 |
|
Paying the Price |
How the arms trade impacts on children around the world |
|
"Wars have always victimised children and other noncombatants, but modern wars are exploiting, maiming and killing children more callously and more systematically than ever."2 CAAT has watched this growing campaign with mixed feelings. On the one hand we are overjoyed that something is at last being done on behalf of children everywhere who suffer because of armed conflict. On the other hand we are dismayed that one of the major causes of armed conflict around the globe - the international arms trade - has to a large extent been overlooked. CAAT believes that if we really want to prevent millions of children from being seriously harmed and killed in armed conflict, one of the first things we need to do is to abolish the deadly trade in armaments. Even a very brief look at statistics on the impact of war on children gives us some idea of the problem. According to UNICEF, in the last decade child victims of armed conflict include
This means that, on average, more than 2,000 children are being killed, maimed or disabled by war every single day. Whilst being caught up in war is a terrible experience for anyone, for children it can be a truly devastating experience from which they never recover. As United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, commented in a recent report. "Children are disproportionately affected by armed conflict and their needs merit our concerted attention, as both the Security Council and the General Assembly have affirmed. Children, caught in the midst of critical stages of personal development are affected by war more profoundly than are adults."4 From Bad to Worse Whilst children have always suffered during wars, in our modern 'civilised' society, the situation is going from bad to worse. Between 1945 and 1992 there were 149 major wars, killing more than 23 million people. On an average yearly basis the number of war deaths in this period was more than double the deaths of the 19th Century and seven times greater than 18th Century.5 By the end of the 1990's nearly 90% of war-victims were noncombatants and at least half of these were children. 6 There are several reasons for this increase in civilian casualites. Firstly, advances in military technology mean that weapons are more sophisticated and more deadly than in the past. Aerial bombardment, for example, increases the conflict zone to include potentially the whole nation and the use of weapons such as cluster-bombs and fuel-air explosives makes indiscriminate killing of civilians easier and inevitable.7 Conversely, the spread of relatively unsophisticated small arms has also led to a massive increase in child victims. As Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF has put it "Small arms have probably extinguished more young lives than they have ever protected."8 Graca Machel, suggests that "today's weapons of mass destruction are not nuclear or biological - they are the estimated half billion small arms and light weapons that fuel conflicts around the globe."9 Another reason for the huge increase in child victims is that warfare today is much more likely to be between armed groups within countries or regions rather than between two opposing national armies. Finally, landmines (and other anti-personnel weapons such as cluster bombs) continue to be a massive cause of death and injury to children. The United Nations estimate that between 8,000 and 10,000 children are victims of landmines each year. As Amnesty International has succinctly put it, when we talk about anti-personnel weapons, in reality we mean anti-children weapons. The UK is the second largest arms exporter in the world (after the USA) and has, according to government figures, exported over £27 billion of military equipment in the last five years alone. For decades the UK Government has had a policy of promoting arms exports, seemingly at any cost. The result of this policy is that the UK continues to arm repressive regimes around the world. In 1998, the UK licensed military exports to 30 of the 40 most repressive regimes in the world and British weapons are being used in most out of the world's current conflicts. Its also worth noting that the Government doesn't simply wait for customers to approach British military companies to buy arms. It actively promotes military exports, giving the industry much more support than the civil sector could expect. This financial subsidy takes many forms, including the expense of running the Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO), the cost of Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) cover for arms sales, and the subsidy for military research and development. How War Hurts Children Children are immensely affected by war even if they are not directly injured in armed combat.
|
Britain has supplied small arms, machine guns, ammunition, mortars and 10 million rounds of small arms ammunition as well as other military equipment as part of a £10 million package to the government forces in Sierra Leone in 1999/2000. Background Sierra Leone's bitter nine-year conflict has seen thousands of children deliberately and arbitrarily killed, maimed, abducted and forced to fight and, in the case of girls, suffer rape and sexual exploitation. According to Amnesty International "Children have been among the principal victims of the internal armed conflict in Sierra Leone and have suffered both disproportionately and on an unprecedented scale. Hundreds of thousands of children have become refugees or internally displaced, many of them separated from their families." The rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) led by Foday Sankoh launched its campaign against government forces in March 1991. The rebels were quick to demonstrate their brutality, decapitating community leaders and putting their heads on stakes. The army doubled in size to counter the RUF threat, drawing conscripts from urban ghettoes, but could not supply or pay the men. Discipline disintegrated in the badly-equipped and poorly trained army, and field commanders began recruiting and arming conscripts, some of them children. By 1994, as the countryside collapsed into banditry, communities were being attacked by violent youths who were either RUF, or renegade soldiers - the so-called Sobels (soldier-rebels). The country's diamond-producing areas in the south and east were overrun by RUF and soldiers, who were also mining diamonds rather than fighting. In the ensuing four years several military coups took place and armed groups as well as government forces committed severe human rights abuses. The distinction between the army and rebels virtually disappeared in a coup in 1998, when the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) invited the RUF to join the government. The AFRC/RUF was pushed out of the capital, Freetown, by Nigerian troops after nine months in power, but attacked the capital in January 1999. In a brutal two-week occupation of the eastern suburbs of the city, some AFRC/RUF units committed horrendous atrocities against civilians. Civilians Bombed In May and June 2000, Sierra Leone government military helicopters bombed several towns north of Freetown. Human Rights Watch have taken many statements from witnesses who report that at least 27 civilians were killed and 50 civilians wounded in the attacks, whilst rebels sustained very few injuries. One witness, Khalil, said "Close to where I was staying a house was hit. I went out and just near the house were the bodies of two young boys between the ages of twelve to sixteen. When we arrived at the graveyard after carrying two bodies, I saw four others bodies of civilians lying there waiting to be buried." Another witness, forty-year-old Zainab from Makeni described seeing the bodies of four men and three women after the helicopter gunship attacked the centre of the town on May 31. "The bodies were torn apart, I could see that one of the women was pregnant. These bombs never hit [RUF] soldiers because they know by now how to hide from it." In July 2000, The Independent reported that the Sierra Leone government requested a further £10m of UK arms, including ammunition for their helicopter gunships. In October 2000 the British government announced that it was to supply the Sierra Leone government forces with a military equipment package but refused to disclose any of its contents. |
|
Undoubtedly, the arms trade fuels conflict and leads to an increase in casualties. As we have seen above, it is no accident that the massive rise in casualty figures coincides with the expansion of the arms trade. The supply of vast numbers of weapons to Third World countries has fuelled conflict by raising political tensions, blocking attempts at peaceful solutions and raising the level of violence.10 Only by importing large amounts of weaponry and technology from countries like the UK have warring parties been able to fight such large-scale wars which have these devastating consequences. One example shows the true cost of the arms trade to ordinary people. On 5th June 1998 the Eritrea airforce bombed the Ethiopian town of Mekelle. The local school was hit by cluster bombs and 44 people were killed and 135 wounded including children and teachers (see picture on right). The conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia in the late 1990s caused thousands of deaths to combatants and non-combatants. It should be pointed out that neither Eritrea nor Ethiopia has an indigenous arms capability and all arms are imported. Even where British weapons are not directly used in conflicts, the fact that Britain is willing to supply arms gives a regime tremendous support and legitimacy. While it would not be accurate to blame war per se on the arms export industry, the growing number of weapons available together with the ever increasing 'kill ratio' inevitably mean more death and destruction for children as well as adults. However, it is not just the obvious, immediate consequences of fuelling wars that impact on children. Inevitably, where there is armed conflict, famine and disease follow. Save the Children suggest that in poor countries, where children are already vulnerable to malnutrition and disease, armed conflict can increase death rates due to these cause by up to 24 times. Furthermore, lack of food, clean water and adequate health care in war zones exacts a terrible toll on children. Graca Machel highlights the fact that of the ten countries with the highest rates of under-five deaths, seven are affected by armed conflict. In Angola and Sierra Leone for example, nearly one in three children dies before the age of five. Since 1990, the most commonly reported cause of death among internally displaced people and refugees are common, preventable disease such as measles and diarrhoea.11 Access to food also become very difficult during armed conflict. At a basic level the food supply is interrupted but crops and other agricultural infrastructure can also be destroyed. More recently, the psychological effects of war and armed conflict have begun to be recognised as a very real problem. Whilst each child reacts differently to immensely stressful situations such as armed conflict, Graca Machel's report identifies that younger children can have learning difficulties; older children and adolescents can show anxious or aggressive behaviour and depression.
And of course, children suffer from the lack of resources which instead of being spent on education and health, are spent on armaments. South Africa for instance, has recently agreed a £3bn arms deal (including purchases of BAE Systems Hawk and Gripen aircraft) despite a recent UN report detailing the fact that around 50% of the population live on less than $2 per day and that only around 50% of children receive a secondary education.
|
|
Estimated War Deaths in Third World, 1945 - 1990 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
According to War Brought Us Here, a recent report from Save the Children, 13 million children are currently internally displaced (i.e. refugees within their own borders) because of conflict in their countries. Another seven million children have fled to other countries. Save the Children say that internally displaced children "are particularly vulnerable to attack and other abuses of their fundamental rights".13 The highest mortality rates ever recorded in humanitarian emergencies have been from amongst internally displaced people. Being a child who is displaced can have significant impact on well-being and development, as well as on health. Small children especially can quickly succumb to exhaustion, lack of food and disease.14 Older children often miss out on even rudimentary eduction. Children orphaned or separated from their families and communities are also vulnerable and often end up joinin armed groups with no chance of a future says the Save the Children report. "These children are tomorrow's excluded and marginalised adults".
Children then, suffer in many different ways from the arms trade. Most obviously, when they are directly involved in armed conflict. However, as we have seen, their health, welfare, education and well-being is also seriously affected by wars fuelled by Britain's arms trade.
|
|
Case Study Two: Sri Lanka A serious civil war has been raging in Sri Lanka between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) since 1983. The Tamil Tigers seek to establish a separate state for the Tamil-speaking areas in the north and east of the island. Background Historically the island was divided into separate kingdoms until it became part of the British Empire. Then the island was governed by the British as a unity and became independent in 1948 as a unitary state. Ethnic tensions began to emerge almost immediately, as the Sinhalese used their majority to improve their position at the expense of the Tamils. In 1977 Tamils voted overwhelmingly for the formation of a free Tamil nation ('Tamil Eelam'). Ethnic tensions continued until 1983 when serious riots errupted, with 3,000 killings, rapes and burnings. This was the signal for the beginning of open war, which has lasted, with occasional intermissions, to the present day. It is estimated by various sources that around 65,000 people have been killed in the conflict since then with around 900,000 people displaced within the island. The financial cost of the conflict, continues to rise. The effect on Sri Lanka's social development, which formerly won high praise, has been dramatic. Health expenditure declined from 6.4 per cent of the budget in 1979 to 0.94 per cent in 1994, and the share of education has been cut by more than half. In August 2000, the Sri Lankan government announced unexpectedly that it was to increase the defence budget by over 50% for the year raising military speeding by $356 million 15 As well as suffering from this deterioration in education and health care, children also are suffering more directly from the war in Sri Lanka. According to UNICEF, children have been prime victims of Sri Lanka's turmoil, with tens of thousands killed, orphaned, displaced from their homes or traumatized. The British Refugee Council, for instance, which monitors the war in Sri Lanka reported that Sri Lankan security forces shot dead nine children and wounded 20 others, in Batticaloa town on 17 May 2000. The shooting followed an LTTE cycle bomb attack in which five soldiers and a policeman died. The Tiger bomb also wounded five civilians and 25 security personnel. The children, from an orphanage in Ayithiyamalai, were accompanied by Parish Priest Jeyachandra on a visit to view decorations in the town to celebrate Buddhist Vesak Day. As they approached the Mangalaramaya Buddhist temple, the cycle bomb exploded. Thereafter the security forces fired at the van carrying the children, despite the plea of Rev Jeyachandra. The priest was also shot and wounded. This is but one example of how children have been caught up in this terrible war. UK Arms Exports to Sri Lanka In the early years of the conflict the West, including the UK, was cool towards the Sri Lankan government, which was supposed to be left-leaning as well as being guilty of serious human rights abuses. As late as 1991 the Sri Lankan Government expelled the UK High Commissioner for making unfavourable comments about its behaviour, and the UK responded with a total arms embargo, among other measures. But the row was quickly patched up and the embargo was lifted in October 1992. By 1995 Sri Lanka was once again a valued customer for British military equipment. Military equipment exported to Sri Lanka in recent years includes a military use hovercraft armed with a 20mm cannon which can be fitted with missiles; 2 C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft; small arms ammunition, riot shields, body armour, machine guns, heavy machine guns, submachine guns, night vision equipment, stun grenades, and rifles. During the recent election (October 2000) the Sri Lankan government repeatedly declared on television that there would be no talks with the LTTE and that the war to crush them would continue" 16 |
|
Following Graca Machels' report for the United Nations in 1996, the UN Security Council recognized in 1999 the protection of children affected by armed conflict as a legitimate concern.17 The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, was mandated to undertake a major study into the issue and he duly reported back in July 2000.18 In addition, Kofi Annan has appointed Olara Otunnu as his Special Representative For Children and Armed Conflcit. Kofi Annan's comprehensive report makes over 50 recommendations to member states, including calling on them to ratify the Optional Protocol on the rights of the Child and for the promotion of the values of tolerance and equality among children. With regard to the arms trade, Kofi Annan makes several important comments and one important recommendation which, although wrapped in diplomatic language, urges arms companies to set up a code of conduct to prevent arms dealing with parties which are responsible for "gross violations of the rights of children". He goes on to further recommend that the industry should itself set in place an oversight and monitoring mechanism to ensure that its weaponry is not used to violate children's rights. CAAT views this recommendation as very important as it recognises that arms companies themselves have a responsibility towards how their equipment is used. In the UK, arms companies always publicly deny responsibility for arms sales, arguing that as they have to get a government licence it is solely the government's responsibility to decide if a deal should or should not go ahead and to ensure that the weapons themselves are not used to violate human rights.
CAAT has written to the top six British arms companies , drawing their attention to the UN Secretary General's report and urging them to follow up his recommendation. All of them have declined to do so.
|
|
Case Study Three: Columbia In the last decade alone, war in Colombia has forced more than 1 million people - about 1 in every 37 Colombians - from their homes. Children are the main victims of the war and are also among the perpetrators of violence, as more than 2,000 of them under the age of 15 have been recruited into guerrilla and paramilitary organizations. Background War in Colombia began a half-century ago with La Violencia, a brutal struggle between the two main political parties that lasted 16 years and in which 300,000 people lost their lives. Today, half the country is controlled by two guerrilla armies, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), which have a combined force of about 20,000 combatants. There are also believed to be about 8,000 individuals organized in paramilitary groups under the United Self-Defense Force of Colombia (ACU). According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), armed conflict in Colombia affects around 20% of the country's child population. Fighting between the groups caught up in this decades-long civil war claimed the lives of 460 girls and boys in 1999. In early 2000, six children died after being shot during a school field trip in a rural area of the northwestern department of Antioquia. Army soldiers confused them during a counter-insurgent operation with members of a leftist guerrilla group. Marcela, six, wanted to learn to skate. Paula, eight, liked to run through the coffee plantation her parents farmed. Gustavo, nine, said he would grow up to be a mathematician. The three were buried in the town of Pueblo Rica, no longer able to pursue their dreams. In the same week two girls died in the northern department of Sucre when a bomb exploded, presumably detonated by the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). A study by the Colombia-based Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement (CODHES), states that 1.9 million people (four percent of the country's population) have been forced to leave their homes since 1985 because of the armed conflict, and that nearly 1.1 million were children. More than a million minors have stopped attending school because of the conflict. "First it was the guerrilla force that made us leave because we had a relative in the army. We went to a farm in Turbo (in the northwest). Then paramilitaries arrived there and we had to leave again," said a girl, whose name is withheld for safety reasons. She now lives in Ciudad Bolívar, one of the poorest areas in southern Bogota. "What I miss most is seeing my friends, and my grandma, and not being able to go down to the river or gather fruit on the patio of the house we had there," The above is extracted from: State of the World's Children 2000, UNICEF, and Yadira Ferrer, Children as Victims and Pawns of War, European Network on Street Children Worldwide, Aug 2000. In the last three years UK arms sales to Columbia has included:
|
|
As we have seen throughout this briefing, children are profoundly affected by Britains arms trade which not only fuels armed conflict but also wastes resources which children around the globe desperately need. CAAT needs your help to challenge arms companies and the Government about the UK's continuing arms sales. Following Kofi Annan's recommendation to the UN Security Council, CAAT is working to convince arms companies and the UK government to - at the very least - monitor the use of British military equipment to ensure that it is not used to violate human rights. Please sign and send the enclosed postcard to BAE Systems urging it to ensure its weapons are not used to violate the rights of children. Alternatively you may like to send them a more personal letter based on this briefing and the draft letter also enclosed in the pack. Few people in the UK are really aware of the extent of the country's arms trading, nor of its effects on children around the world. One of the best ways to raise awareness about this issue is to hold a street stall in your local High Street. Why not try to organise a stall in your local area? CAAT can provide leaflets and you could use the basic questionnaire on children and the arms trade enclosed in the pack to do a street survey at the same time. You could even do a press release to the local media ('90% of people in Biggleswade want to see an end to the arms trade'). If you do not feel confident enough on your own to run a street stall, CAAT can put you in touch with other people in your area who may be willing to help. Finally, keep yourself informed about the UK's arms trade and its affects on children and others around the world. Together we can work to end this awful business. Why not become a supporter of CAAT and receive the CAAT newsletter? You could also visit CAAT's website regularly to receive up to date information. Further Resources Graca Machel, The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, (A/51/306) United Nations, 1996
Useful Websites Children and Armed Conflict Unit. www2.essex.ac.uk/c&acu State of the World's Children 2000. www.unicef.org/sowc00
Notes
|
Campaign Against Arms Trade, 11 Goodwin St, Finsbury Park, London N4 3HQ
Tel: +44-(0)20 7281 0297 | Fax: +44-(0)20 7281 4369