War. Sometimes considered a necessary evil but should it really cost the lives of thousand of innocent children? Currently there is estimated to be 300,000 children fighting in wars in Africa, Sudan, Afghanistan, and in countless other countries. Usually ranging from 14 to 18 children get recruited or kidnapped but some are pulled in as young as 11. A child soldier is defined as “any child—boy or girl—under eighteen years of age, who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity”(Kaplan). Although child soldiers have been used to aid in combat, in cases such as Hitler’s youth group or squires training to be knights in the 15th century, there is a greater concern for them being used now, considering that they are thrown to front lines instead of being prepared at a young ages to fight when they are more mature. War in the modern day is far more advanced and the military leaders are giving children deadlier weapons and subjecting them to gruesome violence all to save money and have more men fighting under them . Child soldiers are used in war for many jobs and because their naive tendencies, easy manipulation, and that they are cheap and plentiful.
Child soldiers can be used for many jobs. They aren’t given much training but their main focus is being sent to the front lines. “They may fight on the front lines, participate in suicide missions, and act as spies, messengers, or lookouts”(child soldiers). Children also get to carry heavy loads of ammunition and injured soldiers or be cooks and guards in a time of peace. They are useful since they “can fight in the army for over 20 years before they are released”(11 reasons children become soldiers) and they create a lot of chaos...
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...and 69% males said yes. Finally when asked if they would kill someone to protect their family, 85% females said they would and 100% males said they would.
Works Cited
http://www.rferl.org/content/Child_Warriors_Around_The_World__Manipulation_Without_End/1349622.html http://www.hrw.org/topic/childrens-rights/child-soldiers http://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/effects-of-conflict/root-causes-of-child-soldiering/ http://www.warchild.org.uk/about https://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/why-countries-have-child-soldiers http://www.child-soldiers.org/faq.php http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/childrensrights/childrenofconflict/soldier.shtml http://www.cfr.org/human-rights/child-soldiers-around-world/p9331#p2 http://www.unicef.org/sowc96/2csoldrs.htm
http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/C157333FCA91F573C1256C130033E448-chilsold.htm
There is no exact known number of children currently being utilised in warfare worldwide. The issue of the military use of children is so widespread that no figure can be calculated, although it is estimated that there are currently over 250,000 child soldiers across the world. Many are drugged and brainwashed into murder, many are forced to sever all ties with their family or watch them die. Most are faced with a simple choice: kill or be killed. Although the notion of child soldiers is vastly alien to contemporary Australian society, it is a reality in many parts of the world. ISIS have been known to employ the use of children in warfare and over 30,000 children have been abducted into the Lord’s Resistance Army for military purposes. It
“We had been foolish virgins in the war right at the end of childhood” Slaughterhouse Five-Kurt Vonnegut “The children’s crusade started in 1213 when two monks got the idea of raising armies of children in France and Germany, and selling them in North Africa as slaves. Thirty thousand children volunteered thinking they were going to Palestine. (p.16) The Children’s Crusade and the World Wars are similar because of the drafting of the innocent to do the duties of a nation.
“This is how wars are fought now: by children, traumatized, hopped-up on drugs, and wielding AK-47s” (Beah). Innocent, vulnerable, and intimidated. These words describe the more than 300,000 children in nations throughout the world coerced into combat. As young as age seven, boys and girls deemed child soldiers participate in armed conflict, risking their lives and killing more innocent others. While many individuals recollect their childhood playing games and running freely, these children will remember “playing” with guns and running for their lives. Many children today spend time playing video games like Modern Warfare, but for some children, it is not a game, it is reality. Although slavery was abolished nearly 150 years ago, the act of forcing a child into a military position is considered slavery and is a continuously growing trend even today despite legal documents prohibiting the use of children under the age of 18 in armed conflict. Being a child soldier does not merely consist of first hand fighting but also work as spies, messengers, and sex slaves which explains why nearly 30 percent of all child soldiers are girls. While the use and exploitation of these young boys and girls often goes unnoticed by most of the world, for those who have and are currently experiencing life as a child soldier, such slavery has had and will continue to have damaging effects on them both psychologically and physically.
There are thousands of soldiers that are under the age of 18 around the world. Many kidnapped and are forced into war. They are forced to do brutal things like kill their friends and family. They are also brainwashed by being drugged so they can kill in the war.
Children have been used as soldiers in many events, however two that stand out are the use of child soldiers in the Sierra Leone civil war and the drug cartels in Mexico. Most people agree that forcing children to be soldiers is wrong and not humane. The people that make them soldiers transform them into belligerent beings by force. Child soldiers of drug cartels and the armies of Sierra Leone were threatened with their lives if they didn’t become soldiers. The lives of these child soldiers are lives that nobody should live. Situations in both countries are horrible because of the high number of youngsters that are forced to take part in drug use and are transformed into extremely belligerent and inhumane people; in addition they are deprived
As an example, in the article Child Soldiers it states “ More often than not, children have no say in whether they enlist or not and once recruited the children have become brainwashed through the use of drugs and alcohol” (Child Soldiers) As you can see, this shows how children have no control if they kill or not from either being threatened with death or being drugged. In addition, in the article The Child Soldier on Trial at Guantanamo it talks about how a child soldier got interrogated by guards where they told him he would be gang-raped and murdered if he didn’t obey (Prasow). This is another example of how these kids have to choose between life and death at such a young age. This is just one main reason why these kids deserve
First of all the child soldiers/suicide bombers are located in many different continents all around the world. The majority is based in the Middle East and Africa: Burma, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Congo, Liberia, and also Sierra Leone (British Broadcasting Corporation World Watch). Being poor, disconnected from their families, or get a poor to no education make them more likely to become victims (Human Rights Watch). Girls make up an estimated 10-30% of the child soldiers in Uganda and Nepal (Do Something). Some join because they are too young to realize the consequences that war may bring upon them, and want to be a part of the army because of the weapons they use and uniforms they wear. Being bathed, fed, and properly clothed is another reason for them wanting to be a part of these groups, in which they would not receive during their every-day lives (British Broadcasting Corporation World Watch). The children that survive the war are captured by the rebel groups and are then converted into child soldiers, along with the kids who had just...
War Child started in 1999 is based of United Kingdom. War Child’s mission is to reinforce and enhance the protection and livelihoods of children living in an insecure and poor environment.”
Most would agree that murdering somebody before even being old enough to purchase a firearm is ridiculous, but the protagonists in both A Long Way Gone and All Quiet on the Western Front had to just that without even blinking an eye. Unfortunately, child soldiers have existed for many generations, and there is not much being done to stop it from happening. War has existed for centuries, but the use of children has proven to cause serious mental and physical illnesses that they will not recover from for the rest of their often shortened lives. Paul Baumer from All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, and Ishmael Beah from his memoir A Long Way Gone are forced to grow up and act much older and much more mature than they actually are as a
...iers do participate in combat, in one globe survey 91 percent of child soldiers had served in combat. Another survey carried out in colombia among FARC, ELN child soldiers found that 75 percent had been in combat at least once, with multiple interviewees taking part in more than ten battles. A third survey in Africa found that 87 percent had served on front lines.(Eichstaedt 304). So the harsh discipline and the threat of death continue to underscore the training programs of almost all child soldier groups.
Many child soldiers willingly join the armed forces. In their eyes, it is to follow in their families footsteps. In “ Child Soldier.Some words don't belong together.” It states that, “Children join for ideological reasons or to avenge the death of a family member,” Also, “Contrary to popular belief, a large portion of child soldiers volunteer,” And finally, “ did not turn them away when they came eager to fight,” However, children join willingly to avenge the death of a family member. Children would do anything to get revenge or save their family. Thus, makes them dangerous because they won't stop until they succeed in what they set out to do.
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 ...
These are the words of a 15-year-old girl in Uganda. Like her, there are an estimated 300,000 children under the age of eighteen who are serving as child soldiers in about thirty-six conflict zones (Shaikh). Life on the front lines often brings children face to face with the horrors of war. Too many children have personally experienced or witnessed physical violence, including executions, death squad killings, disappearances, torture, arrest, sexual abuse, bombings, forced displacement, destruction of home, and massacres. Over the past ten years, more than two million children have been killed, five million disabled, twelve million left homeless, one million orphaned or separated from their parents, and ten million psychologically traumatized (Unicef, “Children in War”). They have been robbed of their childhood and forced to become part of unwanted conflicts. In African countries, such as Chad, this problem is increasingly becoming a global issue that needs to be solved immediately. However, there are other countries, such as Sierra Leone, where the problem has been effectively resolved. Although the use of child soldiers will never completely diminish, it has been proven in Sierra Leone that Unicef's disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration program will lessen the amount of child soldiers in Chad and prevent their use in the future.
What do you think of kids that are killing others when we are not at war? This quote from Debatewise will show you that crimes committed in wartime are no different than not in war time.“If a child can be convicted for murder under national law they should also be held responsible for international crimes. There should be no exception simply because the crimes happened during war time.” If your mom said that you need to go kill your brother because you will not have food