Honourable senators, on February 10, I attended a Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative event at Dalhousie University, featuring our former colleague General Roméo Dallaire; Dr. Shelly Whitman, Executive Director; and two former child soldiers, Ishmael Beah and our fellow Canadian Omar Khadr.

In 2017, the United Nations reported that 56 non-state armed groups and 7 state armed forces were recruiting and using children. UNICEF estimates there to be 300,000 child soldiers actively exploited in conflicts around the world today. Senator Ataullahjan recently spoke in this chamber about Afghan refugee children as young as 14 being bribed by Iran to fight in Syria as part of its alliance with the Assad regime.

As a vulnerable child, Omar Khadr was forced to move from Canada to Afghanistan at the age of 13 and take up arms by his father. Critically injured in a firefight that claimed the life of an American soldier allegedly by a grenade thrown by him, Khadr was detained in Guantanamo Bay for 10 years.

Canada failed to act in accordance with international law, which is very clear that children who are recruited and used as soldiers are not to be held responsible for their participation in armed conflict. Canada’s reputation as a protector of children’s rights was tarnished. In 2017, after a Supreme Court ruling that his Charter rights as a Canadian citizen had not been respected, Canada issued an apology and provided compensation to Mr. Khadr.

Ishmael Beah, author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, was also only 13 when he was coerced and used as a soldier in Sierra Leone’s civil war. He said:

Somebody being shot in front of you, or you yourself shooting somebody became just like drinking a glass of water.

Unlike Khadr, Beah was rehabilitated rather than incarcerated and went on to live what he calls his second life.

Any child, whether they are in a conflict against forces in Syria, Sierra Leone or allied forces in Afghanistan, is a victim in need of protection and rehabilitation. In 2017, the Government of Canada and the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative launched the Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers, now endorsed by 95 countries.

February 12 marks the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers. General Dallaire reminds us that ”children should never be blamed for the atrocities that have been masterminded by adults, hate is a learned behaviour and youth are our greatest resource.”

Colleagues, let’s heed his words. Thank you, wela’lioq.