This entry is by Kate Davey, our Director of Research Projects at Child Soldier Relief. On April 9, Southern Sudan President Salva Kirr introduced the Child Act, which guarantees certain safeguards to children. The Act recognizes anyone under 18 as a child and requires the Government to ensure the rights established in the Convention on [...]

A positive development in the legal battle for helping child soldiers… In Niger, a court ruled that the country was culpable in failing to protect a young girl who was sold into slavery when she was twelve years old. According to the New York Times, “[the] ruling, the first of its kind by a regional [...]

…by a U.S. federal jury in Miami, Florida last week. Charles McArthur Emmanuel, aka Charles Taylor Jr., aka “Chuckie” Taylor is former Liberian President Charles Taylor’s son and was convicted on October 30 on “torture, firearms and conspiracy charges on the second day of jury deliberations.” From this article: Prosecutors said the 31-year-old Emmanuel was [...]

Recently, the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia has been accused by the United Nations in the annual report of the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict of being one of the “most persistent violators” of using child soldiers. As a result of their ongoing support of the Somali Transitional Government – as a [...]