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According to UN estimates, there are at least 300,000 child soldiers worldwide, says Dr. Samantha Nutt, executive director of War Child Canada.
"Kids make great combatants, and I say that with great despair," Dr. Nutt says. "They are compliant, they are easily intimidated, they'll take risks, they follow instructions and they can be brutalized into submission."
All sides — governments, militia, rebel forces — use boys and girls to fight or perform other tasks, she says. "People are using children because they are not being held accountable."
The Globe's Kevin Van Paassen illustrated the efforts underway in Eastern Rwanda to rehabilitate former child soldiers back into mainstream life in his video documentary called Born of War.
Dr. Samantha Nutt, founder and executive director of War Child Canada (Courtesy War Child Canada)
Dr. Nutt has worked in war zones for the past decade with War Child Canada, the United Nations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Iraq, Afghanistan, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Iraq, Burundi, northern Uganda and the Thai-Burmese border. She is a specialist in maternal and child health in zones of armed conflict, family medicine, public health, and women's health. Dr. Nutt is also on staff at Toronto's Sunnybrook and Women's Health Science Centre and is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto in the Department of Family and Community Medicine.
Dr. Nutt is a recipient of The Globe and Mail's Top 40 Under 40 Award. She was named one of Canada's five leading activists by Time Magazine and an outstanding Canadian leader by CBC News Sunday.
Dr. Nutt was online on Monday and answered reader questions. Your questions and Dr. Nutt's answers appear below.
Sasha Nagy, globeandmail.com: Dear Dr. Nutt: Thanks for agreeing to answer reader questions. As you explained in the Globe's weekend feature Born of War, these children become part of armed conflict because they are kids, they follow authority figures and can be intimidated. It is perhaps one of the most cruel abuses an adult can inflict on a child.
I have an opening question from my colleague Jayson Taylor who helped photographer Kevin Van Paassen produce his excellent video from Rwanda:
Jayson asks: A lot of attention has been directed on boys who have been used as child soldiers, are there many cases of women and girls who have been used in the conflict?
Dr. Samantha Nutt: Yes. While there are no accurate numbers, girls are routinely used both as armed combatants and in other capacities, including as cooks, porters, and messengers. Most tragic of all, however, is that many of these girls are brutally and repeatedly raped, held as sex slaves and/or forced into unwanted marriages. These girls often end up pregnant, and in some case, are infected with HIV. Because of the stigma associated with rape in many of these communities the girls experience isolation and rejection. It creates a cycle of poverty and despair, and in turn they are left raising children in extremely difficult circumstances who are vulnerable to further exploitation and abuse. While the plight of boy soldiers has received a great deal of attention in recent years, the plight of girls has sadly received far less attention and support.
Christine Poirier from Reading, United Kingdom writes: Dr. Nutt: Does War Child Canada participate in the legal aspects of child soldiering, i.e. does it get involved in cases against those who recruit and abduct children in armed conflicts as amicus curiae or otherwise? Also, in your organization's efforts to demobilize child soldiers and rehabilitate them, what is being done to deter these children from taking up arms again in the same, or a later conflict?
