Uganda Isn't the Only Country With Child Soldiers.

A couple of events in the media over the last few days have got me thinking about a forgotten boy.  A former child soldier who daily lives with the loss of his childhood and the guilt for the things that he did while serving as a child soldier in an army that he didn’t fully understand.   I bet you are all thinking I am talking about a Ugandan boy who was kidnapped and forced to serve under warlord Joseph Kony right? After all, thanks to a viral video people all over Canada are enraged at the way Kony has abused and murdered Ugandan children.  North Americans  are trying to do whatever little thing they can do to try and stop Kony and to save those countless child soldiers, but I am not talking about a Ugandan boy.  I am talking about a Canadian boy,  a boy who spent part of his childhood living in Toronto and who remains to this day, as far as I know, a Canadian citizen.  That boy’s name is Omar Khadr. 

Omar Khadr’s family spent part of his childhood living in Canada, but his father held extremist Muslim views and took the family back to live in Pakistan where he became involved in Al-Qaeda.  Omar spent his early teen years being homeschooled and spending increasing amounts of time with the men his father associated with, until, at age 15 he became involved in the fighting.  During a battle he threw a firebomb that killed an American soldier.  He was arrested and was sent to Guantanamo Bay, at age 15.

In the years since his arrest Canada has done nothing to defend or help Omar Khadr, despite the fact that the UN, Amnesty international, Unicef and many other prominent organizations have deemed him to be a Child combatant and urged Canada to seek his repatriation.  Despite the fact that the supreme court of Canada has ruled that Omar’s rights as a Canadian citizen, as a Canadian child, have been severely violated. 

 

Omar Khadr is now 26 years old.  He has spent 11 of those years in an American prison.  He was found guilty by a US military court after awaiting trial for 7 years.  He received a further 8 year sentence.  By the time he is released at age 30 he will have spent half of his life in prison.  This is what the governments of Canada and the United States think is acceptable treatment for Child Soldiers.  And people wonder why our governments won’t intervene in the case of Joseph Kony?

Last night’s top news story was that former Burmese political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded Canadian citizen ship today by foreign affairs minister John Baird..  If I was Dr. Suu Kyi, I wouldn’t put much stock in that citizen ship, it doesn’t seem to count for much if you find yourself in a tight place, just ask Omar Khadr.