VSF-Suisse, 06.03.2012
VSF-Suisse has a face! Throughout 2012 we will present to you a series of portraits of the people that make up Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Suisse. After Bonny Wilkinson, our Executive Director, you will now meet Eddy Botela, our project coordinator in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). For 10 years now this trained economist has been working for Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Suisse assiduously and enthusiastically. Our colleague Nicole Litschgi met him on her field visit to Goma.
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Child Soldiers
DRC
Goats
Livestock
VSF-Suisse
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VSF-Suisse, 17.02.2012
On Sunday, 12th February was the international day against the use of child soldiers and the 10th anniversary of the Optional protocol to the Convention on the rights of the child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. According to UN estimates approximately 250’000 children remain active in armed forces and groups. The children are used as porters, cooks, messengers and also as combatants. Many are recruited forcefully and especially girls suffer from sexual violence and they often return from the war either pregnant or with small children. The return to their families and communities is difficult for these children as they are stigmatised. Their families are also often poor and that poses a risk of returning to the armed forces out of sheer economic despair.
Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Suisse has been active for several years in the social re-integration of former child soldiers through goat rearing both in the DR Congo and South Sudan. The families accommodating former child soldiers receive a small herd of goats which allows them to generate additional income. With this income they can cover basic family needs.
Read what Lucien, a beneficiary of the social re-integration project in North Kivu, DRC, has to say:
Tags:
africa
Child Soldiers
DR Congo
Goats
VSF-Suisse
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