Child Soldier Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration efforts are working - especially community-led initiatives - and need support! This is especially so in Sierra Leone, Angola, Uganda and Mozambique, in Central America, and parts of Asia, where the role of family and community is an essential part of the healing, restoration and rehabilitation process. Yet a successful UNICEF program in Sierra Leone, serving several thousand former child soldiers with education, training and community reintegration programs was about to close down two years ago for lack of funding.

Research on successful programs indicates that on average, at least three years of services are required for successful rehabilitation. However, longer term services and support are needed for many who are deeply traumatized by their ordeals, or have no family, community or support system to which to return. In many societies in which children have killed or committed atrocities, cultural restoration, traditional healing and cleaning rituals are an essential part of the rehabilitation process, including the community’s and victims’ roles in accepting a child back into the community. Community-led rehabilitation initiatives and traditional healing combined with the role of specialists, including psychologists, are more successful than strictly institutional approaches and help to reduce the stigmas that attach to children who killed. Education, skills training, social development, life skills and job opportunities are essential to prevent children from resorting to criminality, which previously served as their source of support and identity. Educating communities about children’s rights, and linking communities with government, UN and NGO agencies to help structure and sustain these rights, are also essential elements in successful programs.