For what did I know?

“Young children are walking the earth right now with no sense of youth, of imaginary worlds, of joy, of love, of human warmth. They are not truly children in any definition except biological. But of course they are still children, are they not? Have conflict, abject poverty and abandonment mutated them into some other type of being that is neither child not adult? A category of their own that does not fit any description of what civilizations over the millennia have called a child?”

“What has humanity created? What have we permitted to be created? Alive and breathing in the hundreds of thousands in not-so-far-off lands are beings who have the physical form of children, yet who have been robbed of the spirit, the innocence, the essence of childhood.”

I picked up this book on a whim while I was at the library one day. It was an amazing book that packed such a powerful message. You can tell that Dallaire has been quite affected by what he witnessed in Rwanda. Unlike so many others, Dallaire uses his anguish for the better and has begun a campaign to eradicate the use of child soldiers. He introduces the reader to the methods used by armies and militias to collect children and indoctrinate them into a combat role. While society normally views child soldiers as only those who are actually trained in combat, Dallaire argues that this is not the case, and that child soldiers are “…any person below 18 years of age who is, or who has been, recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, spies or for sexual purposes. It does not only refer to a child who is taking, or has taken a direct part in hostilities.”

While the book is a non-fiction piece, Dallaire incorporates some fictional imaginings in three of his chapters, which proves to be very effective. Dallaire imagines what it would be like for a girl-child to be kidnapped and forced into combat. He speaks of her abduction, integration into combat life and eventual death at the hands of a UN peacekeeper. He then switches to the peacekeeper’s point of view. I can only imagine what it must be like to kill a child. Clearly, it is a matter of life and death, and that child is aiming to kill you and if you don’t strike first, you will perish. It just seems so unnecessary.

Dallaire criticizes the international community for failing to come to the aid of these children and for persecuting them as if they had a choice in the matter. He also offers tactics for the demobilization and reintegration of the ex-child soldiers into community life. A very difficult situation, as most of their homes have been destroyed and they are heavily stigmatized if their community still exists. Dallaire urges the reader to take an active role in helping eradicate the use of child soldiers world-wide and offers solutions for this. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone regardless of whether they are concerned with the plight of war-affected children or not.