Urge Democratic Republic of Congo Not to Abandon Child SoldiersMore than two years after the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) launched a countrywide program to release and reintegrate child soldiers into civilian life, at least 11,000 children are still with armed groups or unaccounted for -- including a majority of girls, who are either abandoned or misidentified as "dependents" of adult fighters. Amnesty International believes that the country's disarmament, demobilization and reintegration program (DDR) is failing to protect and support children. In some areas girls make up less than two percent of children released from armed groups and passing through the DDR program -- despite the fact that they make up approximately 40 percent of the children used by armed forces or groups. To date the government has taken no steps to trace and recover these missing children. Many of the children released and reunited with their families or communities -- whether boys or girls -- have been targeted with harassment and intimidation by the authorities, soldiers from the government's unified army or other armed fighters. Some attacks appear aimed to frighten children back into the armed groups or extort money or goods from the child or his/her family and some are apparently motivated by perception of the child as a deserter. A majority of the released children haven't received adequate educational or vocational opportunities. Currently, only 29 percent of children in the DRC complete their primary education and an estimated 4.7 million primary-age children, including 2.5 million girls, are not attending school. At least 6 million adolescents receive no formal education in the DRC. As part of a political transition that began in June 2003, the DRC government, backed by $200 million in international support, launched the countrywide DDR program aimed at reintegrating an estimated 150,000 fighters -- including an estimated 30,000 children. By June 2006, the government commission in charge of DDR claimed it had demobilized just over 19,000 children. |