Jimmie Briggs

Goodwill Ambassador and UN Special Envoy for Children & Armed Conflict

Jimmie Briggs is the first African American to be appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador and Special Envoy for Children and Armed Conflict by WAFUNIF at the UN. He is also the author of "Innocents Lost" a book about the lives of child soldeirs and children in war zones. 

He has worked for the UN Special Session on Children and Seeds of Peace in both New York City and Kabul, Afghanistan, among other organizations. He has received several fellowships for his writing and advocacy. Briggs's work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, People, Vibe, Bust, and Fortune, and he has served as an adjunct professor of investigative journalism at the New School for Social Research.

In "INNOCENTS LOST: When Child Soldiers Go to War," journalist Jimmie Briggs explores the lives of child soldiers and war-affected children, focusing on young people in Uganda, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Colombia, and Afghanistan. He profiles a youth, family member, or advocate in each country to portray that country's specific child-soldier phenomenon. Once recruited, child soldiers may serve as porters or cooks, guards, messengers or spies. Girls may be raped, or in some cases, given to military commanders as wives. Many are pressed into combat, where they may be forced to the front lines, sent into minefields ahead of older troops, or even used on suicide missions. These innocents are forced to commit atrocities against their own family or neighbors, desperate acts that ensure that the child is stigmatized by his or her crime and unable to return to the community. Briggs brings us their tragic stories in this profound and revealing book.

 Listen to an interview with Jimmie Briggs on NPR

Amnesty International on Jimmie Briggs

Human Rights Watch on Jimmie Briggs