Preventing the recruitment and use of child soldiers is the core mission of the Dallaire Initiative, and our work in Somalia has had a direct impact in this area. Through Mr. Gbow’s work with the AMISOM leadership, AMISOM police and military forces now refuse to take part in joint operations with Somali forces that use child soldiers, providing a significant operation incentive to cease their use. AMISOM now also aids the Somali National Army (SNA) and Somali National Police (SNP) to prevent underage recruitment.

The Dallaire Initiative training graduates now deployed in AMISOM and Somali security forces have provided a number of updates on their efforts, including on instances where they prevent the recruitment of children by local police forces, and ensured that child detainees were properly handed over to child protection agencies. As our monitoring and evaluation efforts in Somalia continue, we will gain additional information on such instances.