Street kids recruited
for terror, says U.N.
Intel officials see groups targeting them for surveillance,
infiltration
Posted: May 22, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By H.P. Albarelli Jr.
2005 WorldNetDaily.com
A United Nations draft report connects the increase in the number of
terrorists to the problem of street children.
"The problem of street children, global in scope and in some areas
rapidly expanding at disturbing rates, poses a heretofore little
realized and under appreciated nexus to the increase in numbers of
terrorists as well as terrorist-sponsored incidents, both small and
large," begins the report, written by a select group of American
intelligence officials, including several CIA representatives and at
least one representative from the Homeland Security Department's
Office of Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection.
The document reportedly has alarmed a number of United Nations
Children's Fund officials who work to assist street children
worldwide. Officials' concerns centered on suspicions that groups of
street children in certain regions were being targeted for
surveillance and infiltration.
The draft report, dated April 2005 and marked "Group Working Paper" on
its cover, was produced by a special assignment team charged with
studying the relationship between street children -- defined in the
report as "boys and girls under the age of eighteen, often as young as
five or six who because of economic and familial reasons spend all or
substantial amounts of their time on the streets" -- and the expansion
of global terrorism.
Worldwide it is estimated there are between 100 million and 150
million street children. The actual number is imprecise because of the
difficulties of maintaining an accurate census and because social
scientists tend to quibble over "what constitutes a street child."
Requests to U.N. public relations officials Erica Kochi and Alfred
Ironside to comment on the report were declined.
An assistant to Kochi said, "U.N. activities in the field aimed at
assisting children are based on need, not politics. UNICEF, the U.N.'s
primary group for service delivery to children, does not take sides in
political conflicts. UNICEF works to draw the world's attention to the
devastating affects of violence and conflict on children. UNICEF
condemns any statement in any form that encourages children to hate,
discriminate or to take to violent actions."
The draft report, which numbers nearly 130 pages, contains detailed
information about the increasing numbers of homeless children
worldwide, especially in countries with sizable Islamic populations.
States one section concerning Pakistan: "Here the threat of children
being recruited into terrorist ranks looms large."
Another section covering Nigeria states: "The melding of Islamic
fundamentalism and indigenous beliefs found in former capital city,
Lagos, with over 14 million inhabitants, presents problems unique in
scope, especially in regards to formulating counter-measures."
The report also contains quotes from Child Soldiers Newsletter. The
newsletter is published by the independent Coalition to Stop the Use
of Child Soldiers, which had nothing to do with producing the draft
report. Reads one quoted section: "Uganda presents a stark example:
there thousands of children are in constant fear of abduction and
forced recruitment by the Lord's Resistance Army [a violent
Sudan-based group]."
The example of the Lord's Resistance Army is employed to segue into a
section addressing what the report cites as a "closely related
problem": the worldwide rise of child soldiers.
A recently published book entitled, "Children at War," by P.W. Singer,
a National Security Fellow at the Brookings Institution and an
occasional adviser to the U.S. military, dramatically underscores the
growing phenomena of conscripted children.
Singer reveals that the first U.S. serviceman to die in Afghanistan
was killed by a 14-year old boy. Child terrorism, Singer writes, can
be dealt with by undercutting "the institutions that assist terrorist
groups in mobilization and recruitment. Measures include enlisting
religious leaders to speak out against the use of children," bettering
school systems and holding adults and families "responsible for their
children's actions."
The draft report does not mention Singer's book, but does raise strong
concerns about the recruitment of street children to the swelling
ranks of child soldiers, which as the report emphasizes, significantly
compounds the overall issue of children as potential terrorists.
Street children, more often than not, do not recognize or respond to
conventional leaders and operate by their own codes of conduct.
States the report, "The challenge is a formidable one that must be
reckoned with before the hour grows much later."
H.P. Albarelli Jr. is a Florida-based investigative journalist and
writer. His just-published book, "The Heap," focuses on a group of
street children and a remarkable discovery they make.
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