Worst place for youth
November 18, 2016
Aid agencies and journalists like to use lists. They usually apply to bad things: the worst place to be a woman; top five crazy holiday destinations; or, in the case of the Commonwealth Secretariat, its Global Youth Development Index.
It measures progress on youth development in 183 countries, looking at young people’s levels of education, health and well-being, employment opportunities, as well as civic and political participation.
The index finds that the best place in which to be young is Germany. Sub-Saharan Africa is not recommended. But the place to really avoid is Central African Republic, which is anchored at the bottom of the table.
The 2.6 million young people living in CAR already know this. A rebellion, that swept down from the north in 2012, has left swathes of the country lawless, having a disastrous impact on the youth.
They have been forced out of school; are victims of displacement and collapsed health services; have been recruited as combatants; and have been casualties in the fighting between an alliance of northern-based Muslim rebels called Sé* éka, and Christian self-defence groups known as anti-Balaka.
According to the UN’s emergency aid co-ordination body, OCHA, 2.3 million people out of a population of 4.6 million are in need of aid; 385 000 people have been made homeless; and 452 000 have been forced to flee the country. Children are among the most vulnerable. Between 6 000 and 10 000 have been conscripted by militia. Some, like Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army operating in the south, abduct children to fill their depleted ranks. Other groups kidnap for ransom, according to a report by the UN secretary-general.
As jobs are hard to find, some young people join the groups voluntarily. They man the barricades and checkpoints that tax citizens. Others still see themselves as community defenders, or are out for revenge.
Girls are at particular risk of sexual violence as a result of the disorder. They are not only threatened by gunmen in their own communities, they have also been victims of soldiers in the UN peacekeeping mission known as Minusca, and the French intervention force Sangaris.
The violence has affected an already fragile education system. Schools have been attacked and vandalised. But in an environment of insecurity and economic hardship, classes are less of a priority for worried parents.
Patricia Ngoumbré Mounon is a district school inspector in Bangui. The six schools he supervises had more than 15 000 students last year. Enrolment has now fallen to 12 700 pupils.
“Parents would rather keep their children at home while waiting for the security situation to get better, or take them to the fields and use them as labour.”
Last year, 10 armed groups agreed to release all children under their control and stop recruiting child soldiers. As a result, 3 000 former child soldiers have been “separated” from the militias, but the government remains “without an effective disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme”, says the US State Department.
All children who have been released have received support from aid agencies and most were reunited with their families. But there is still the risk of re-recruitment. In January, 150 children re-joined the armed group they had been separated from, the State Department noted.
“Most young people are illiterate,” said Francis Mangombé, president of the National Youth Council, an NGO. “It’s an under-educated youth, and it hasn’t been trained properly for a while.”
President Faustin Archange Touadera, the surprise winner of elections in February, has sworn to disarm fighters on both sides of the conflict, pursue dialogue and reunify a divided country. But it’s going to be an uphill struggle.
The government is weak and its influence limited.
Insecurity is increasing, with humanitarian agencies forced to shut down operations in the central town of Kaga Bandoro last month following attacks by Sé* éka rebels. Adding to the uncertainty, France will end its Sangaris deployment this year.
The government is also broke. A UN appeal for $532 million to cover humanitarian and development work in CAR this year is only 33 percent funded.
But Touadera has launched an “emergency national programme” to create 400 000 jobs, which he hopes will be funded by the donors. – Irin News
