TOMMASO MORO
The mandate of the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict was created by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1996, following Graça Machel’s publication of the major report titled “Impact of Armed Conflict on Children”, which highlighted the enormous impact wars have on children. On the 25th of August 1999, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted the first resolution that addresses the problem of children involved in armed conflict. The resolution identifies and condemns the “six grave violations” affecting children in times of conflict, which are (i) the killing and maiming of children, (ii) recruitment or use of children as soldiers, (iii) sexual violence against children, (iv) abduction of children, (v) attacks against schools or hospitals and (vi) denial of humanitarian access for children. Unfortunately, there are places where (i)-(vi) are a reality and children are robbed of their childhood and their fundamental human rights. Somalia is one of them.
Somalia has been home to the militant Islamist group Al-Shabaab for more than a decade. Despite having lost their once established control on the capital Mogadishu and the port Kismayo as well as other major sites, Al-Shabaab is still strong in Somalia and a menace in the neighbouring regions of East Africa. As of now, the group is mainly operating in the southern rural areas of the country (though it has shown up in other places too, both within and outside of Somalia) and is one of the deadliest terrorist organizations in Africa, accounting for more than 50% of total reported violence associated with Islamist militant groups in the continent. Among the many condemnable things that Al-Shabaab is responsible for, one of the worst is their substantial reliance on children, some of whom are as young as nine. According to UN estimates, 6.163 children were recruited and used by the group from 2012 to 2016 to fill their ranks. In 2017 alone, Al-Shabaab recruited more than 1.700 children in Somalia, the large majority of which were abducted. It is not unusual for Al-Shabaab militants to force families, teachers or even entire villages to hand over their children and punish harshly whoever lingers or opposes resistance, especially in Somalia’s Bay region. For instance, according to the UN Security Council’s Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group, in June 2017, 45 elders were detained in El Bur by Al-Shabaab for refusing to hand over 150 children. In July and August alone of the same year, 550 children were abducted by Al-Shabaab, says a UN 2018 report. Once recruited, children are sent to Al-Shabaab madrasas or training camps, where they are indoctrinated and trained. Finally, they are either sent to the front lines, used as spies or given support roles (such as carrying ammunition). Not rarely, they are involved in operations that include the use of explosive devices. Between 2012 and 2016, over 3.400 children were killed and maimed in armed conflict in Somalia. In 2017 alone, they were 931. It has been reported that hundreds of them are also victims of rape or other forms sexual violence every year and that, a UN report notes, “the scale of sexual violence affecting children is believed to be underrepresented owing to fear of stigmatization and reprisals and to the lack of adequate support services for survivors”. Al-Shabaab also publicly executed children.
The families and communities that have not yet had a shattering encounter with Al-Shabaab live in fear. The group is responsible for 58 attacks on schools (including the detentions of teachers who refused to teach Al-Shabaab’s curriculum to kids) and 6 attacks on hospitals in 2017 alone, and their threat never feels like a remote possibility. Human Rights Watch reports that in order to escape forced recruitment many kids flee their homes, often unaccompanied, in a desperate attempt to reach areas that aren’t under the control of Al-Shabaab. But the journey is dangerous and the risk of getting captured along the way is high.
What children have to face in Somalia is beyond imaginable and constitutes a severe violation of international law as well as of the most fundamental moral norms. In addition to fostering a climate of danger and violence and undermining peace, stability and security in Somalia, Al-Shabaab has been threatening children’s safety and education. As Graça Machel famously wrote, “there are few further depths to which humanity can sink”.
