The Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative

February 11, 2012, (FREETOWN) — The Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative will mark February 12, the International Day Against the Use of Child Soldiers, in Freetown on Tuesday as it begins a new project in Sierra Leone. The project, which launches this month, aims to establish new training and education programs in an effort to […]

Dear friends, We’re pleased to announce the release of our latest publication, Child Soldiers: A Handbook for Security Sector Actors. Designed to highlight and reinforce the various roles that military and police can play in protecting all children affected by war, this guidebook is the result of years of consultations with numerous academic partners, field […]

The people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are once again pawns in a political game. There are 200,000 children at risk in the city of Goma, according to reports by World Vision. Rumours of children being handed guns in Goma over the last few days are very worrisome. Oxfam and World Vision are […]

November 18, 2012, (AMSTERDAM) — In a packed auditorium at the renowned Pathé Tuschinski theatre, retired general and celebrated humanitarian Roméo Dallaire launched a new documentary yesterday evening entitled Fight like Soldiers, Die Like Children. Based on his 2010 book, the film was directed by award-winning filmmaker Patrick Reed and produced by Peter Raymont of […]

Urges students to advance the cause of humanity “As a retired general and apprentice politician, brevity is not my strength,” Lieutenant-General The Honourable Roméo Dallaire told Dal graduates assembled in the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium on Wednesday afternoon. In fact, General Dallaire’s address, which followed the receipt of his honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Dal, […]

The last Western prisoner at Guantanamo Bay has hit a significant milestone. Friday marks the 10-year anniversary of the bloody firefight that led to the capture of Omar Khadr — a Canadian citizen and former child soldier. Recruited at 13 years old, then shot and taken prisoner two years later, the story of Omar Khadr […]

By Allan Thompson NYABIONDO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO — It is nearly noon and the United Nations helicopter is ready to take off from this remote outpost in northeastern Congo, about five kilometres from the front line. The dense bush and mountainous terrain are home to warring factions in Congo’s internal strife. One of the […]

Dealing with piracy is proving to be an increasing problem for the world. International law gives navies the authority to deal with piracy on the high seas. But since piracy is a crime, the prosecution of the pirates must be conducted under the national criminal law of that state, including all the procedural and legal […]

Saturday is the international day against the use of child soldiers. Nine years ago today, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict entered into force as international law. Some 139 countries, including Canada, have committed to protect children from armed conflict and […]

In commencing the trial of Omar Khadr at Guantanamo Bay, the current U.S. administration has become the first government in modern history to prosecute a former child soldier for war crimes. This unprecedented case not only risks the rule of law and due process concerning juvenile justice, it puts in peril hundreds of thousands of […]