The Executive Director of the Dallaire Institute, Dr Shelly Whitman has delivered a lecture on the “Doctrine Integration and Child Protection” at the Ghana Armed Forces Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), Teshie on Monday, 8 September 2025.

The lecture which forms part of the ongoing engagements between the Dallaire Institute and the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) focuses on incorporating the Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Abuse of Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers.

Dr Whitman stated that conflicts involving child soldiers escalates and are marked by grave human rights. She stressed on the need for GAF to confront the issue on protecting children in armed conflict and particularly focus on preventing and responding to the recruitment and use of child soldiers.

She recommended that GAF adopts the Institute for Defence and Security Sector Actors Handbook on the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Children by Armed Forces and Armed Groups in GAF’s doctrine and training manuals.

Commandant TRADOC, Commodore Maxwell Arhin commended the Dallaire Institute for the initiative and reiterated GAF’s commitment to working closely with the Institute to integrate the Vancouver Principles into the development of doctrine and training.

The Vancouver Principles, launched in November 2017, Canada, is a set of commitment focused on child protection in peacekeeping and preventing the recruitment and use of child soldiers by armed forces and armed groups.