Child Soldiers Global Report 2004 - Togo
| Publisher | Child Soldiers International |
| Publication Date | 2004 |
| Cite as | Child Soldiers International, Child Soldiers Global Report 2004 - Togo, 2004, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/49880624c.html [accessed 22 October 2022] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Togolese Republic
Covers the period from April 2001 to March 2004.
Population: 4.8 million (2.4 million under 18)
Government armed forces: up to 8,550
Compulsory recruitment age: 18
Voluntary recruitment age: 18
Voting age: 18
Optional Protocol: signed 15 November 2001
Other treaties ratified (see glossary): CRC, GC AP I and II, ILO 138, ILO 182; ACRWC
There were no reports of under-18s in the armed forces.
Context
The main opposition parties boycotted legislative elections in October 2002 that were won by the ruling party of President Gnassingbé Eyadéma, who came to power in a coup in 1967. In late 2002 parliament amended the constitution to allow President Eyadéma to stand for re-election.1 In June 2003 he won presidential elections that were boycotted by the opposition and marred by violence. In July 2003 the European Union (EU) questioned the fairness of the elections. Opposition activists and others were detained in the aftermath. They included members of the armed forces arrested because of alleged links to former Army Chief of Staff Colonel Kouma Biteniwé, who fled the country in May 2003.2 The EU had refused to send observers to the elections on the grounds that they were unlikely to be free and fair.3
Togo contributed troops and a military observer to the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) peacekeeping operation.4
Government
National recruitment legislation and practice
The 2002 constitution states that the defence of the nation and its territorial integrity is the duty of every Togolese citizen; that every citizen has the duty to undertake national service under conditions provided for in law; and that every citizen has the duty to fight any person or group of people who attempt to change the democratic order established by the constitution (Articles 43 to 45).5
The minimum age for both conscription and voluntary enlistment is 18.6 Some sources reported conscription to be for two years.7
Other developments
Child trafficking was widely acknowledged to be a problem. Children as young as three years old were trafficked from Togo, as well as from other places to Togo, and through Togo to other countries. Poverty, family breakdown and HIV/AIDS were identified as contributory factors, as well as porous borders and lax regulatory environments.8
1 Amnesty International Report 2003, http://web. amnesty.org/library/engindex.
2 Amnesty International Report 2004.
3 IRIN, "Togo: Eyadéma wins 57% majority in presidential elections", 5 June 2003, http://www.irinnews.org.
4 UN Peacekeeping, Contributors, http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/contributors.
5 Constitution, at http://droit.francophonie.org.
6 Declaration by Togolese delegation and World Association of Orphans Afrique at the African Conference on the use of children as soldiers, Maputo, 19-22 April 1999.
7 Hutchinson's encyclopaedia, http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/countryfacts/togo.html.
8 Human Rights Watch, Borderline slavery: Child trafficking in Togo, April 2003, http://www.hrw.org.
