(ANS – Madrid) – “I had everything I wanted in the army: girls, tobacco, alcohol...” Thus testifies a 14 year old Congolese boy who is currently in a Salesian Centre aimed at fitting these kinds of boys back into society. He has left the horrors of military service behind.  But there are still 300,000 children who have not had the good fortune to find freedom. This is reported by a Press Release put out by the Salesian Missions Office Madrid.

For the United Nations a child soldier is anyone under the age of 18 who is part of any kind of armed force, regular or irregular, whatever role he or she plays. So we are not necessarily speaking of soldiers bearing arms, but of cooks, porters, messengers and girls recruited for sex. The report by the UN General Assembly (May 2013) indicates that currently 50 armed groups and 8 Governments are recruiting or using children in the context of hostilities, without counting those involved in Government-run militias.

Even if the data are not precise, it is clear that when a conflict arises children are an easy resource, “a very economic and obedient army, they do not think of the consequences of their actions in war, eat less and are easy to support”, explains one of the Salesians at the Don Bosco Centre in Goma Ngangi. In short there are children uprooted through violence who find a kind of family in the army.

There are many causes: poverty, family split-ups, school drop-outs, abuse, kidnappings... The work involves not only looking after their problems as they fit back into society, like for example at the Ciudad Don Bosco Centre in Medellin, which over its 10 years has rehabilitated 280 ex child soldiers, but is especially a work of prevention, giving children and their families an all-round education based on love and respect.

“Acting forcefully on the causes is not enough”, the press release goes on,  “so for the International Day against use of Child Soldiers, the Salesian Mission office, Madrid launched an appeal to Government and international organisations asking them to take appropriate action and employ preventive measures”.

You can get to know the work of the Madrid Mission office by visiting their website.

Published 12/02/2014