldiers are operating across the world. Countries such as Afghanistan, Columbia, lraq, Mali, Myanmar, Nigeria, the Philippines, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria are among the countries that witness a concerning prevalence of this phenomenon, according to child soldiers international. The recruitment of children in armed conflicts is one of the most egregious violations of children's rights according to a study carried out by world vision international. Ten of thousands of boys and girls are forced to take part in armed conflicts. The covid-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the situation. This is a grave violation of their human rights. The recruitment of underaged children into military formations or armed groups is recognized as a serious issue against the fundamental human rights of children, and international laws have been created to stop this from happening. Help to stop this abuse of children, show your red hand to the world.
CHILD SOLDIERS.
The use of child soldiers is a stain on humankind, but still all too prevalent across the planet. In 2020 over 8,500 children, some as young as six years , were recruited as child soldiers according to world vision international. Children have been and are still being used as soldiers in many regions of the world instead of going to school and living their childhood. This happens because they are easy to influence and cheap to employ. Children are always among the most vulnerable in times of conflicts. During the Liberian civil war, Liberian kids as young as 10 years were exploited as armed combatants. Under threat of death, they committed terrible acts of violence against the Liberian society. When will this practice finally stop? We must all rise up to the occasion and take action and don't let it happen anywhere else, we must disarm child soldiers now. Children are not supposed to be soldiers, they supposed to be in school and be educated. While substantial gains have been made to protect children from being used in fighting, more efforts are needed to making children soldiers a thing of the past. All children deserve a normal childhood, a childhood free from violence, filled with joy, love and laughter. They deserve every right to education and shelter.
By virtue of security council resolutions 1539 (2004) and 1612 (2005), which request that action plans and dialogue for their development to be established, united nations child protection advisers (CPA's) and team are mandated and have the political space to engage with all state and non-state armed actors involved in grave violations against children. In 2020, for example, dialogue with armed groups enabled the separation of 497 children in the Central African Republic. In the same year, 44 children were released and reintegrated in South Sudan, 23 children in Mali, and 1313 children in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In MINUSCA, the child protection section's direct advocacy with armed groups led to the release of more than 8,600 children from January 2016 to June 2019. With the support of peace keeping missions child protection sections and in partnership with UNICEF and national child protection actors, thousands of children have been released from armed forces and groups in different peace keeping settings since the deployment of the first child protection advisers in 2000. In 2020, 1,877 children have been released in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Mali, South Sudan, and Sudan. The total number of grave violations against children have decreased from 3,671 (2018) to 3,065 (2019) (- 16.5%) in the five missions where child protection advisers (CPA's) were deployed. (Source: united nations peace keeping).
In conclusion, as an advocate of child's rights, l want to end this violence and violations against children by amplifying my voice to make change happen.
HISTORICAL FACTS ABOUT CHILD SOLDIER.
8 years old Momcilo Gavric of Serbia was the youngest known soldier to fight in world war (1). After Austro-Hungarian soldiers murdered most of his family and burned down his home, he ran to a nearby city and was accepted into the 6th artillery division. He also went on to serve in world war (11). He died in Belgrade in 1993 at age 86.
#RedHandDay2022 #RaiseYourRed #ILO #EndChildLabour2022 #IYECL2022 #UNICEF #GlobalGoals #euinnigeria #ukinnigeria #usinnigeria #japan_in_nigeria #UNDP #UN
BRIEF PERSONAL PROFILE OF ENOBONG EKWERE - SOCIAL ACTIVIST/ DEVELOPMENT EXPERT IN NIGERIA.
Comrade Enobong Ekwere is a social influencer, blogger, vlogger, human rights activist, peace practitioner, grassroot social mobilizer, SDGs advocate and a global citizen. Enobong Ekwere also have vast knowledge and professional expertise in copy writing, content creation, online and offline media campaigning. He is the program manager of children and young people living for peace (CYPLP), an organic, volunteer of experts, youth focused and a think-tank non-governmental organization based in Kaduna state, Nigeria. A Higher National Diploma (HND) graduate of Public Administration (Upper Credit) from the Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger State, Nigeria. Enobong Ekwere holds a proficiency certificate in management from the Nigerian Institute of Management, Chartered (NIM) Lagos, Nigeria. He is also a graduate member of the institute (Associate member in view). He works with young people in local communities across Nigeria localizing the sustainable development goals (SDGs) (SDG16+ SDG4 and SDG5 in particular) and positive peace frameworks in Nigeria, accelerating action online and offline, engaging duty bearers and policy makers to be accountable for it's implementation by 2030. He is a strong advocate of peace, good governance and democracy, accountability in government, freedom of information, freedom of expression, access to information, free press, social justice and social inclusion. As a youth advocate and a global leader who loves to see social reforms in the society, he uses his personalized blog to write compelling stories on developmental and topical issues on national and global concern that shapes and transform people's lives and impact the larger society for knowledge transfer and lifelong learning. He engages in community service and volunteerism, community outreach, social mobilization and advocacy tours to hard to reach local communities in Nigeria advocating and advancing the cause of the SDGs (SDG16+ SDG4 and SDG5 in particular) so that no community and youth in Kaduna state and Nigeria at large would be left behind. CYPLP as an organization works primarily in serving vulnerable population of children, youth, elderly persons, people living with disabilities (PLWD's) and women in unserved, underserved, underrepresented and marginalized local communities in Nigeria.
My areas of competence in peace education and peace building process includes;
1. Conflict mapping, sensitivity and analysis
2. Negotiation, mediation and reconciliation
3. Interreligious and intercultural dialogue
4. Protection of civilians
5. Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR)
6. Security sector reforms (SSR)
7. Mainstreaming gender in peace keeping
8. Mainstreaming gender in peace and state building
9. Crisis management/resolution
10. Media and conflict
11. Conflict and natural resources
12. Conflict prevention
13. Peace support operations (PSOs)
14. Post- conflict reconstruction and development
15. Humanitarian action
16. Transnational organized crime
17. Piracy and maritime security
18. Preventing violent extremism (PVE) etc.
Enobong Ekwere has an extensive professional working experience in projects such as;
1. PRELT (Prevention of radicalization and extremism leading to terrorism)
2. BRAVE (Building resilience against violent extremism)
3. iDOVE (Interfaith dialogue on violent extremism) in local communities across Kaduna state and Nigeria at large.
I have initiated two projects to counter religious and violent extremism among the youths in local communities in Nigeria, and one empowerment program, these are;
1. CAARE ( Countering Attitudes Against Religious Extremism)
2. CAAVE (Countering Attitudes Against Violent Extremism)
3. NEET (Not in Education, Empowerment or Training) an empowerment training program aimed at training vulnerable population of young people in local communities in Nigeria with leadership skills, entrepreneurial and vocational skills acquisition.
He can be reached via:
Tel/WhatsApp: +2347082558952
Email: julyenobong2020@gmail.com
: enobongekwere825@gmail.com
MY PERSONAL SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES:
FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/enobong.ekwere.372
TWITTER:
http://www.twitter.com/Enobongekwere2
INSTAGRAM:
http://www.instagram.com/enobongekwere825
LINKEDIN:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/enobong-ekwere-3271b116b
MY ORGANIZATION'S SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES:
FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/cyplp.net.ng/
TWITTER:
http://www.twitter.com/youngpeoplefor/
INSTAGRAM:
http://www.instagram.com/cyplp/
WEBSITE:
www.cyplp.net.ng
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