Children, Not Soldiers: A Song to End the Recruitment of Children in DR Congo
As part of the national sensitization campaign on child soldiers launched by the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), a young artist from Goma, David Dube, composed a song to support the campaign “Children not soldiers”.
” Children are our future, we need to give them the chance to go to school and have a good education.” sings David Dube in four languages (Swahili, Lingala, Kiganda and Kinyarwanda ).
The song was released on February 12, on the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers.
The Campaign “Children, Not Soldiers”, initiated by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and UNICEF, aims at galvanizing support to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children by national security forces in conflict by the end of 2016.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is one of seven countries involved in the campaign and has signed an Action Plan with the United Nations in 2012 to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children by its national armed forces.
Since the launch of the campaign in March 2014, DRC has continued to make progress in the implementation of its Action Plan and the President has named a Presidential Advisor in charge of addressing sexual violence and child recruitment.