Insurgency: Borno establishes programme to disarm, reintegrate child-soldiers

The Borno state government has established partnership programmes to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate child-soldiers in the state. There are special measures to ensure children’s protection from exploitation and re-recruitment.

The programme was established in order to prevent the recruitment of child soldiers and ensure their demobilisation as well as their reintegration into the society to live a better life and have access to education , employment and health among other social necessities of life.

The Borno state Commissioner of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zuwaira Gambo, who stated this Monday at a one day ceremony held at Prime Lodge Conference Hall, Maiduguri, organized by Borno state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and supported by United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF), said the state government, through her ministry has established Birth Registration Center for the profiling of the children , especially, among the IDP children who are being resettled in their ancestral homes.

She added that the state government has further put in place a strategy to protect children formerly associated with armed groups from retribution, summary execution, arbitrary detention, torture and other punitive measures, in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and international juvenile justice standards.

The commissioner said: “Children become part of an armed force or group for various reasons. In our case in the northeast, most were abducted, threatened, coerced, or manipulated by armed actors. Some associated themselves for survival or to protect their communities.
“No matter their involvement, the recruitment and use of children by armed forces is a grave violation of child rights and international humanitarian law.

“Whether or not children are accepted back into society depends on various factors, including their reason for association with armed actors, and the perceptions of their families and communities.

“Most children who attempt to reintegrate are viewed with

suspicion or outright rejection, while others may struggle to fit in. Psychological distress makes it difficult for children to process and verbalise their experiences, especially when they fear stigma or how people will react.

“All hands are on deck to ensure full implementation and incorporation of operational protocols to achieve the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Borno state, especially on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict.”