Children’s Rights – 2003
2003
Liberia’s three major armed factions (MODEL, LURD, and Government of Liberia forces) used an estimated 15,000 child soldiers during the civil war. Children soldiers participated in the same DDRR program as other combatants. However, instead of vocational training and a safety-net allowance of $300, former child combatants received stipends, uniforms, books, and other incentives to return to school.1 While child combatants would go through the same initial cantonment process as other combatants, they would remain there only 72 hours and then be lodged in interim care centers run by UNICEF and various NGOs. Children combatants were allowed to spend up to three months in their interim care centers after going through the demobilization process, during which period they received medical aid, counseling, reading lessons, and help locating their families.2