The numbers are shocking! Fighting in a war is an everyday reality for an estimated 300,000 children. In addition, four to five million children have suffered war trauma in one way or another. The number of children killed in war in the last ten years is estimated at a sad 2 million. Marco Borsato has been working with heart and soul for years to put an end to this!
Child soldier
A child soldier is someone under the age of eighteen who is part of an army or military group. Why are children deployed? First, children are easier to intimidate. Moreover, they are very suitable for spying because they are so small and agile. Because more and more light firearms are available, it is increasingly easier for army leaders to deploy children.
Most children are forced to join the army. They are often kidnapped during a raid on the village where they live. During that raid, the armies burn down the villages, kill the adults and take the children. Children are often forced to watch their parents being murdered, or to help kill family or friends. Of course, children forget about running away afterwards.
Some children voluntarily join the army. The main reasons for this voluntary participation are poverty, revenge, economic or educational opportunities, protection and the presence of violent conflict. In areas affected by wars there are often few facilities available. Participation in armed groups can provide the only chance for education, food or shelter and therefore offer an attractive alternative.
Psychological and physical damage
If children manage to escape or are released because the war has ended, the misery is not over. Many children have been physically injured, for example missing an arm or a leg. Often their relatives have died or been lost. Psychological trauma in children who come out of the military is inevitable. They have nightmares and flashbacks, they cannot concentrate and are constantly afraid that the rebels will return. They are often alone and have to fend for themselves. Many of these children end up in crime or return to the army.
But even if they can find their way home, it is very difficult to lead a normal life again . There is always the fear that the rebels will come back and take revenge. In addition, when child soldiers are kidnapped, they are often forced to harm or kill people from their own village or even from their own family. It is then very difficult for the village to reintegrate the ex-child soldiers into their circle.
What does War Child do?
War Child Netherlands is an independent humanitarian organization that invests in the psychosocial well-being of children who are victims of armed conflict. War Child’s goal is to empower war children by:
- Psychosocial programs that use creativity and sport to strengthen the psychological and social development and well-being of children;
- Creative and sporting programs aimed at bringing together children driven apart by war, with the aim of contributing to a peaceful society;
- Activities that create social support and support for the problems of children in war zones.
Because former child soldiers are also helped by improving the general state of the country, War Child is also committed to:
Peacebuilding
When an armed conflict is over, War Child contributes to the success of the larger overarching peace process. They do this through psychosocial activities at local level where children and young people from different population groups are brought together. They also support communities in resolving conflicts and by providing training in social skills and conflict prevention.
Information and Policy Influence
War Child works to spread the message worldwide that children and war do not go together. The aim is for people all over the world to realize that children should never be victims of war.
Marco Borsato as ambassador of War Child
Marco Borsato has been a War Child ambassador since 1998. His main mission is to ensure that as much attention as possible is drawn to War Child’s work and its importance. He does all his work for War Child on a voluntary basis and bears the costs he incurs himself.
The heartbreaking conditions in which millions of children live in war zones worldwide is his main reason for dedicating himself to this organization. Marco has traveled to Africa several times to see for himself what kind of children are involved and to experience how important the role of War Child is: Thanks to War Child’s programs, I speak to happy, grateful mothers who can talk to their children again, of which their children to play again. So we are really achieving great things. Look, through sports and games, through music and other creative activities, children become positive again, they gain confidence again. Can be a child again.
Marco has indicated several times that he feels personally involved in the subject: War Child is in my blood, it flows through my veins, it has become an essential part of my entire being.
His message is clear: the Netherlands must do something to provide the three hundred thousand child soldiers with a better life. Doing nothing is not an option! During his concerts, among other things, Marco draws attention to the work of War Child. As a War Child ambassador, Marco Borsato raised money for 40,000 children in Uganda during the Symphonica in Rosso concerts in 2006. The concerts in Arnhem attracted 320,000 visitors who raised more than 300,000.
In addition, Marco made his musical contribution to the Friends for War Child Concerts every year.
With light
The film Wit Licht, in which Marco Borsato plays the leading role, was shot in Uganda and South Africa and is set against the background of the problems prevailing there. The theme of child soldiers plays a central role. The film is about a restaurateur, Eduard Zuiderwijk, who lives in Africa with his son. When his son’s friend is kidnapped by rebels to be harshly trained as a child soldier, Eduard goes to great lengths to save him.
The role seems tailor-made for Marco because of his enormous personal involvement with war children. When I saw the script for Wit Licht , something really happened to me. The story grabbed me so deeply, I found it so profound and exciting, partly due to my affinity with Africa, that I immediately knew that I wanted to do this. Marco manages
to generate an enormous focus on the subject of child soldiers , both in his role as ambassador of War Child and as an actor. And that is necessary because despite the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which came into force in 1989 and in which the member countries indicate that they will not accept children under the age of fifteen in their armed forces, it remains an extensive and poignant problem.