Keeping children off the frontlines

Children as young as five years old are forced to become child soldiers in many conflict zones around the world.

An improved understanding of these children and their potential for resiliency is the goal of ongoing research at Dalhousie. The Centre for Foreign Policy Studies was recently designated to lead research efforts for the Child Soldier Initiative (CSI). 

Created by Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire (Retd), CSI is a groundbreaking, multidisciplinary project intending to build the will, knowledge, collaboration and tools necessary to eradicate the use of child soldiers. Their mandate is to increase the awareness and understanding of child soldiers, to promote collaboration between military, political, academic and humanitarian agencies, and to strengthen the capacity of the military and the police to deal with child soldier issues.

Other partners include Search for Common Ground, the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, the University of Victoria and the University of Winnipeg. 

"Funding is our biggest challenge," says Shelly Whitman, Deputy Director of the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies.   

Understanding resiliency

Dr. Whitman organized a candid, roundtable workshop to better understand factors that enable resiliency. This groundbreaking discussion was the first time that former child soldiers came together to offer their perspectives. The Dalhousie roundtable included Ishamael Beah, author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier and John Kon Kelei, founder of the Sudan focused Cuey Machar Secondary School Foundation.

Discussions identified a range of factors helpful for resiliency including: the support of an adult, a belief system prior to the conflict, a strong desire to see change, a sense of hope, educational opportunities, support from other child soldiers and acquired skills.

Future research opportunities include better understanding the experiences of girl soldiers, who are estimated to make up 40 per cent of the children involved in armed groups. According to Dr. Whitman, there are indications that girl soldiers have more problems with demobilization and reintegration because they carry a double stigma from sexual assault and/or bearing illegitimate children. 

Strengthening capacity

Education about issues relevant to child soldiers can take place near and far. Dr. Whitman noticed an opportunity to reach police from Guatemala, Mexico, Namibia, Sudan and South Africa while presenting  at Camp Aldershot, a training facility for the Canadian Forces. Beginning this fall, professional training will be offered regularly at the facility in Kentville, N.S. And further afield, as the result of delivering training in Botswana for a number of countries, they've recently received an invitation from Mozambique and Tanzania to conduct in-country training.
 
Even countries that are not located in a war zone can benefit from these findings, because they often need to deal with child soldier refugees.

Raising awareness 
 
"We need to create understanding that this research benefits our troops elsewhere in the world and it also enables better decision-making around Canadian immigration policies," she says. Dr. Whitman believes it is imperative that the Canadian government changes immigration legislation that disadvantages former child soldiers who wish to immigrate or become refugees to Canada.

Attempts to raise awareness will continue with efforts to bring Emmanuel Jal, Sudanese musician, former child soldier and founder of Gua Africa, to Dalhousie.

Also in September, 2011 she’s hoping to enroll one of the founding members of the Network of Young People Affected by War into a PhD program at Dalhousie. CSI and the Centre would like to be in a position to offer scholarship opportunities to those young people who have survived conflict and others that are interested in pursuing research that will advance its work.

"Many wonderful things have happened in a relatively short period of time, but still there's enormous potential in terms of what can be accomplished," Dr. Whitman told delegates to the Social Ecology of Resilience Conference held in Halifax in June. “Our hope is to accomplish concrete steps that can lead eventually to a global movement that will help keep children off the frontlines."