When Charles Taylor goes into the docket at the International Criminal Court in the Hague, he will face charges of crimes against humanity for his brutalities both as a rebel leader and as President of Liberia. Among those looking on in their quest for justice will be Taylor's most innocent victims, the estimated 15,000 children who were forced to fight in Liberia's bloody regional war.
Starting in the 1990s, Taylor first developed a military model that was since exported over the border into neighbouring Sierra Leone: raiding villages, killing adults, and kidnapping children to be recruited into the military. Boys were taken to fight while girls were taken as sexual slaves. Prior to overthrowing previous president Samuel Doe in 1990, Taylor's National Patriotic Front controlled much of Liberia. His most feared battalions were made up of children as young as 11 which committed numerous atrocities.
After becoming president in 1997, Taylor's government was locked into perpetual warfare with rebel groups that copied his methods. He was eventually forced to step down in 2003. Although his son, Chucky Taylor has been sentenced to a 97-year sentence for his role in his father's brutal government. Charles Taylor himself faces 11 charges including the deployment of child soldiers. He is currently being held in the United Nations Detention Unit in the Hague.
Many of Taylor's child soldiers continue to be stigmatized by their involvement in the civil war and are ostracized by many elements of Liberian society. Even those with surviving family members are typically rejected and many turn to prostitution or crime to survive. Relief agencies are attempting to aid former child soldiers although they admit that the legacy of psychological trauma and suicide will haunt the region for decades to come.
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