Kofi Ampeah Woode
The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), the Ghana Police Service, and the Dallaire Institute, have partnered to deliver a two-week course on Prevention of Recruitment and use of Children in Armed Violence Training of Trainers, to effectively build the capacity of selected security Officers who would deliver awareness to personnel on deployment to United Nations missions.
The two-week course, which is maiden, commenced at Ghana’s Army Peace Operations Training School (APOTS), Battle Training Camp, Bundase, on Tuesday 24 September 2024, with the Commander, Army Training Command (ATRAC), Ghana Army – Brigadier General (Brig Gen) Stephen Woseadzikpo Kweku Parbey, as the Chief Guest.
The Commander, ATRAC (CATRAC) said in his speech that the course is particularly important, because of the increasing use of children in armed conflict across the globe, which has seen children as young as 8 and 9 associated with armed groups, with most of the children left with serious long-term physical, emotional and psychological scares for the rest of their lives.
The course will also equip participants with skills and knowledge to identify and prevent the recruitment or use of children in armed conflict, and strengthen the capacity of GAF and the Police Service, to deal and interact more positively with such victims during operations, General Parbey said.
The training program will also seek to qualify participants as facilitators on the prevention of the use and recruitment of children in armed conflict in order to expand the pool of trained trainers, who will continue to support the process of integrating the concepts learnt, into training programmes of respective institutions, he continued.
The Director, Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security – Major General (Maj Gen) (Rtd) Ferdinand Safari, taking his turn, gave a few insights into the concept of the inaugural Basic/Training of Trainers (TOT) course on the prevention of the recruitment and use of children in armed violence.
He said the effective protection of children requires a dual lens approach; one that understands the security sector imperatives, as well as the need to protect children from Grave Violations worldwide, and that through this approach, a more holistic, prevention-oriented approach that compliments the efforts of those working in child protection, would be built, focusing on improving security sector reform.
He said the Basic/TOT would apply tactical, prevention-oriented training to educate, inspire, and better equip trainers, aiming at establishing a cadre of trainers able to facilitate a Basic Course to increase child protection capacity in their national training establishments, and to better operate in conflict areas where children are recruited and used in armed violence.
He continued to say that in 2017, the Dallaire Institute co-developed the Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers, which he said is inspired by the Kigali Principles on the Protection of Civilians, and contain 17 distinct commitments that aim to empower member states to prevent the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict.
The principles are motivated by the conviction that preventing the recruitment and use of children as soldiers is not a peripheral issue for the security sector in armed conflict and violence settings, but is critical to ending to achieve lasting peace and security, Maj Gen Safari said.
General Safari stated, “Every nation that is not prepared for their interactions with children, leaves the door wide open to unscrupulous adults who wish to exploit this lack of preparedness”.
He also inferred that actively placing children’s rights and protection at the heart of efforts to build peace and security, has the potential to greatly reduce conflict, break cycles of violence, and pave the way for a future where children are empowered to achieve their dreams.
The Commander, APOTS – Colonel (Col) Clement Yaw Dingane, in his welcome speech expressed the hope that the next course would include participants from countries in the West Africa sub-region, such as Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Togo and others, since APOTS is accredited by the United Nations, not only for institutions in Ghana, but worldwide.
He acknowledged the Canadian Government for sponsoring the course, the Military High Command of GAF for facilitating the process of the course, and the Ghana Police Service for accepting the invitation to participate in the course.
The Dallaire Institute, founded in 2007 by Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire (Rtd), has its headquarters at Dalhousie University in Canada, and has an African Centre of Excellence which has trained over 15,000 personnel from more than 100 nations around the world.
Its vision is a world where children are at the heart of peace and security, and operates with a mission to prevent the recruitment and use of children in armed violence and transform cycles of violence.
Central to this mission is increasing the operational effectiveness of security sector by providing training, doctrinal guidance and support in developing national curricula to prevent Grave Violations against children in armed conflict.
This peculiar maiden APOTS course, has forty (40) participants from the Ghana Army, Ghana Navy, Ghana Air Force, and the Ghana Police Service.
Present at the inaugural ceremony included the Deputy Director, Dallaire Institute Africa – Mr Arsene Mukendi Tshidimu; Canadian Defence Attache to Ghana – Lieutenant Colonel Charles Palmer; Facilitators of Dallaire Institute – Maj James Tucker and Mr Jean Baptiste; Instructors of APOTS, Command Sergeant Major, ATRAC, Acting Regimental Sergeant Major, APOTS.
By Kofi Ampeah-Woode
