Earlier this month, I posted an entry on this blog about girls in Darfur being sexually assaulted when they collect firewood in the wilderness. One of our readers left a question that may have crossed many people’s minds: “How about letting the MEN collect the firewood?!”
When I first researched this subject, I also wondered why girls in Darfur were left to do this risky chore in secluded areas while boys stayed behind at camp. But I later learned that boys in war-torn countries also suffer horrible abuse, violence and exploitation.
In Darfur, when militias raid villages, they sometimes immediately execute the boys along with the men. In times of war, many fighting groups see young men and boys as threats or as potential soldiers, so boys are either killed or kidnapped and forced to serve in militias.
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| © UNICEF/ HQ05-1018/Ron Haviv |
| Lucky to be alive, three nomadic boys wander amid the remains of a village reputed to harbour Janjaweed militias in North Darfur State, Sudan. But until these boys relocate to a protected camp for displaced people, their lives remain in great danger. |
In northern Uganda, the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has kidnapped more than 25,000 children since 1986. These mass abductions have created a population of children who travel at night to large towns and urban centers to avoid being captured by the LRA—known as "night commuters."
UNICEF estimates that there are some 40,000 children living as night commuters. In search of shelter, these kids travel alone every night. In the mornings, they pack their belongings and start walking to the next town or back to their homes in the countryside, to repeat the process all over again.
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| © UNICEF/ HQ04-1169/Roger LeMoyne |
| Children and women carrying blankets and sleeping bags gather on their way to seek shelter in the northern town of Kitgum in Uganda. These and other "night commuters" move to urban centers for the night to avoid attacks and abduction. |
This exhausting, evasive lifestyle separates kids from their families, and deprives them of an education and a stable environment. Plus, it’s extremely dangerous. Traveling alone, without family or any adult supervision, leaves these kids vulnerable to abuse and sexual exploitation.
UNICEF and its partners are helping night commuters by supplying them with emergency shelter, medical care and psychosocial counseling. UNICEF has also reunited more than 5,000 night commuters with their relatives through family-tracing support programs.
But until the kidnappings stop, these children will continue their nightly treks, looking for safety with the start of every sunset.