Child Soldier Initiative Training commences in Freetown
A project to train Security Actors in Sierra Leone to respond to children associated with organized armed violence started in Freetown, Wednesday, 22nd May 2013 at the Bintumani Hotel Conference Room No. 2 with participants drawn from the Army, Police, Prisons and other sectoral-line Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
The workshop is co-organized by the Child Soldier Initiative, the Sierra Leone Management Team comprising of representatives of the Office of National Security (ONS), the Military, the Police, the Prisons and sectoral-line MDAs. The team from the Romeo Dallaire Child Soldier Initiative (CSI) headed by Dr. Shelly Witman, the Executive Director and accompanied by her Deputy, Tanya Zayed arrived in Freetown last Saturday, 18th May 2013 for three days of training of Sierra Leone’s security stakeholders on “prevention of the use of child soldiers”.
The project is born out of the Child Soldier Initiative (CSI) developed and led by retired Lt. General, the Honourable Romeo A. Dallaire, to generate global political will to eradicate the recruitment and use of child soldiers in situations of conflict. CSI conducts research, advocacy, training and capacity building to achieve its set objectives which include, building global partnerships to end the phenomenon, generate new worldwide knowledge on the issue, influence national policies through training of security actors and find practical means for better coordination between security actors and other sectors dealing with the issue.
Participants at the workshop’s opening session
This is the second time officials of the CSI are actually physically visiting Sierra Leone, the first being in February this year. However, the Government of Sierra Leone is very much aware of their interest in building the capacity of especially personnel of Sierra Leone’s Peacekeepers in various United Nations Peacekeeping Missions around the world.
A press release from the CSI headquarters in Canada notes, “with UN peacekeepers deployed in Somalia, Darfur, South Sudan as well as the nascent mission in nearby Mali, Sierra Leone’s security personnel face an increased risk of coming into contact with child soldiers which are used extensively in these conflicts. The course will prepare troops for these interactions, covering how child soldiers are defined, how and why they are used, as well as security concerns and tactical guidance for a wide array of real-life interactions.”
According to the release an estimated “10,000 child soldiers were recruited by all sides during Sierra Leone’s 11-year civil war, comprising more than half of all fighting forces,” and also pointed out that Academics estimate the number to be as high as 48,000. It also highlighted that many members of RSLAF had direct contact with child soldiers throughout this period, or were themselves recruited as children.
The release therefore asserts that “by making this material a mandatory component of security sector personnel training, it is hoped that Sierra Leone will break new ground in the fight against child recruitment in armed conflict and become a model for prevention.”
An earlier project proposal document submitted to the Government of Sierra Leone discloses that CSI has in October 2010, trained two officers at Camp Aldershot in Nova Scotia, Canada as part of the Directorate of Military Training and Assistance Program offered by the Canadian Government and this training, according to the project document, “helps to educate prepare and prevent the use of child soldiers”.
The document suggests that with Sierra Leone’s history of “a successful disarmament and reintegration” she should take the step of ensuring that this initiative becomes a core criterion of the security forces’ training and promotions. Its main purpose, the document notes, is to increase the capacity of participants in the training sessions in dealing with children associated with armed violence in conflict situations.
This project is mainly supported by very credible international institutions including the United Nations Institute for Training and Research which has recognized the CSI as “subject matter experts”.
In Sierra Leone the initiative is led and coordinated by the Office of National Security.
“Seed funding for the programme, which began on Wednesday, 22nd May 2013 was made possible by the Canadian Auto Workers Social Justice Fund,” the press release disclosed, and further disclosed that a second series of trainings will take place in November this year, where a number of Sierra Leone trainers will adapt course materials to pass their knowledge forward, allowing the programme to be fully integrated into government operations.
By Sayoh Kamara
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