08/01/2006

Contact: Emila Brkic
ri@refugeesinternational.org or 202.828.0110

Elections passed relatively calmly throughout the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). However, pockets of insecurity still persist and torment the eastern part of the country. Different militias, including the Forces Democratique de Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR), continue to conscript children in North and South Kivu. In Ituri province, the Congolese Revolutionary Movement (MRC) is notorious for its use of child combatants. As the DRC makes plans to move forward, the needs of child combatants, particularly girl children, require attention.

At least 30,000 boys and girls are estimated to be associated with armed forces in the DRC. Child combatants are often considered ideal recruits by armed groups because they are relatively easy to manipulate, unlikely to question the group's motives, and arouse little suspicion. These children are forced to fight on the frontlines and participate in serious human rights abuses against civilians. In addition, the children themselves experience brutal treatment at the hands of the armed forces. Almost all girls and some of the boys experience sexual abuse by their commanders or other soldiers. According to Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, “The girl victims of rape or other forms of sexual violence in DRC are believed to number in the hundreds of thousands.”

The presence of girls in armed groups has been ignored and denied by government, military and community leaders not only in the DRC but around the world for a considerable period of time. From Colombia to Sri Lanka to Kosovo to Sierra Leone, girls have been involved in armed conflict. Some girls are actively recruited, many are abducted or conscripted into service, but a few also join voluntarily. The perception is that girl combatants are just “bush wives” or porters, but their activities within the armed group go beyond that. Girls often play integral roles as frontline fighters, commanders, spies, medics and spiritual leaders. However, when the fighting finally stops, boys enter demobilization camps for rehabilitation and reintegration into society and the girls are often forgotten.

Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programs are intended to remove weapons from ex-combatants, disband armed groups and assist in reintegrating these individuals back into society. In the DRC, the World Bank and donor countries established CONADER, the national institution in charge of DDR, with $200 million in funding. While the bulk of the program obviously is targeted towards adult male combatants, this program is also supposed to include child combatants. CONADER states: “As the body with overall responsibility for the demobilization and reintegration of children, it includes girls who have been recruited for sexual purposes or forced marriage. The objective of CONADER is to remove all children from armed forces/groups and facilitate children’s return to civilian life.” But of the 130,000 combatants processed by CONADER to date, only 2,000 females have participated in the formal DDR program.

In the city of Bunia in the war-torn eastern province of Ituri, COOPI, an Italian non-governmental organization, has been offering some hope for those girls who want to leave armed groups. In 2003, COOPI began a special program funded by UNICEF to assist girls and their children who were associated with the armed forces. These girls were either released by the army commanders or had run away. The majority of the girls associated with the armed groups in Ituri range from age 12 to 16. There are, however, recorded cases of girls as young as seven that were abducted by the various armed groups in Ituri.

COOPI works in cooperation with local NGOs that go door to door in remote areas of Ituri where armed groups are operating, seeking girls associated with armed forces. Many girls mistrust the official demobilization process. A COOPI official stated: “The problem is that the girls are often afraid to come out. They do not know where to reach assistance, and many prefer to stay with their commanders or soldiers because they have children with them. They feel they have responsibilities for their families.” As in most societies, when women’s sexual identity is violated outside of wedlock, they find themselves ostracized, living on the margins of the society and despised by everyone. Girls are therefore concerned that their identity may be revealed if they participate in the formal demobilization process overseen by CONADER.

As soon as the girls enter the COOPI center, they are examined and receive medical care for their physical injuries or illnesses. According to Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), the girls they examine often endured individual or group rapes by their captives, rape involving the insertion of objects into their genitals, rape-shooting or rape-stabbing combinations, and mutilation of their genitalia. In addition to providing basic medical care, COOPI also provides psycho-social assistance for them.

COOPI provides the girls with education activities and vocational training. They can attend classes in sewing, cooking, gardening and hair-dressing. A COOPI official stated: “Many of the girls missed out on their youth. Many of them are young mothers, so COOPI has entertaining activities such as sports, dancing and theatre for them, that enables them to an extent to re-live some of their childhood moments.”

Girls associated with armed forces have difficulties reintegrating into their communities after the conflict. They fear the discrimination that they and their children might face once they return to their original communities. Their harsh experiences during the war distance them from the community, while community members fear that the fighters who abducted the girls may return to reclaim them, and take revenge on the people welcoming them back.

COOPI works on raising awareness within communities to approach and accept girls formerly associated with armed forces and their children as victims, not perpetrators. COOPI hopes that community leaders will take into account the girls’ physical, psychological, spiritual and social needs when they return. A COOPI official stated: “The girls themselves are children, and they need a lot of support and understanding for what happened to them from their families and communities.”

While organizations like COOPI have made a real difference in the lives of some of the girl combatants in the DRC, many girls feel that the DDR process has failed them. They are classified as dependents of male adult combatants and consequently they are not treated as individuals who need specific assistance. Girls within the armed groups, particularly those with children, are viewed as being part of families that have been formed by the men of these groups. The fact that some of these girls were abducted and forcefully impregnated is ignored. In many cases, their real experience is not acknowledged, and they are precluded from receiving the benefits provided to “combatants.” For these reasons large numbers of girls that were abducted still remain with armed groups. Gaining access to them and obtaining their release is a most pressing concern.

Refugees International therefore recommends that:

• The newly elected government of Democratic Republic of the Congo improve its capacity to address needs of girls associated with armed forces.
• CONADER and other state and non-state agencies facilitate sustainable DDR programs for girls associated with armed forces and their children, as well socio-economic reintegration into their communities through transitional support and family reunification.
• The government, in cooperation with NGOs, strengthen community capacities that will ensure protection of girls from forceful abduction by various armed groups, as well reinforce girls’ rights through educational and social activities.
• All armed groups and forces release all girls irrespective of their role in the group so they can begin to resume their normal lives.