Face to face with former child soldiers--and hope: Messenger of Peace Michael Douglas visits Sierra Leone.

• Author: Acosta, Yvonne
• Position: First Person - Related article: A day with Abu Bakr

When actor Michael Douglas agreed to go to Sierra Leone to film a documentary for the United Nations, he could not have envisioned the impact the visit to the war-torn West African country would have on him. By the end of his five-day stay in February 2003, he had seen first-hand the widespread devastation in the diamond-rich Kono District and the extent to which the decade-long civil war had shattered lives, but he also witnessed the attempts of dozens of former child soldiers to reclaim lost childhoods, the laborious efforts of young men in their daily search for diamonds in the alluvial fields, and the efforts of UN peacekeepers helping to rebuild communities.

As a United Nations Messenger of Peace, appointed by the Secretary-General in 1998, Michael Douglas has repeatedly demonstrated his commitment to the Organization. That commitment has translated often into activities in the field of disarmament in which he has invested a great deal of time and thought. But field visits on behalf of the United Nations have been rare for the Academy award-winning actor.

On one previous occasion, Mr. Douglas had travelled to Albania to observe the destruction of weapons collected from the Albanian population and the development of projects in exchange for weapons as part of a UN programme. That visit, in October 1999, highlighted the serious problem of widespread availability of illegal arms in the country.

Sierra Leone was a very different mission; the focus was on children and the prospects for changing their lives in the aftermath of war. Mr. Douglas spent three days shooting the documentary to raise awareness of the impact of war on children. While filming in the Kono District and outside Port Loko, he joined the search for the mother of 12-year-old Abu Bakr, a former child soldier who, like so many thousands of others, was abducted and pressed into the rebel army (see box). His story is told in the documentary "What's Going On? Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone", produced in conjunction with the UN Works programme of the Department of Public Information Outreach Division.

Michael Douglas was filmed interacting with Abu at the care centre for former child soldiers and taking a journey by helicopter and on foot to help him find his family. Besides his encounter with Abu, he spent time with a group of ten former child combatants, ranging in age from 8 to 16, who shared with him their experiences and their hopes for the future. They revealed the dreams...