58 nations, including Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Uganda have vowed to prevent the use of child soldiers. Known as the “Paris Principle”, the aim is to make child soldiers, who commit crimes, be viewed as victims and not criminals. Countries will now have the obligation of finding child soldiers and help them leave arms groups. Besides the overall efforts to prevent children from becoming involved in war, there will be no amnesty given to those commit crimes against children.
While this is viewed as a significant step to stop the use of soldiers under the age of 18, it appears to be easier said than done. Few, if any, arms groups who use children as soldiers “play by the rules.” It is doubtful that war -lords like Joseph Kony will give into the pressures of this principle.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
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The French foreign minister, Mr. Douste-Blazy, would have us believe that these "Paris Principles" are more than "merely good words". Yet, a close look at its major tenets reveals that the agreement has no words of action, except perhaps, the soft "no amnesty for those who commit crimes against children". I think Mr. Douste-Blazy is more honest when he refers to the political value of the agreement. Unless there are some hardcore rules of enforcement deeply embedded somewhere within the document, this meeting was just a meaningless fanfare to make all of us believe that the international community is taking action against this deplorable corruption of innocence.
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