The International Response to the Forced Recruitment of Girls in Uganda

Abstract

Children fulfil various roles within armed forces including, active combat and offering support services such as spying and domestic services. Girls make up to 40 per cent of child soldiers in some states. Although in existence, data on girl soldiers has many gaps and tends to focus primarily on the sexual exploitation of girls. Arguably, this undercuts the other difficulties of girl’s participation in conflict, and reintegration into the post-conflict society. The international community has attempted to take up the global problem of child soldiers through various conventions yet; very few of these specifically focus on gender-based violations against children. The dissertation examines the international response to girl soldiers. The central hypotheses being that; girls- as a population group- are ignored in the international human rights regime. Furthermore, girl soldiers are disenfranchised owing to their dual identities of being female and children. The problem is addressed by firstly, defining the international human rights regime and its sub-regimes and secondly, showing its inadequacies in relation to girl soldiers. Uganda is used as a case study to test the hypothesis. Ultimately, this dissertation attempts to show that the international community has ignored a population group that is in need of protection.