step five: developing a policy about child soldiers

Children and Parents Criminal Court Judges Finance and Trade Advisors	Human Rights Activists Mental Health Professionals Military Advisors

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Mental Health Professionals

As Mental Health Professionals, you strongly believe that certain activities can damage people and affect their work and family life. You are concerned about how to rehabilitate children who have participated in armed conflict and address the negative impact this experience has had on their social and emotional development. In addition, you're looking to reunite them with their families and reintegrate them into their communities.

Before developing a policy for child soldiers, your group needs to:

• Find out if the country you’re representing has signed or ratified either the Convention on the Rights of the Child or the Optional Protocol. If it has signed the OP, look through the "Declarations and Reservations" section to find the minimum age it has set for voluntary military recruitment.
• Read the Paris Principles, especially sections:
* 1.14 and how they relate to the CRC and OP
* 6.0 which gives information about how children become soldiers
Review The Voices of Children at War and/or read one or more of the following:

• Marie: In the Shadow of the Lion
• A Boy's Story
• A Girl's Story

While you read, make a list of the types of problems you think child soldiers will have readjusting to life once they are released from combat.

Use these resources to fill out the following form and use it while presenting your policy recommendation to the Legislative Assembly. As you develop your policy, remember that your task is to use your expertise in the mental health field to answer the question: WHAT SHOULD BE DONE ABOUT CHILD SOLDIERS?

Group's Name:

1) Why do children become child soldiers? List at least three reasons.

2) Based on the treaties the country you represent has signed or ratified, what are the minimum ages for compulsory and voluntary recruitment?

3) Has the country you are representing signed or ratified the CRC? Yes
No

4) Has it signed or ratified the OP? Yes
No

5) If the country you are representing has not signed or ratified the OP, do you want to recommend that they do as part of your policy statement? Yes
No

If you do, be sure to include a minimum age for voluntary recruitment in your policy.

6) Given what you know about the social and emotional problems that child soldiers face, do you think the minimum ages for compulsory and voluntary recruitment are adequate? Why or why not? If not, what should they be?

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