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During the decade-long civil conflict which took place in Sierra Leone between 1991 and 2002, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), state forces and state-supported militias conscripted children for use in combat. Although the use of children in combat is not new to Sierra Leone, the use of child soldiers became widespread during the civil war. The RUF, kidnapped and forced children to fight from when the civil conflict began, and up to eighty per cent of their numbers were aged from seven to fourteen and served in the Small Boys Unit. The state's armed forces, and the militia groups which supported them, also recruited children, which led to an estimated 10,000 children taking part in the conflict. According to Myriam Denov up to 30 per cent of the children in the RUF were girls. These girls were subject to rape, gang rape and other forms of sexual violence. The RUF used alcohol and hallucinogenic drugs on children during training, according to a former RUF commander: We were very much aware of the effects of drugs on children. Drugs and alcohol were prevalent and served as () prerequisite for combat activities. Fighting with a gun is not an easy task because it puts so much pressure on the mind. So we needed to free the mind by taking drugs, and it worked. The RUF were known for being exceptionally brutal; beheadings, maiming and mutilation of victims were commonplace. The group has been heavily criticised by human rights groups for their forced conscription of children to use as combatants, their sexual exploitation of children and using children for forced labour. These children were forced to commit murders, rapes, sexual slavery, mutilations and other forms of human rights abuses. The Special Court for Sierra Leone affirmed that the recruitment of children under the age of 15 years old was a War crime entailing individual criminal responsibility under Customary international law. This principle was codified in Sierra Leone with the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in 1998. Further the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child was enforced through agreement on the 21st January 2000. This prohibits the involvement of children under 18 years old in armed conflict. They are not to be deployed by either state or non-state rebel parties; a breach of this will result in it being classified as a criminal act.〔(), Reintegration of Child Ex-combatants in Sierra Leone with particular focus on the needs of females.〕 ==Reintegration of Child Soldiers== Article 39 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states that "parties shall take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of a child of victim of...armed conflicts. Such recovery and reintegration shall take place in an environment which fosters the health, self-respect and dignity of the child".〔(), UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 39.〕 Reintegration programs are facilitated within a human rights framework by non-governmental and governmental organisations. They primarily focus on the needs of the child and often fail to adequately prepare families for receiving and facilitating reintegration of the victim.〔(), Reintegration of Former Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone: The role of caregivers and their awareness of the violence adolescents experienced during the war.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Child soldiers in Sierra Leone」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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