Even children charged with treason in Aceh

Even children charged with treason in Aceh

Ridwan M. Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

There was nowhere to go; all thought was on escaping their
burning homes. In an instant, residents in Aceh became refugees
in their own homeland.

They lived in refugee camps while waiting for clashes between
separatist rebels and government armed forces to end. However,
the conflict never looked like stopping and raged for nearly 30
years.

The peace agreement signed on Aug. 15 between Indonesia and
the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) revived hopes for the refugees; many
are hoping to return to their homes to start life anew through an
albeit slow and tedious rebuilding process.

In the midst of the peace euphoria, child soldiers remain a
crucial issue in the war-torn province.

It does seem that the military and the police in the province
of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and GAM's military wing are still
using child soldiers. In addition to the absence of a strict ban
on the recruitment of children in armed conflicts, the peace
agreement has yet to be fully implemented.

Both sides have agreed to end armed conflict, but GAM has yet
to disarm all its rebels -- disarmament formally began on Sept.
15 and will be completed before Dec. 31, 2005.

Efforts to end the conflict in Aceh picked up pace after the
Dec. 26 tsunami swept the province, killing some 130,000 people
and leaving a half million others homeless.

If the peace agreement collapses, as was the case in two
previous pacts, the children, along with adult soldiers, will
certainly take up arms again to resume their fight for Aceh's
independence.

Not resolved

For the time being, child soldiers have already laid down
their arms and joined non-combatant groups to take on the role of
messengers, spies and cooks for adult soldiers, who are still in
remote jungle areas of the province.

Reliable sources familiar with the involvement of child
soldiers in armed conflict said that the situation in Aceh still
remains uncertain since the conflicting sides have yet to build
mutual trust in implementing the peace agreement.

This condition has been worsened by the absence of thousands
of children after their schools were burnt during the first few
weeks after martial law was declared in May 2003, the ensuing
armed conflict and the destruction by the tsunami.

The local military and police, which have been supported by
armed civilian militias, have also recruited children to play
non-combatant roles as couriers so that they can keep a close eye
on GAM's movements.

Acehnese children have remained at risk of being abused and
affected by armed conflicts since there is an absence of serious
measures to prevent crimes against humanity.

Indonesia has already ratified the 1949 Geneva Conventions and
ILO Convention No 182 and signed the 1989 Convention of the
Rights of the Child (CRC) and the 2000 Optional Protocol of CRC,
all of which guarantee children's rights not to be involved in
wars.

But the country has not showed a strong commitment yet in
preventing children from joining armed groups.

The House of Representatives has worked on a number of
legislative items, including Law No 39 on human rights and Law
No. 23/2002 on child protection, but neither criminalizes any
individuals or parties that recruit children into armed groups or
deploy them in wars or violent activities.

Instead of adopting the 1998 Rome Statute of the International
Court of Justice, which classifies the deployment of child
soldiers in wars as crimes against humanity, Indonesia has
already had Law No 26/2000 on human rights abuse courts, but it
carries light sanctions against those who use child soldiers.

The law fails to criminalize the recruitment of child soldiers
and classifies it into the category of gross human rights abuse.

Even more disturbing is that the Indonesian government has
jailed child soldiers, instead of returning them to their
communities. They have been treated like adult rebels and charged
with treason against the state.
Of more than 1,400 GAM prisoners receiving amnesty from the
government, "dozens" were children under 18 years of age.

Reintegration, rehabilitation

Child soldiers and those granted amnesty are also facing a
bleak future since the peace treaty failed to address problems
related to the planned reintegration of children (and women) into
their communities.

The government's commitment to honestly resolve the Aceh issue
comprehensively will also be tested since the peace treaty fails
to address all problems related to social reintegration and
rehabilitation of former rebels, including former child soldiers.

According to the peace treaty, the government will make
efforts to help reintegrate ex-rebels into their communities and
allocate some farm land and money for them, but it remains
unclear how the social reintegration and rehabilitation will be
conducted on the ground.

And it presumably will not grant farmland or money to
children.

The government should bear in mind that many children have
joined these armed groups mostly to take revenge against either
the government or the rebels for their relatives killed in the
bloody, prolonged conflict.

If the child soldiers are not rehabilitated and reintegrated
in a proper manner, they will remain bitter and traumatized by
the war; this could prompt them to take up arms again.

Reintegration and rehabilitation are an integral part of the
disarmament and demobilization of rebels and child soldiers, and
both must be handled with extra caution in an endeavor to build a
permanent peace in the province.

Therefore, the government should show its goodwill by taking
necessary measures and concrete steps to deal with the adult
rebels, women and children who have been involved in the
conflict.

To make social reintegration and rehabilitation a success, the
government should not just dictate all that needs to be done, but
should give more of a role to civil society groups, non-
governmental organizations (NGOs), religious institutions and
other third parties.

The government should enhance cooperation with NGOs, Islamic
boarding schools and religious organizations to provide a
comprehensive education package, including psychological
counseling and peace education for ex-child soldiers, to ensure a
smooth transition back to their peaceful communities.