Congo Rebel Group Forces Children into Army

(New York, May 29, 2001)
"Children are being abducted and sent to battle by the very soldiers who
are supposed to protect them," said Alison Des Forges, Senior Adviser to
the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. "RCD-Goma must live up to its
agreements to end this terrible practice."

As part of the 1999 Lusaka Accords, RCD-Goma agreed to halt the use of
children as soldiers. In May 2000, RCD-Goma said it would create a
commission to supervise demobilization of child soldiers, but a year
later the commission is not functioning effectively. In April 2001,
authorities of the rebel movement promised to deliver several hundred
children in training at military camps to representatives of the United
Nations. But several days later, they reportedly allowed some 1800 new
recruits between the ages of 12 and 17 to graduate from training at one
of these camps. Each child soldier received a new uniform and firearm.

In the early months of the recruitment campaign, RCD-Goma soldiers and
their Rwandan allies simply abducted children and young men who were
sent for military training and later service in the rebel forces.
Recruiters picked up children on their way to school or church and took
adults en route to work or the market. In some cases, they raided homes,
taking away anyone who might be made into a soldier. In some communities
parents refused to send their children to school for fear of their being
kidnapped. In others, families slept outdoors to avoid raids on their
houses or organized to create an uproar when military raiders arrived in
the community so that children and young men might escape. As the use of
child soldiers attracted increasingly critical comment from
international observers, RCD-Goma moved recruiting efforts further from
urban centers, making it harder to document their activities. They are
also increasingly using promises of rewards to enroll poor and hungry
children who lacked other sources of support.

The RCD-Goma military forces pressure local civilian authorities to
deliver new recruits. To ensure their cooperation with this and other
efforts, RCD-Goma and their Rwandan backers in February 2001 transported
more than 400 Congolese officials and traditional chiefs to Rwanda for
five weeks of ideological and paramilitary training at a Rwandan
military camp. "According to observers on the spot, trucks are still
rolling through Goma, transporting children to military camps in the
Congo and even to Rwanda for training," said Des Forges. "This is
bad news, both for those children and for hopes for peace in the Congo."

A copy of the report, "Reluctant Recruits: Children and Adults Forcibly
Recruited for Military Service in North Kivu," can be found at
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/drc3/.

For more information on human rights and the war in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, please see Congo: A Continuing Human Rights Disaster
(HRW Focus Page, last updated May 29, 2001)at
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/congo/

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

* Write to the President of Rwanda to urge his government to stop all
recruitment, training and use of child soldiers in the DRC;
* Write to your own Foreign Minister or Secretary of State to urge your
government to denounce the use of child soldiers in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, and support the demobilization and rehabilitation of
children who have participated in the conflict.

Sample letters are included below:

Major Général Paul Kagame
Président de la République
Présidence de la République
BP 15, Kigali, Rwanda
Fax: (250) 84390 / (250) 84769

Your Excellency:

I am deeply concerned about recent reports of widespread recruitment of
children by the Congolese Rally for Democracy – Goma (RCD-Goma) and
Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) soldiers in Eastern Congo, and the role of
the RPA in training these children for combat in military training
camps.

Credible reports gathered by the United Nations and independent
organizations such as Human Rights Watch indicate that thousands of
children, some as young as ten, have been recruited by RCD-Goma and RPA
soldiers. These reports indicate that recruitment of children is
generally carried out by force, frequently without the knowledge of the
children’s parents. Children recruited by RCD-Goma and the RPA have
frequently been ill treated, deprived of adequate food and health care,
and been sent into battle with little training.

In early April 2001, RCD-Goma authorities pledged to end the recruitment
of child soldiers and demobilize those in their ranks. But just a few
days later at a ceremony marking the end of a military training program
at Mushaki, nearly 1800 of the 3000 graduates were reportedly children
aged twelve to seventeen.

I urge your government to take the following immediate steps to protect
the rights of children affected by the conflict:

1) Issue clear instructions to all Rwandan soldiers operating in the DRC
to stop the recruitment, abduction, training and use of children for and
in the armed forces of RCD-Goma or in the RPA and to demobilize, disarm,
rehabilitate and return to their homes all such children.
2) Investigate allegations of child recruitment, and punish those
responsible for the recruitment or training of children.
3) Adopt a firm policy against all recruitment of children under age
eighteen, and as an indication of your commitment, sign and ratify the
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the
Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict without reservations, and
submit upon ratification, a binding declaration establishing a minimum
age of at least eighteen for voluntary recruitment.

I look forward to your response, and thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Sample letter to Foreign Ministers:

Dear Minister __________:

I’m writing to express my grave concern regarding the role of the
Rwandan government in facilitating the widespread recruitment of
children for use as soldiers in the Eastern Democratic Republic of
Congo(DRC). The UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC) has
estimated that 15-30% of all newly recruited combatants in the DRC are
children under eighteen, and a substantial number are under the age of
twelve.

In areas of the eastern DRC controlled by the Congolese Rally for
Democracy – Goma (RCD-Goma), a rebel group supported by Rwanda, credible
reports gathered by the United Nations and independent organizations
such as Human Rights Watch indicate that thousands of children, some as
young as ten, have been recruited by RCD-Goma and Rwandan Patriotic Army
(RPA) soldiers. These reports indicate that children have been forcibly
recruited at schools, on the roads, at markets and in homes, frequently
without the knowledge of the children’s parents. In one instance, 500
children on their way to church were recruited on a single Sunday.

In military training camps, RPA soldiers have often overseen the
training of child recruits. In some camps, more than 60% of new recruits
are believed to be under the age of eighteen. Human Rights Watch reports
that many of these children have been sent unarmed into battle, where
hundreds have been killed.

In early April 2001, RCD-Goma authorities pledged to end the recruitment
of child soldiers and demobilize those in their ranks. But just a few
days later at a ceremony marking the end of a military training program
at Mushaki, nearly 1800 of the 3000 graduates were reportedly children
aged twelve to seventeen.

In order to end the recruitment of Congolese children and their use as
soldiers, I urge you to take the following actions:
1) To condemn in the strongest possible terms the recruitment and use of
children by the parties to the conflict in Eastern DRC, including the
RPA, and RCD-Goma;
2) To urge all parties to the conflict to initiate and make operational
disarmament, demobilization, and rehabilitation programs for children,
and to assist with required funding;
3) To support and increase the UN human rights monitoring programs in
the DRC.

Thank you for your kind attention to these concerns. I look forward to
constructive steps by your government to help ensure the protection of
children in the Eastern DRC.

Sincerely,