Grantee Profile: BVES

When BVES first opened its doors in 1992, its children’s center was little more than a metal shack with a tarp roof.  Still, it was the only place to go in this part of the Congo for several hundred Tutsi children fleeing the Rwandan genocide just across the river.  BVES took these children in, provided food, medical care, and shelter, and a haven from the chaos just a few miles away.  Fifteen years later, Bureau pour le Volontariat au Service de l’Enfance et de la Santé (BVES) has become the main organization in the region working on child rights and has become the lead advocate for the release of children recruited by armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In the photo above, former child soldiers hold a poster stating: "Never again these uniforms for children."

Armed conflict in eastern Congo has fractured thousands of families and led to the enlistment of 30,000 children as soldiers, porters and sexual slaves. Ten thousand of these children are in the province of South Kivu, where BVES operates.  Nearly every armed group in the region—including government forces—has recruited and forcibly conscripted children.  Both boys and girls have been used in combat, and BVES and others have documented cases of child soldiers as young as six years old.

BVES promotes the rights of marginalized children (street children, imprisoned children, and children who are refugees, displaced, or former soldiers) with local authorities and the international community.  BVES operates centers that help these children to rejoin their communities after being abducted by armed groups or orphaned by war, and provides psychological and medical services.  Many released child soldiers and refugee children may return to their villages as orphans. They often return to a situation where they have no access to health care, social supports, or opportunities to develop a trade or skill. They often have missed years of school, have extreme behavioral challenges, and face suspicious neighbors. Girls face a particularly difficult situation as they may return as new mothers to families who reject them; in many parts of Congo, their rape and/or forced service is considered to bring the families shame.

BVES received its first-ever outside funding from the Fund in 2005.  For years, BVES operated its shelters with an all-volunteer staff and with in-kind contributions from UNICEF, the World Food Program, and the International Red Cross. BVES offered relief services with in-kind contributions but was not in the position to tackle the root cause of the children’s situation: the widespread conscription of children as soldiers. The Fund’s support allowed BVES to increase dramatically their research and advocacy, train other organizations to advocate on behalf of children, and convince military commanders and rural villagers not to recruit children to join military forces.

In the photo to the right, children wear shirts saying: "A ball, not an army for me."

Today, BVES works with the UN and international human rights organizations to pressure the militia and the Congolese national army to stop using children in armed service. Through its shelters and vast local network, BVES gathers and reports timely information concerning the names, locations and activities of armed groups recruiting children. BVES staff members undertake this work at great personal peril.  BVES and its extensive network work in isolated rural areas where warlords are dominant and human rights violations pervasive.  By virtue of their activities—gathering incriminating data on armed groups—the staff and volunteers are at constant risk.

Despite the challenges, BVES has had astounding results.  Due in large part to their documentation and advocacy, child recruitment is now a crime under Congolese military and national law, and armed groups have released hundreds of children. BVES expects to assist thousands more children to reintegrate into society when the Congolese national army accelerates the process of incorporating now-independent militias. As part of the integration, soldiers under the age of eighteen will be sent to child soldier demobilization centers like those of BVES.

In the photo to the left, former child soldiers burn their old military uniforms.

BVES operates with minimal funding, yet maximizes its potential for impact thanks to tireless leaders who actively collaborate and coordinate with other groups to defend the rights of children.  The Fund continues to be one of BVES’ only funders and is the only one to provide general support, which allows the organization the flexibility to respond to emergency situations, and opportunities, and to lead the formation of the children’s rights movement in Congo.

>>DONATE NOW to the Children and Armed Conflict Initiative
You can help support these front-line, local groups working to keep children out of war.  By donating today, you can help the Fund respond to great need in areas devastated by conflict.

>> Read more:  The Stories of Nze Ar and Somba Mar
These two children were forcibly conscripted by armed factions fighting in the Congo, whose lives were changed due to the remarkable and persistent work of BVES.