Ridwan M. Sijabat, Jakarta – There was nowhere to go; all thought was on escaping their burning homes. In an instant, residents in Aceh became refugees in their own homeland.

They lived in refugee camps while waiting for clashes between separatist rebels and government armed forces to end. However, the conflict never looked like stopping and raged for nearly 30 years.

The peace agreement signed on Aug. 15 between Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) revived hopes for the refugees; many are hoping to return to their homes to start life anew through an albeit slow and tedious rebuilding process.

In the midst of the peace euphoria, child soldiers remain a crucial issue in the war-torn province.

It does seem that the military and the police in the province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and GAM's military wing are still using child soldiers. In addition to the absence of a strict ban on the recruitment of children in armed conflicts, the peace agreement has yet to be fully implemented.

Both sides have agreed to end armed conflict, but GAM has yet to disarm all its rebels – disarmament formally began on Sept. 15 and will be completed before Dec. 31, 2005. Efforts to end the conflict in Aceh picked up pace after the Dec. 26 tsunami swept the province, killing some 130,000 people and leaving a half million others homeless.

If the peace agreement collapses, as was the case in two previous pacts, the children, along with adult soldiers, will certainly take up arms again to resume their fight for Aceh's independence.

Not resolved For the time being, child soldiers have already laid down their arms and joined non-combatant groups to take on the role of messengers, spies and cooks for adult soldiers, who are still in remote jungle areas of the province.

Reliable sources familiar with the involvement of child soldiers in armed conflict said that the situation in Aceh still remains uncertain since the conflicting sides have yet to build mutual trust in implementing the peace agreement.

This condition has been worsened by the absence of thousands of children after their schools were burnt during the first few weeks after martial law was declared in May 2003, the ensuing armed conflict and the destruction by the tsunami.

The local military and police, which have been supported by armed civilian militias, have also recruited children to play non-combatant roles as couriers so that they can keep a close eye on GAM's movements.

Acehnese children have remained at risk of being abused and affected by armed conflicts since there is an absence of serious measures to prevent crimes against humanity.

Indonesia has already ratified the 1949 Geneva Conventions and ILO Convention No 182 and signed the 1989 Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the 2000 Optional Protocol of CRC, all of which guarantee children's rights not to be involved in wars.

But the country has not showed a strong commitment yet in preventing children from joining armed groups.

The House of Representatives has worked on a number of legislative items, including Law No 39 on human rights and Law No. 23/2002 on child protection, but neither criminalizes any individuals or parties that recruit children into armed groups or deploy them in wars or violent activities.

Instead of adopting the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Court of Justice, which classifies the deployment of child soldiers in wars as crimes against humanity, Indonesia has already had Law No 26/2000 on human rights abuse courts, but it carries light sanctions against those who use child soldiers.

The law fails to criminalize the recruitment of child soldiers and classifies it into the category of gross human rights abuse.

Even more disturbing is that the Indonesian government has jailed child soldiers, instead of returning them to their communities. They have been treated like adult rebels and charged with treason against the state.

Of more than 1,400 GAM prisoners receiving amnesty from the government, "dozens" were children under 18 years of age.

Reintegration, rehabilitation Child soldiers and those granted amnesty are also facing a bleak future since the peace treaty failed to address problems related to the planned reintegration of children (and women) into their communities.

The government's commitment to honestly resolve the Aceh issue comprehensively will also be tested since the peace treaty fails to address all problems related to social reintegration and rehabilitation of former rebels, including former child soldiers.

According to the peace treaty, the government will make efforts to help reintegrate ex-rebels into their communities and allocate some farm land and money for them, but it remains unclear how the social reintegration and rehabilitation will be conducted on the ground. And it presumably will not grant farmland or money to children.

The government should bear in mind that many children have joined these armed groups mostly to take revenge against either the government or the rebels for their relatives killed in the bloody, prolonged conflict.

If the child soldiers are not rehabilitated and reintegrated in a proper manner, they will remain bitter and traumatized by the war; this could prompt them to take up arms again.

Reintegration and rehabilitation are an integral part of the disarmament and demobilization of rebels and child soldiers, and both must be handled with extra caution in an endeavor to build a permanent peace in the province.

Therefore, the government should show its goodwill by taking necessary measures and concrete steps to deal with the adult rebels, women and children who have been involved in the conflict.

To make social reintegration and rehabilitation a success, the government should not just dictate all that needs to be done, but should give more of a role to civil society groups, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), religious institutions and other third parties.

The government should enhance cooperation with NGOs, Islamic boarding schools and religious organizations to provide a comprehensive education package, including psychological counseling and peace education for ex-child soldiers, to ensure a smooth transition back to their peaceful communities.