AngolaChildren recruited by the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) faced harsh discipline for infractions and especially severe penalties for attempting to escape. To deter desertion, commanders forced child recruits to watch and participate in the execution of captured escapees. Children demobilized from UNITA forces in 1996 explained that when one child who had escaped was captured, the others would have to assist in his execution even if that person were a family member. JoÃo F. told Human Rights Watch: “If you didn't comply with orders, you would be punished, sometimes killed. Children were punished too. Myself, I was whipped twice for disobeying orders. Other children were beaten with heavy sticks.” See: Forgotten Fighters: Child Soldiers in Angola, April 2003, http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/angola0403/ |