From the Congo to Guantanamo:The Plight of Child Soldiers

Two weeks ago the trial of notorious Congolese militia leader Lubanga Dyilo began in the International Criminal Court. He stands accused of among other things, using children to sow rape, mayhem, and murder throughout the Congo. These children were, as a CNN article points out, socialized to commit unspeakable acts of violence as rape and torture was first utilized on them. The article states: "Lubanga's armed group recruited, trained and used hundreds of young children to kill, pillage and rape. The children still suffer the consequences of Lubanga's crimes. They cannot forget what they saw, what they suffered, what they did," ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said as the trial opened on Monday morning." This type of monstrous socialization is charted in several books such as "A Long Way Gone" by Ismael Beal, and the novels "What is the What" by Dave Eggers, and "Beasts of No Nation" by Uzodinma Iweala which detail the events of wide range of African civil wars. This entire event is juxtaposed by the fact that the United States currently holds a child soldier in Guantanamo Bay. Omar Khadr has been held, without trial for oven 7 years. He was first taken from the battlefield when he was just 15. The evidence that has been proffered against him is dubious at best. It is even alleged that harsh interrogations and even torture had been used on this teenager (Now a 22 year old man). His conditions of detention have been identical to those of all of the other detainees at Guantanamo Bay despite his age. There is little doubt that Khadr was coerced into service by relatives in the same way that child soldiers in Sierra Leon, Liberia, the Congo, Sudan, and numerous other countries have been. Holding Khadr in this manner for the past seven years dilutes the world community's ability to prosecute the real crime in this case: the use of child soldiers in the first place.

CNN trial article:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/01/26/congo.hague.trial/index.html