war-affected children

The ongoing armed-conflicts in provinces and districts, in Turkey, in which civilians also live, have resulted in the death and injury of many children, or of their parents. In consideration of this grave situation, we must remind the State of the Republic of Turkey of their responsibilities arising from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (art. 38) and Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict:

1. To respect and to ensure respect for rules of international humanitarian law applicable to them in armed conflicts.

By Jacqui Thornton, The Independent 

The pictures are drawn in a childish hand, but they are visions that no child should have to witness: militia shooting captives tied to trees; army helicopters above firing on their enemy; the central African bush in flames.

These are all artworks produced by children held in captivity after they, or their parents, were abducted by the feared Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda. Many of those taken spent years in the bush, constantly on the move to evade capture, walking barefoot carrying heavy loads for the commanders and even fighting for the militia.

By M. David and M.A. Hussein, Counter Current News

Imagine that you witnessed child sexual abuse while on the job, but your boss told you not to do anything to stop it. Now imagine that your boss was the United States government.

That’s exactly what happened to Lance Cpl. Gregory Buckley Jr.

In his last phone call, he told his father about what had been happening in Southern Afghanistan. He said he could hear Afghan police officers raping and sexually abusing boys brought to the base.

“At night we can hear them screaming, but we’re not allowed to do anything about it,” the Marine’s father, Gregory Buckley Sr., said his son told him before being shot and killed a the base.

By Jessica Peters, Chilliwack Progress

Kids aren't ready to be soldiers.

They're ready to jump and play, to kick a ball with friends, to dance, to sing, and to learn.

But there are as many as 300,000 children used in conflicts around the world, a common practice in countries embroiled in conflict, including Sierra Leone.

Now that the African country is rebuilding itself, a new organization with Chilliwack roots is eager to help repair some of the damage done to the children there.

The Innocence Lost Foundation was founded by Fazineh Keita and Ava Vanderstarren, who met while studying at Vancouver Film School. Keita was used as a child soldier in the Sierra Leone civil war, and now is a political activist working to bring democratic change with his music.