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Article: Rwanda: a case study. (includes related article on reuniting Rwandan children with their families)
- Article from:
- UN Chronicle
- Article date:
- December 22, 1996
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 United Nations Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Children have not been spared by the events in Rwanda which caused the serious human rights violations of April 1994 and particularly the massacres; they have been involved both as perpetrators and victims. During the hostilities, both sides made extensive use of children as instruments for committing crimes against humanity, either as civilians or as soldiers.
The massacres were a mass phenomenon; this was deliberate and intended to involve all the strata of the population, including children, as killers "manipulated" by their handlers, often with the encouragement of their parents or members of the militias. Some received the same training as the militia members ...