Amanda Atwood and Jeffrey Allen
12/08/2006
OneWorld US

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Leonardo DiCaprio said this week that filming "The Blood Diamond" was one of the toughest things he's ever done, and the experience will stay with him the rest of his life. The movie, which opens in the United States Friday, is sure to shed new light on the serious issues of diamond mining, conflict, and child soldiering in Africa.

Sierra Leone, where the movie takes place, has turned the corner from war to peace. But for Sierra Leone's people, the process of recovery has only begun, and diamond mining remains linked to human exploitation and conflict in far too many places.

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This small West African country bordering Liberia and Guinea suffered a civil war from 1991 to 2000, with rebels from the so-called Revolutionary United Front (RUF) attacking both government soldiers and civilians. Tens of thousands were killed and more than 2 million of the country’s 5.5 million people were displaced.

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“Blood diamonds are gems that have been used to fund rebel groups in wars in Africa, leading to more than 4 million deaths and millions more people displaced from their homes,” explains a joint statement from Global Witness and Amnesty International. The two human rights groups are driving international efforts to stop the worldwide trade of conflict diamonds and offer opportunities for individuals to get more involved with the issue.

Blood diamonds featured in the Sierra Leone civil war and in Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, and the continued instability in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), among other places.

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More than 300,000 children under 18 are fighting and dying in at least 30 conflicts worldwide. From Burma to Sri Lanka, armed groups recruit children and use them in both combat and non-combat duties in their operations. Children as young as eight years old have been used in conflicts across Africa. These children are often abducted or drawn by economic circumstances and the lure of status.

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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," according to the advocacy group Refugees International. Children are not only the people most readily exploited into war; by the very nature of their immaturity they can often be induced to committing some of war's greatest atrocities.

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A 2005 Refugees International mission to Rwanda and the DRC showed--in pictures--the immense difficulties faced by many former child soldiers as they attempt to re-enter civilian life. The group is now calling for demobilization programs in the DRC to give special attention to girl combatants.

And as Sri Lanka has experienced a renewed surge of violence in recent months, Refugees International has expressed new worries about increasing child soldier recruitment in that South Asian country as well.