Congo, a Republic in Transit: The Child-Soldiers’ case

On December 2010 I completed my graduation course in International Relations with emphasis in Foreign Trade.

Despite the fact that I’ve worked with Foreign Trade in the UK Trade & Investment and that nowadays I work with Trading in a Japanese Multinational, since the beginning of the university I had a clear preference and passion for Politics, History, Sociology, Anthropology, Human Rights and International Law. The Humanitarian side, in general. Africa, was my chosen theme for dissertation already in the first year of course. I knew I would write about something involving Africa, but I was not sure on the focus.

When the 4^th and last year arrived, I watched a several documentaries (specially the documentary series “Nova África” from the Brazilian Television ”TV Brasil”), and I had the chance to be aware about the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was love at first sight. Obviously, I was horrified with the history of greed and terror that DRC through which, and at the same time, I felt revolt and an uncontrollable wish to do something to tell other people the illness that the multinationals, mainly from the technology area, are for this so rich country in mineral resources that continues to live under extreme poverty and war.

After that, I spoke with my thesis advisor that I wanted to write about DRC relating the theme with International Relations/Human Rights and children (that I love)…but what, exactly? Luckily, he gave me an excellent idea: write about the child soldiers. Voilà! I had a challenge to solve in, basically, two months! I read a huge number of reports from International Organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations, testimonials from former child-soldiers, and romances from African writers. I didn’t have the time that I wanted to dedicate myself for this work at all, but, at least, I had the kickoff to develop my humanitarian ideas for the future – a Master course, books, documentaries etc.

The main reason that I’m writing a post about my dissertation is that I know how difficult is to find bibliography/sources on this specific theme. So, I’ll translate it to English and can provide a copy for colleagues that may have the interest in take a look on my “manifest”, according to my board of examiners when I did my thesis defense.

Below is the abstract:

“In the present work was attempted to present the horrifying situation of child soldiers that actively take part in armed conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The country’s history was briefly analysed – since the Belgium colonisation to corrupt governments, with the objective to verify in the end of this, the reasons that make these children integral parts of the actual humanitarian crisis’s juncture, with the intent to introduce  a deepening of the thematic of how is the participation of child soldiers in the Congo, and also, through a document analysis, observe how this international emergency’s issue has been debated in the main forums of the European Union.

KEY-WORDS: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO – CHILD SOLDIERS – ARMED CONFLICTS – MINERAL RESOURCES – EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT”