STORY: AMISOM trains Somali security sector

personnel on deterrence against use of children

in armed conflict
DURATION: 3:56
SOURCE: AMISOM PUBLIC INFORMATION
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LANGUAGE: SOMALI/ ENGLISH/NATURAL SOUND
DATELINE: 22/MARCH/2018, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA

SHOT LIST
1. Wide shot, participants at the child protection training workshop
2. Med shot, moderator speaking during the child protection training workshop
3. Med shot, Simon Mulongo, Deputy Special Representative of the Chairperson
of the African Union Commission (DSRCC) for Somalia, flanked by other
officials listening
4. Wide shot, participants at the child protection training workshop
5. Med shot, participants at the child protection training workshop
6. Close up shot, participants at the child protection training workshop
7. Med shot, Simon Mulongo, Deputy Special Representative of the Chairperson
of the African Union Commission (DSRCC) for Somalia, walking to the podium
8. SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) SIMON MULONGO, DEPUTY SPECIAL
REPRESENTATIVE OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE AFRICAN UNION
COMMISSION (DSRCC) FOR SOMALIA
“No country can have hope and no country can have a future unless the
children are properly nourished and brought up. And therefore, the question
of protecting children and ensuring that they grow in a safe, secure and
productive environment becomes our noble responsibility both as parents
and as leaders of our societies and of our communities”.

9. Wide shot, participants at the child protection training workshop

10. Med shot, participants at the child protection training workshop
11. Med shot, officials listening during the child protection training workshop
12. SOUNDBITE: (SOMALI) FATUMA MOHAMED ABDIKADIR, PARTICIPANT
“I have been here for a three-day course which was about protection of child
soldiers. It was emphasized that our government should not use children as
soldiers. Armed militias usually use children as soldiers especially girls where
they are used as spies. They are made to wear civilian clothes, infiltrate and
gather information; that way they are being used as child soldiers”
.
 13. Med shot, participants at the child protection training workshop
14. Wide shot, participants at the child protection training workshop
15. Wide shot, participants at the child protection training workshop, applauding
16. Med shot, moderator inviting DSRCC to hand out certificates
17. Med shot, participant receiving a certificate
18. Med shot, participant receiving a certificate
19. SOUNDBITE: (SOMALI) FATUMA MOHAMED ABDIKADIR, PARTICIPANT
“I would like to pass on and impart the knowledge I have gained here to my
junior officers so that they also learn the importance of protecting our
children”.

20. Med shot, participant going to receive his certificate

21. Med shot, participant receiving a certificate
22. Wide shot, participant receiving a certificate
23. SOUNDBITE: (SOMALI) MOHAMED ALI GALABEY, PARTICIPANT
“I would like to spread the word when I go back to my unit and create
awareness on the dangers of using children as soldiers when I get back so
that abuse and violation of rights of the children are minimized”.

24. Wide shot, participant going to receive his certificate

25. Wide shot, participant going to receive his certificate
26. Med shot, participant posing for photo after receiving certificate
27. SOUNDBITE: (SOMALI) MOHAMED ALI GALABEY, PARTICIPANT
“We have learnt that children should not be used as soldiers, not to be killed,
injured or the community to be denied access to humanitarian aid. Children
should not be used as labourers. Using children as child soldiers has many
devastating effects on their lives and even to the communities they live in”.

28. Med shot, Simon Mulongo, Deputy Special Representative of the Chairperson
of the African Union Commission (DSRCC) for Somalia and a Somali official,
hold a banner and read it out

AMISOM trains Somali security sector personnel on deterrence against use of

children in armed conflict

Mogadishu, 22 March 2018 - A total of thirty personnel from the Somali security
forces, drawn from across the country, concluded a three-day capacity building
workshop on child protection, in the capital Mogadishu, on Thursday.

The training organized by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), and
supported by the British Embassy in Somalia, sensitized the local security forces on
the perils of engaging children in armed conflict and ways of preventing their
recruitment and use in armed conflict.

“This training is important because you have been equipped with the skills that will
enable you execute a very important function of protecting the children in this very
noble republic of Somalia,” Mr. Simon Mulongo, the Deputy Head of AMISOM, told
participants at the workshop.

Flanked by the Director General of the Federal Ministry of Defence Mr. Sonkor Jama
Geyre, the Secretary of the Parliamentary Defense Committee Sidiq Warfa, and
British Embassy officials, Mr. Mulongo emphasized the importance of creating a safe
and secure environment for children, whom he stressed, were the next generation
of leaders. “Therefore, the question of protecting children and ensuring that they
grow in a safe, secure and productive environment becomes our noble responsibility
both as parents and as leaders of our communities,” he said, noting that “no country
can have hope in the future unless the children are properly nourished and brought
up.”

The trainees will be tasked to carry out child protection sensitization programmes in
their areas of operations.

The training provided participants with a platform to engage with their trainers and
discourse on the impact of armed conflict on children in war, the roles and
responsibilities of the Somali Security Sector in curtailing the menace.

A participant, Fatuma Mohamed Abdikadir, said she would use the knowledge she
had acquired from the workshop to sensitize her peers in the security sector.

“Armed militia usually use children as soldiers, especially girls who are mostly used
as spies or for other purposes. They are made to wear civilian clothes, infiltrate and
gather information,” said Fatuma.

Another participant, Mohamed Ali Galabey, said the training helped him understand
better the negative impact of using children in armed conflict.

“I will spread the word far and wide to create awareness on the dangers of using
children as soldiers once I return to my sector so that the abuse and violation of the
rights of the children are minimized or stopped completely,” he stated.

There is little research on the actual numbers of child soldiers in Somalia, although
there is widespread use of children in armed conflict by militia gangs and terror
group Al-Shabaab. AMISOM has been collaborating with the Federal Government of
Somalia and the Somali security forces, to end the use of children in armed conflict.

END