Wounded Childhood: The Use of Children in Armed Conflict in Central Africa

Summary

The use of children in armed conflict being one of the worst forms of child labour, the ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO/IPEC) makes every effort to combat it. Four countries of the region are participating in this programme: Burundi, the Republic of Congo (Congo), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda. The preparatory phase of the programme consisted of field research in the form of ‘rapid assessments’ of the situation in each country. The objective of this exercise was to obtain information about the causes of the use of child soldiers, the mechanisms for their recruitment, their living conditions while in the armed groups, the circumstances surrounding their release and their prospects of reintegration. This report contains a synthesis of the findings of inquiries conducted by consultants in the four countries and a comparative analysis of them.