Africa houses the largest population of child soldiers based on the prevalence of armed conflict in the continent. Some of the regions where child soldiers have become the norm rather than the exception include Chad, Somalia, Sudan, and the Central African Republic. Based on the statistics developed by the United Nations in the year 2013, eight government armies had made the commitment to stop the process of child recruitment for the use of warfare (Tiefenbrun 420). Although statistics are high in the African continent, other regions of the world such as Bahrain, Afghanistan and the greater Asia and oceanic areas abduct and force children into submission through acts of cruelty. These are violence and forced killings, while at other instances, some children join willingly in a bid to fight poverty, causes of revenge, and sometimes in defense of their neighborhoods and villages (Macmulin 460) . Child recruitment is an unacceptable practice and must relevant parties and actors must work together to stop it at any cost.
It easy to recruit child soldiers because of their vulnerability, which makes it easy to manipulate and brainwash. Children located at war torn regions of the world are easily intimidated by their older counterparts, and because they do not have much control over their situations, older soldiers take advantage of their humility (Tiefenbrun 419). In other instances, parents or older siblings who were in high probability recruited themselves as child soldiers sacrifice younger children as a means of making extra money for survival or as a way of ensuring their own security (Tiefenbrun 431). This cycle continues over time, and sadly, in region often ravaged by war, the practice has become accepted and tolerated.
Child s...
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...reements have collaborated to ensure that recruitment of children soldiers is entirely eliminated. These agreements focus on integrating child soldiers into the community through demobilizing and disarming them in order to provide them with a socially acceptable lifestyle.
Works Cited
Jézéquel, Jean-Hervé. Child Soldiers in Africa: A Singular Phenomenon? On the necessity of a historical perspective. (2006).
Macmulin, Colin. Investigating Psychosocial Adjustment of Former Child Soldiers in
Sierra Leone and Uganda. Oxford Journals, journal of refugees’ studies. (2004)17 (4): 460-472.
Tiefenbrun, Susan. Child Soldiers, Slavery and the Trafficking of Children. (2007). 31 (2):
417-439
Young, Aaron. Preventing, Demobilizing,] Rehabilitating, and Reintegrating Child
Soldiers in African Conflicts. The journal of international policy solutions. (2007) (4): 1-24
Felton, John. "Child Soldiers." CQ Global Researcher 2.7 (2008): 187-211. CQ Researcher Online. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.
In the world, there are about 300,000 children recruited as child soldiers (Hill 1). One-third of this number of children fight and serve for the government military or rebel groups in Africa (Hill 1). “According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, child soldiers are defined as all children engaged in hostilities under age 18. Although they are under 18, the roles of children in armed conflict are not limited because of their young age. Some children fight on the front lines of combat. Others perform manual labor, such as digging trenches, working in the kitchen, or carrying food, ammunition, or other supplies, often for long distances. Still others, primarily female children and adolescents, are reduced to sexual servants for military and rebel leaders” (Hill 1).
Child soldier is a worldwide issue, but it became most critical in the Africa. Child soldiers are any children under the age of 18 who are recruited by some rebel groups and used as fighters, cooks, messengers, human shields and suicide bombers, some of them even under the aged 10 when they are forced to serve. Physically vulnerable and easily intimidated, children typically make obedient soldiers. Most of them are abducted or recruited by force, and often compelled to follow orders under threat of death. As society breaks down during conflict, leaving children no access to school, driving them from their homes, or separating them from family members, many children feel that rebel groups become their best chance for survival. Others seek escape from poverty or join military forces to avenge family members who have been killed by the war. Sometimes they even forced to commit atrocities against their own family (britjob p 4 ). The horrible and tragic fate of many unfortunate children is set on path of war murders and suffering, more nations should help to prevent these tragedies and to help stop the suffering of these poor, unfortunate an innocent children.
Throughout the world children younger than 18 are being enlisted into the armed forces to fight while suffering through multiple abuses from their commanders. Children living in areas and countries that are at war are seemingly always the ones being recruited into the armed forces. These children are said to be fighting in about 75 percent of the world’s conflicts with most being 14 years or younger (Singer 2). In 30 countries around the world, the number of boys and girls under the age of 18 fighting as soldiers in government and opposition armed forces is said to be around 300,000 (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 1). These statistics are clearly devastating and can be difficult to comprehend, since the number of child soldiers around the world should be zero. Furthermore, hundreds of thousands adolescent children are being or have been recruited into paramilitaries, militias and non-state groups in more than 85 countries (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 1). This information is also quite overwhelming. Child soldiers are used around the world, but in some areas, the numbers are more concentrated.
Many people around the world have their lives put in danger daily. Child soldiers are some of these people, but they are children to live. Their lives are a contestant battle for survival, and this lifestyle is not a necessary one for children. Armies recruit children because it is military genius. Children are impressionable, trusting, and vulnerable. These traits make it easy for the commanding officers to make the children into perfect killing machines (Kaplan). Children come to the armies too young to have their own morals, so the army can make them immoral (Kaplan). When they have no morals, the army can use them to do some of their dirty work, such as killing. When children are forced to kill in a war zone, their lives are put at risk. It is a two-sided war and there are people fighting back. This puts many people’s, including children’s, lives ...
Today, an estimated three hundred thousand children under age eighteen are participating in armed conflicts worldwide. Thousands more face recruitment or are members of armed forces and groups not presently at war.(McManimon) The life of a child soldier is filled with terror, violence, horrible living conditions, lack of proper sanitization and poor nutrition. Though being a soldier at first may seem like the child’s “escape” from the poverty they live in because of the promises that are made to them, most children are brought into situations that are often worse then what they were already living in. The children involved in these situations lose their basic human rights, are abused emotionally and physically, and are treated like slaves forced to do activities that even adult soldiers would never want to do. Such activities include killing their own family members, their neighbours, even having to kill their own friends. Government organizations and non-governmental organizations work hard to try and prevent the selling of children and the transportation of children into the world of being a child soldier. Governments and high power governmental groups create international laws to be implemented however there is still an on going battle to find ways to completely stop the abduction and use of child soldiers.
In many countries, especially in Africa, there are child soldiers. Some do volunteer, but most are forced into the military. These child soldiers kill lots of civilians, and commit oodles of war crimes. The population that carries out these abhorrent and petrifying acts should be given amnesty. This is because most of the soldiers had no choice. They were forced into it. Some say that these soldiers should not be given amnesty of any kind. This is because they did kill lots of people. However, they don’t realize that these children are brainwashed, and are given loads of drugs. These children need amnesty.
Today, there are an estimated 300,000 child soldiers fighting in at least twenty different countries. Child soldiers are children under eighteen who are used for military purposes. They are used in various countries across the world, most commonly in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Child soldiers are often used because they are easier to manipulate than adults. Children are also more obedient and do not demand a salary. They are abducted from their home or school and forced into becoming a soldier. Some children voluntarily join the army because they feel they have no other option. To prevent the children from escaping, commanders often threaten the children. They also promise them money at the end of the war. War deeply affects every part of a child’s development. They can become victims of trauma from being exposed to violence. They are also deprived of an education because they are recruited into the army before they finish school. Many former child soldiers suffer nightmares, intense sadness, and reappearing violent images. These children are often labelled as untrustworthy. Although many countries use child soldiers, military recruitment of children under fifteen is recognized as a war crime. There are also laws prohibiting the military use of children under eighteen. The use of child
Many child soldiers are taken away from their families, majority of them being taken away after school or just stolen from their own homes (O’neill, 2007. pg.1). Kids tend to not fight back because they don’t want to risk their
In the article “Should child soldiers be prosecuted for their crimes?” The Children and Justice During and in the Aftermath of Armed Conflict report says “Children are often desired as recruits because they can be easily intimidated and indoctrinated. They lack the mental maturity and judgment to express consent or to fully understand the implications of their actions… and are pushed by their adult commanders into perpetrating atrocities,” This shows that because kids have brains that aren’t developed all the way they become targets to recruiters because they don’t know what’s right and wrong and can be tricked into joining the
To begin, most of the child soldiers are not volunteering to be soldiers. According to Unicef, 80% of child soldiers are forcibly recruited. Some are taken from villages, schools, and even their own homes. As more and more child soldiers are recruited, more and more are committing crimes, causing them to later be arrested.
Child soldiers are individuals under the age of 18 who are forced to fight within armed forces. According to UNICEF 30,000 children worldwide are considered to be child soldiers.Kidnapped from schools and homes to be used as cooks, guards and spies. Girls are especially targeted and used as sex slaves or given as wives to commanders. In 1989 the Convention on the Rights of children layouts, articles about the correct treatment of any child. The document clearly layouts articles about the correct treatment of children and child soldiers defies all of them in particular article 36 protection from harm and 9 separation from parents. Currently, child soldiers occur all around the world, however, Somalia is a particularly threatening location. According to officials at the UN Children's fund 5,000 children are under control of the East African terrorist group Al-Shabab.
Child soldiers have been present in 21 conflicts throughout the world, with hundreds of thousands serving in both government and rebel armed forces. Although the UN is intensifying efforts in combating the problem of child soldiers, setting a goal of zero use of children in government forces by 2016, child soldiers are still prevalent today. Child soldiers were present in nearly all operating groups in the DRC, representing up to 35% of their troops, and it is clear that the presence of these child soldiers are directly correlated with economic status. Child soldiers are recruited both voluntarily and involuntarily, with 64% from DRC, Burundi, Rwanda, and Congo joining as a result of a personal decision. 21% in Burundi, Congo, DRC, and Liberia are abducted, with 15% being forced to serve. Both the incentive towards voluntary child soldiering and the efficiency of involuntary recruiting have economic roots, affecting the total presence of child...
Many governments send children to become soldiers. In my opinion I think that children should have a childhood and it’s wrong to take them away from their parents. I disagree because children could get hurt, also there is a lot of violence for children to see or to get hurt. Parents would get worried about them. Although some people might not agree with me, several reason support my opinion. My first reason is that children wanna be a soldiers because they think it’s cool and some are worried. Another reason is that children would get worried and also parents. Finally is that children do wanna see their parents.
Child soldiers in combat are signs of how a number of African countries have failed to implement universal human rights and also lack of commitment from the government to enforce laws. There is need to enforce laws guarding against child labor. Those countries should also collaborate to avert conflicts and instead come with better ways to share natural resources in their country.