Liberian Civil Wars
The first civil war broke out on Christmas Eve of 1989 when the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) crossed into Liberia from the Ivory Coast. Their leader was an exile, Charles Taylor, who would oversee fourteen years of bloodshed in Liberia. The first civil war ended in 1997, with the presidential election of Charles Taylor. Two years later, fighting broke out in Lofa County. A new rebel group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), had formed and crossed into Liberia from Guinea to oppose the brutal reign of Charles Taylor. This second civil war ended in August of 2003, after two rebel groups, LURD and Movement for Democracy and Elections in Liberia (MODEL) completely overran the country, displacing millions and converging on the capital, shelling, looting, and killing. Finally, Charles Taylor stepped down, his parting words comparing himself to Jesus Christ, and vowing to return.¹

Taylor brought insecurity to all neighboring states, helping rebellions in Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast. During Liberia’s civil war, all of its neighbors experienced war and insurrection. Each war victimized civilian populations and recruited children for use in armed combat, both governments and rebels.

Child Soldiers
Estimates suggest 250,000 child soldiers are currently in use worldwide. ² Speculation exists as to how accurate this number really is; however, when you begin to think about all the current conflicts and warsⁱ , the number begins to make sense. Child soldiering is not just an African problem. For instance, there is some concern regarding child soldiering and terrorism. In the past, terrorists, and even suicide bombers in Israel have been under the age of 18. The first U.S. casualty in Afghanistan was the result of a 14-year-old Afghan.³

© Corrine Dufka

There are many different types of child soldiers. Their duties range from fighting, to intelligence gathering, to cooking or porting. The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers uses the following definition, “any person under the age of 18 who is a member of or attached to government armed forces or any other regular or irregular armed force or armed political group, whether or not an armed conflict exists. Child soldiers perform a range of tasks including participation in combat, laying mines and explosives; scouting, spying, acting as decoys, couriers or guards; training, drill or other preparations; logistics and support functions, portering, cooking and domestic labour; and sexual slavery or other recruitment for sexual purposes.”⁴

The Convention on the Rights of the Child sets the age of majority at 18 years of age. It states that children and youth below 18 require special protection because of their physical and mental immaturity. Virtually all nation states have pledged to implement the provisions of the Convention.⁵
In Liberia, officials verified many cases of child soldier recruitment that took place during the latest civil war from 1999-2004.  During this civil war, estimates suggest that roughly half the combatants were child soldiers.⁶

Many of the children recruited by rebel forces experienced combat on the frontlines immediately with many never receiving formal training at all. Speculation regarding the primary reasons for recruiting children suggests use for cannon fodder.  Some of the luckier children received two weeks training before being sent to the front, having learned how to fight, how to kill.  In a Human Rights Watch report, Children described how child soldiers in the SBUs, or small boys units, were often the first sent to the front.  One explained, “There were many boys in the units with government forces, small boys too were fighting with guns. These small ones would be sent to the front first.  They were usually around fourteen or fifteen years old but some could be as young as ten.”  Another spoke of the widespread use of child soldiers: “We were many, plenty small boys, from ten, eleven and twelve. You would be sent to the front first.  You go and get killed and then the next one takes your place, it never ended.”⁷

Once recruited, children are alienated from their families and communities upon committing an atrocious act under orders of an armed group, making it impossible for them to rejoin the community. A child protection worker in Monrovia in 2003, quoted by Human Rights Watch, purported that “Many of them were forcibly recruited, drugged, beaten, and made to commit horrible acts. These children killed, raped and abused members of their own communities.  Because of these acts, they are both victims and perpetrators”.⁸   Some children were faced with this unthinkable dilemma, kill a family member or be killed.

Captors often gave recruited children “brown brown”ⁱⁱ or any number of drug concoctions.  Not only does this make the children braver and more likely to fight, but creates dependency on their suppliers and captors.  Once the war was over, these children had to go through a disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation program, and the additional arduous task of going through detoxification, and dealing with drug addictions.

Children appeal to armed groups particularly because they tend to be physically vulnerable and easily intimidated; children typically make obedient soldiers.  With the proliferation of small, or light, arms, children are able to effectively and efficiently use weapons designed for combat, such as the AK-47 and Uzis. ⁹

Many children are abducted or recruited by force, and often compelled to follow orders under threat of death.  Others join armed groups out of desperation.  As society deconstructs during conflict, leaving children without access to school, uprooting them from their homes, or separating them from family members, many children perceive armed groups as their best chance for survival.ⁱⁱⁱ  Others seek escape from poverty or join military forces to avenge family members who have been killed.

Although the authors discuss child soldiers without gender bias, most assume the recruitment of young boys.  However, boys were not the only children recruited.  Recruitment of girls was not necessarily for combat, however, many were often engaged in combat.  Many girls served as wives, sex slaves, cooks and porters.  Following repeated rapes some girls had to cope with having and caring for the child of their abuser.  Many who attempted to escape were shot, tortured, or killed in horrible ways. Although the recruitment of children into armed forces in Liberia was most likely a tactic first employed by the rebel forces^iv in the latest civil war, it was not a novel tactic.  Charles Taylor’s NPFL utilized SBUs or Small Boys Units in the previous civil war.^v   Experts believe that these children were unable to or did not successfully complete DDR, and became part of a vicious cycle of armed conflict when fighting resumed. Estimates of between 6,000 and 15,000 children took up arms from 1989 to 1997.¹⁰   A demobilization program conducted in 1997 resulted in partial rehabilitation of child soldiers, in part due to limited funding and insecurity in the countryside.  Many former soldiers deemed easily re-recruited when fighting resumed in 2000.¹¹   In Liberia’s civil war from 1999-2004 both sides recruited children, often from safe places such as schools and IDP camps.  Parents were reluctant to flee the country with their children due to the fear that if they had children of fighting age, they would be seized at government or rebel checkpoints.