Committee : United Nations Children’s Fund

Topic : Child Soldier

Countries Country : Mozambique

Ten years ago, the world leaders agreed to work together to stop the use of child soldiers
- progress has been made but there are still child recruits in countries around the world. As
many as 300,000 children are believed to be serving as soldiers in armed conflicts around the
world - depriving them of a normal childhood and education1. In numerous countries, boys and
girls are recruited as child soldiers by armed forces and groups, either forcibly or voluntarily.
Children are easy to recruitment by manipulation or may be driven to join armed forces because
of poverty or discrimination. Once recruited or forced into service, they are used for a variety
of purposes. While many children participate in combat, others are used for as spies,
messengers, porters, servants or to lay or clear landmines even sexual purposes 2.
Mozambique has made progress to stop the recruitment of child soldiers. In wider scale,
The Government of Mozambique ratified in 1998 the African Charter on the Rights and
Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC),
reaffirming its commitment to progressively realize the rights of all Mozambican children,
through an enabling policy, legal and programmatic framework 3. Besides, an important
development in the campaign to protect children was 1994 was carried out by Graça Machel,
former Minister of Education in Mozambique, as the United Nations Secretary-General's
independent expert to undertake a study on armed conflict's effects on children 2.
Despite the progress achieved over the last decade in the global campaign to end the
recruitment and use of child soldiers, large numbers of children continue to be exploited in war
and placed is still on the fire. Taking this into consideration, Mozambique proposes these sets
of resolutions:
1. Establishes ACS (Abolish Child Soldier) program as an attempt to propose ways of raising
awareness of regional and international cooperation to abolish using a child for war by
a. Organizing several national training, workshops, and seminars by collaborating with
NGOs, such as, but not limited to UNICEF, UNDP, and other NGO that are associated
with the rights of the child on the involvement of children in armed conflict.

1.
Reliefweb. 2017. 10 Countries Where Child Soldiers are Still Recruited In Armed Conflict. Available at
https://reliefweb.int/report/central-african-republic/10-countries-where-child-soldiers-are-still-recruited-armed
2.
UNICEF. 2003. Option Protocol Conflict. Available at
https://www.unicef.org/protection/option_protocol_conflict.pdf
3.
ACERWC. 2018. Mozambique Initial Report. Available at
https://www.acerwc.africa/wpcontent/uploads/2018/04/Mozambique-Initial-report-Eng.pdf
2. Promotes REFOCS (Rehabilitation for Ex-Child Soldiers) program as an attempt to help
restore the lives of those who are an ex-child soldier and protected them from the physical
and psychological effects of armed conflict through:
a. Conducting a sophisticated capacity building program in the form of educating
facilities for the ex-child soldiers after the armed conflict to begin the healing process
and prepare children for life after the war. From this scheme, the output of this
program is an ex-child soldier who can adapt to society
b. Providing adequate protective provisions to the children who are ex-child soldiers
until they are rehabilitated to restore their right of. The method can be done by
providing victims with shelter, food, clothing, medical care, religious support, psycho-
social counseling in their country. Regardless of their legal status in that country, that's
all are available for both boys and girls.
3. Optimize UN and other NGO's to do DDR: Disarmament, Demobilization, and Re-
Integration for the ex-child soldiers without creating a long-term dependence on foreign
aid, and foreign intervention through:
a. Launching the Child Soldier Assistance Fund (CSAF) to provide financial aid to any
individual declared as ex-child soldiers that must be rehabilitating. This fund ensures
that ex-child soldiers won't undergo financial hardship during the healing process.