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

The decorated Canadian Army officer discusses the experience and his subsequent founding of the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldier Initiative. It seeks to end the use of child soldiers, ensuring that those who serve – from a nation’s military to police and peacekeepers – have the tools to prevent the conscription of children into the military.

Dallaire served 37 years in the military, and gained fame for his extraordinary – but ultimately unsuccessful – efforts to try to stop genocide in Rwanda.

Co-presented by the United Nations Association of Greater Kansas City and the Lawrence D. Starr Center for Peace and Justice at the University of St. Mary.