Children are civilians, not soldiers

On 15 May 2019, World Vision launched new campaign, Together, let’s stop the enrollment of children

into armed forces and groups in Central African Republic. The President of the Republic attended the

campaign launch, where World Vision, partners, government, communities and child protection

actors committed themselves to working together to prevent the exploitation of children by armed

groups.

CAR is ranked among the top 10 countries recruiting child soldiers

The use of children for military purposes in CAR has long affected all parts of the country. Since the beginning of the conflict in 2012, the United Nations estimates more than 14,000 child soldiers have been recruited by Anti-Balaka and Séléka forces and other armed groups across the country.

Armed groups have used children as young as eight as combatants, guards, human shields, porters, messengers, spies, cooks, and for sexual purposes.

World Vision working to protect children in Central Africa

Since March 2014, World Vision has been working across the Central African Republic in order to ensure that every child has the right to a happy and safe childhood. Our child protection work includes a special focus on children formerly associated with armed forces and groups, and includes:

Ø working with children, families and communities to raise awareness of

children’s rights and how to protect them, and encouraging leaders and

community members to condemn violence against children;

Ø raising public awareness and contributing to the debate on the topic of

policy briefs, reports, videos, and audio messages, and holding debates and public events.

Our child protection and participation programmes also established six community child protection networks, five peace clubs, and vocational training for 308 youth in mechanics, sewing, carpentry, and masonry. The child protection networks referred 35 protection incidents and 96 cases of school issues to the relevant authorities, helping to strengthen community and government engagement in the elimination of violence against children.

The recurrent political and inter-ethical tensions in the country have contributed to many serious child protection violations. Children have had to stop their schooling, suffered abuse, and been abandoned or separated from their families, all factors that make them more vulnerable to recruitment or forced association with armed groups.

In 2018, World Vision helped more than 6,000 children and young people, including around 35 teen mothers, to rebuild their futures by going back to formal schooling or vocational technical training.

With the launch of this campaign, Together, let’s stop the enrollment of children into armed forces and groups in Central African Republic, World Vision calls on the government and its partners to:

Ø Implement the National Plan for Recovery and Consolidation of the Peace

protection of children from enrolment into armed forces and groups.

Ø Adopt and promulgate the child protection law at the national level.

Ø Implement budgeted national action plans to combat enlistment in armed

forces and groups.

Ø Implement an action plan to strengthen dialogue between government,

religious leaders and traditional leaders on the elimination of child

enrolment in armed forces and groups.

Ø Publish national data on numbers of children associated with the forces and

armed groups.

Enrolment of children in CAR accounts for 40% of all serious protection violations that occurred between 2015 and 2019.