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UN Convention on the Rights of the Children
The issue of child soldiers
The issue of child soldiers
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Recommended: UN Convention on the Rights of the Children
Child soldiers have become an international issue, and have sparked extensive debate, as their rights to freedom, education and wellbeing are being violated.
Child soldiers are anyone under the age of 18 who are used by an armed force in any capacity, whether or not they play a direct role in hostilities.
In 1924 the Geneva Declaration on the Rights of the Child was enforced. This declaration aimed to put children in the position to be protected against exploitation, and proved to be effective as nations adopting the principles held perpetrators accountable, as it was enforceable. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OPAC) was ratified and implemented in 2002. This legislation sets 18 as the minimum age for direct participation in hostilities.
Currently there are as many as 300,000 child soldiers fighting in over 30 conflicts around the world including over
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Millions of civilians have died to date, roughly halve of whom are children under 5 years old, and it is now estimated that 1 in 10 child soldiers are found in Zaire. In 2012 the International Criminal Court (ICC) found Thomas Lubanga (a Congolese warlord) guilty of using children under 15 as soldiers. The courts conviction was the first of its kind, and was an important and effective step to justice as the conviction held the guilty accountable. These international responses directly influence the global communities view on this issue, and many ex-child soldiers who have escaped are now human rights activists, such as Ishmael Beah who has played a vital part in pressuring governments to stop the use of children as soldiers. Continued pressure on government makes this lobbying effective as it pressures governments to
As seen from “Armed & Underage” by Jeffrey Gettleman, “...200,000 children worldwide are still being used as combatants, usually against their will. And it isn't just boys: Girls are often pressed into duty as cooks or messengers. Many are subjected to sexual abuse, including rape.” As revealed, the children involved in this injustice, are ordinarily being forced to be mistreated. This supports the claim that when groups come together they can help those involved, as with the help of public backlash on this issue, they can help the children involved get out of these situations. Accordingly from “The Charge: Genocide” By Lydia Polgreen, “...Sudan's President, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, could face arrest on charges of genocide—the systematic destruction of a racial or cultural group—as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur: In July, the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (I.C.C.), based in The Hague, the Netherlands, formally requested an arrest warrant for Bashir.” As conveyed, a prosecutor from the I.C.C has requested an arrest warrant for Bashir, consequently he committed against humanity. This aids in supporting the claim that when groups come together they can help those involved seeing that the I.C.C has come together to go against the injustices committed by Bashir, which would help stop the injustices to help the many people involved in these atrocities. Likewise from Polgreen´s text, “The I.C.C. prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina, charges that Bashir has "masterminded and implemented" a plan to destroy the people of Darfur. "´Al-Bashir organized the destitution, insecurity, and harassment of the survivors," he contends. "He did not need bullets. He used other weapons: rapes, hunger, and fear.´" As exhibited, Luis Moreno-Ocampo from the I.C.C has stood up in order to stop the injustices that Bashir has committed against the people of Darfur.
...be seen as an entity that promotes vile results. However, it is imperative to understand that globalization is multilayered and difficult to fully understand. In the case of child soldiers, globalization has played a pertinent role in unifying international organizations in hopes of finding a solution to this “phenomenon”. On the other hand, although certain international organizations such as United Nations have had a prominent role in advocating against child soldiery, for the following reasons, its attempts are insufficient: it lacks the ability to enforce sanctions established within the international community and it does not do enough to recognize the political, social and economic inequalities that are prevalent in most of these fragile states. Therefore, child soldiery, cannot be eradicated until these issues are dealt with on a collective global scale.
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.
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
A child soldier is a child who has been abducted and forced to fight in a conflict in which they would not typically be involved in. Child soldiers have their relatively normal childhood taken away if they are abducted. Instead of playing with the other children, they are forced to murder them. Many are forced to watch the people they once knew be tortured and they may even take part in the act. Child soldiers are internationally banned, yet many countries still utilize them to this day. Uganda is one country in which they are used. The use of children in armed combat in Uganda sheds light on the fact that the concept of power is indeed a double-edged sword.
“Children, you call them? They can pull a trigger just as well as veterans …” (Colonel Marcus Cullen, War Hammer 40,000). People should question the world in which they live when a child is forced to become a soldier. Especially when the children are under the age of 18, they should not be required to fight. Many children who are demanded to fight are taken from their families. These young adolescents are mistreated; malnurtured, abused and the girls are usually used for sexual purposes.
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.
Though the use of child soldiers is a global concern, the highest numbers have been reported mainly in Africa and Asi...
Conscription, also known as drafting, is a practice that requires mandatory enlisting into any of the branches of the armed forces. This practice has been adopted by the United States at the very least two times before and from what I can remember during World War II and the Civil War conscription was being practiced. Nowadays conscription is not practiced in the United States because there isn’t a need for it. Now, if you want to join the army you can do so by volunteering. However, there are people who believe conscription should be brought back. Some people believe that the drafting of younger people might help these young people develop useful skills and cultivate a sense of unity and national pride. Although all of these are valid reasons,
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.
One of the major problems in the Middle East is child related. To be specific, child soldiers. It is estimated that there are over 38,000 kids who are forced into being child soldiers (Storr). Because child soldiers can’t prevent their horrific fate, they deserve to be granted amnesty by the United Nations. One main reason why they should be given amnesty is because they are forced and drugged into becoming killers.
The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of a Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict entered into force in 2002. It states that it is against the law for children under the age of 18 to be involved in hostilities. In a previous convention and the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 1977 Additional Protocol, the minimum age to be involved in hostilities was 15 years old. Not only that, the Option...
The “Land of the free” is not so free after all. Human trafficking is the third largest international crime industry after illegal drugs and arms trafficking . Human trafficking is like modern day slavery; it is defined as the loss of freedom to another 's control by force, fraud or coercion. The United States turns out to be the #1 destination for child sex trafficking. I chose this topic because it interested me the most out of all other topics. When finding a topic to do research on, none of the topics left me asking myself so many questions. The fact that i barely knew anything about human trafficking, made me realize that there might be many people out there that are like me. People who probably think that human trafficking rarely happens,
Child abuse refers to lack of care or any type of emotional, physical or sexual mistreatment that results in emotional damage or physical injury to a child or a youth. In most countries, children are considered to be anyone below 18 years of age. Child abuse can occur directly by harming a child or indirectly by failing to prevent the child from any form of harm or injury. Child abuse can occur either in the family set up, in the community set up or in an institution such as a school. Also, children can be abused by adults or by other children or by people who know them or people who are complete strangers to them.