USM's Lawrence D. Starr Center for Peace & Justice Co-Sponsors Presentation: 'Tragedy of the Child Soldier'

(Leavenworth, Kan.)—The University of Saint Mary Lawrence D. Starr Center for Peace & Justice co-presents "Tragedy of the Child Solidier," with special guest Canadian Lt. Gen. Roméo A. Dallaire, the force commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 8 at Kansas City Public Library - Central Branch, 14 West 10th Street, Kansas City, Mo.

The event is free and open to the public. Reservations for the event requested—visit stmary.edu/ChildSoldier.

In 1994, Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire, serving as force commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda, confronted a weapon of war he wasn't trained to face: the coerced recruitment and use of children as soldiers.

"Tragedy of the Child Soldier" will discuss Dallaire's experience in the landlocked East African country, along with the founding of the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldier Initiative. The Dallaire Initiative is a global partnership working tirelessly to eradicate the use and recruitment of child soldiers through a security sector approach. The organization's vision statement dreams of "a world where children are no longer recruited or used as weapons of war."

Dallaire, a decorated Canadian Army officer, served 37 years in the military, and he gained fame for his extraordinary—but ultimately unsuccessful—efforts to try to stop genocide in Rwanda.

For more about the evening, visit stmary.edu/ChildSoldier.

  

The University of Saint Mary is a Catholic co-educational applied liberal arts university founded and sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth. The University of Saint Mary main campus is located at 4100 South 4th Street, Leavenworth, Kan. USM's Overland Park Campus at 4500 College Boulevard offers evening accelerated graduate and undergraduate degree-completion programs. The university also offers online programs. Visit stmary.edu for more information.