Children in the Crossfire - Conference Program

Conference Program

Official Program

Conference Summary

Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao will host the international conference, Children in the Crossfire: Prevention and Rehabilitation of Child Soldiers, on May 7 and 8, 2003 in Washington D.C. The conference will raise awareness about the use of child soldiers and promote solutions in the areas of prevention, demobilization, and reintegration. It will provide a unique opportunity for exchange among some 500 stakeholders from around the world, including donor governments, United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations, researchers, the media, and individuals who formerly served as child soldiers.

The afternoon session will include a keynote address by Secretary Chao, and speeches by other U.S. Government officials and members of the international community. The session will frame the issue within its global context and as a worst form of child labor. It will also serve as a forum for speakers to voice their commitment to address the problem and support comprehensive solutions at the community level. Several former child soldiers will address participants and provide insights about their experiences working as soldiers as well as their thoughts and first-hand knowledge of support services critical to the rehabilitation of former child soldiers. The conference will also feature a gallery of photographs, drawings and murals documenting the experiences of child soldiers, and include segments of documentary films on the subject.

The full-day session on May 8, 2003 will include four substantive panel discussions on the following topics:

PREVENTION
The scars from a child's participation in armed conflict last a lifetime, and thus, one of the most important important strategies to address this problem is prevention. Child soldiers are often recruited from highly vulnerable populations, such as groups of refugee or displaced children, for whom fear, poverty, or the loss of family members may be the incentive for seeking shelter as a member of an armed group. The lack of access to basic needs, such as education or a source of family income, may also cause a child to respond to calls for recruitment. In other cases, children are forcibly recruited from refugee camps with inadequate security or from war-affected villages. Any action to prevent the recruitment and use of children in armed groups must be based on a sound understanding of the children's situation in the specific context in which recruitment is taking place. This panel will focus on discussion of key prevention strategies, including innovative measures to support communities and families; coordination with national and local government officials; and the provision of viable economic, educational and skills-training services.

DEMOBILIZATION
Child soldiers may leave their armed group by escaping, they may be released - sometimes through negotiated agreements with the group - or, they may be rescued by government forces and transferred to a care system. In the case that these events do not occur, children may remain with the fighting force until the armed conflict ceases, at which point formal demobilization is negotiated as part of the peace process. Prior to demobilization, child soldiers must be disarmed, which entails assembling combatants and collecting the weapons used within the conflict zone. Demobilization refers to the process by which parties in a conflict begin to disband their military structure, and combatants begin their reintegration into civilian life. This panel will focus on the disarmament and demobilization process, and analyze strategies to support this process and ensure that the immediate needs of affected children, such as food, clothing, water, and medical treatment, are met.

REINTEGRATION
Children are inevitably returning to an environment profoundly affected by war. Families may have changed; communities may be hostile to the former combatants; schools may be closed or destroyed; and families may have limited access to income-generating opportunities.

DATA COLLECTION METHODOLOGIES
Access to reliable data on war-affected populations can be instrumental in the design and implementation of new programs. This information can be collected through rapid, short-term surveys that provide a snapshot of the target population, and also through long-term assessments that evaluate the impact of project inputs over a more sustained period of time. Both short- and long-term data collection methodologies are the subject of the final panel discussion. Panelists will present examples of successful efforts to gather this important information, and review the survey results with conference participants.

Keynote Lunch: 1:00pm - 2:15pm
The luncheon is co-sponsored by World Vision and open to all conference attendees.

The U.S. Department of Labor recognizes that youth constitute a significant part of civil society. Inviting young people to share their knowledge, insights, experience, and creativity helps youth to develop important life skills such as problem analysis, problem and conflict resolution, collaboration, communication, and follow through leading to solutions. During the two days prior to Children in the Crossfire, a group of local DC high school students will be invited to participate in a Parallel Youth Program with the former child soldiers invited to attend the conference as members of international delegations. The U.S. and international youth involved in the Child Soldiers Conference Youth Parallel Program will have the opportunity to visit several schools in the DC Metropolitan area for speaking engagements, participate in an organized DC Tour, and attend the conference on May 7-8.