‘I was forced to fight as a child soldier. Please help us save others’

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14 December 2012

A former child soldier who escaped from Uganda and arrived in London with no winter clothes has spoken about his ordeal to raise awareness of the plight of asylum seekers.

Eric, whose two brothers were also child soldiers, was forced to fight with machetes and knives because bullets were too expensive. He fled to London at 17 after his family was killed, turned up in Waterloo alone with no coat and spent a week on the streets before getting help from a charity.

Eric spoke about his experiences to highlight the problems that child asylum seekers have when they turn 18 and face being sent back to the countries they fled.

It comes as the Evening Standard’s sister paper, The Independent, today launched a campaign to raise money to help children forced to become soldiers in the Central African Republic, one of the world’s poorest countries. Unicef is doing vital work to release children from armed groups and rehabilitate them into society.

For the full campaign website

Evgeny Lebedev, owner of the Evening Standard and Independent, is in the Central African Republic to witness Unicef’s work. He said: “It is a great honour to be working with Unicef on this enormously valuable work with child soldiers.

“I have witnessed first hand the incredible impact the brave and dedicated Unicef staff have in transforming those young lives. I hope that the presence of me and The Independent can raise awareness and a large amount of funds to help them continue and expand their work. These children deserve to get their childhoods back.”

Eric, now 29, managed to escape from Uganda by using an agent but cannot talk in detail about the experience. He was given leave to remain in England until he turned 18, but the day after his birthday he had to report to the Home Office and was told he could be detained or sent back to Uganda.

He said: “When I went home I locked myself in my room. I was very sad and felt very angry. I even thought about taking my life. I couldn’t sleep that night. I was emotionally and mentally distant.”

Eric spoke about his experiences as part of a campaign by the Refugee Council called Turning 18, which draws attention to the vulnerability of young asylum seekers.

He was eventually granted refugee status and now volunteers for the Refugee Council’s Children’s Section.

CALL: 0800 037 9797

POST: UNICEF, Child Soldiers Appeal, FREEPOST CL885, Billericay CM12 0BR

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