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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Human Rights Activists

In many countries, children are not registered at birth. This means that it is difficult to prove their real age, making it easier to justify their recruitment and use by military groups.

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

• Read the Paris Principles, especially sections:1.7, 3.1-3.4, 4.0, 6.7.2, 7.7
• Learn more about the issue of birth registration and children's right to an identity at UNICEF's Web site. Be sure to:
o Explore all three children’s stories
o Look at the medical, educational, and judicial point of view regarding birth registration.
• Take a look at how the country you're representing allocates funds for its military, education, and health programmes. This information can be found in the "Info by Country" section of UNICEF's Web site. Note: The "Economics" chart is located within each country's “Statistics” section.

Use this information to fill out the following form and use it while presenting your economic policy recommendation to the Legislative Assembly. As you develop your policy, remember that your task is to use a financial focus to answer the question: WHAT SHOULD BE DONE ABOUT CHILD SOLDIERS?



Group Name
1) Based on the sections of the Paris Principles that you read, why is reintegration of child soldiers a Human Rights issue? What are the implications for your group's policy recommendations?
2) In what ways are families at risk if children are not registered at birth--especially in times of armed conflict? List and explain at least three ways. Be sure to address the issue from the educational, medical, and judicial perspectives.
3) What human rights do children whose births are unregistered risk losing? Name at least three that relate to children involved in armed conflict.
4) What recommendations do you think need to be made to make sure that the right to be registered at birth is protected in the country you're representing?
5) How does the country you are representing allocate its funds for military, education and health services?
6) Which area gets the most funds? Which gets the least? What does this say about the country's priorities?
7) Keeping in mind what you have learned from your readings of the Unicef Web site and the Paris Principles, does your group feel that the military, education, and health care budgets need to be adjusted to support its policy recommendations? If so, in what way?
You are now ready to create your policy recommendations as Human Rights Activists. Using the questions on the past two pages as your guide, gather your recommendations to create a succinct declaration on the WebQuest's BIG QUESTION, "What should be done about child soldiers?"
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