Live Like a Soldier, Die Like a Child

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Recommended: War effects on child development

“Shooting became just like drinking a glass of water” said Ishmael Beah, an ex-child-soldier, “children who refused to fight, kill or showed any weakness were ruthlessly dealt with.” As children’s involvement in armed conflict keeps on increasing, “Child Soldiers” becomes a more and more popular phrase on newspapers and news. Many, however, do not have an insight view on what are actually behind simply “300,000 under-age, cold-blooded killers” (The Economist, Dec. 10th, 1998). A simple question “What do child soldiers fight for?” covers a vast range of elements including wealth, fame, or to simply survive. The issue of child soldier has taken place throughout human history and becomes more and more severe. The constitution of child soldiers, the efficiency of child soldiers as well as their purpose of fighting serve as great examples that can fully demonstrate how children become child soldiers and their crucial roles in world-wide conflicts.
While the Los Angeles Times describes “[t]he use of children as soldiers in armed conflict is among the most morally repugnant practices in the world,” former UN Secretary Kofi Annan expressed his anger and sorrow on his speech about child soldiers saying that: "I consider their existence our greatest failure.” Risking a whole generation’s lives and future by putting them in battlefield, various rebellion armies make central Africa, south Asia, Middle East as well as South America perceived as the most child soldier-concentrated region around the world. According to the statistic of the Unite Nations, approximately 800,000 child soldiers are currently serving in armies, militia or rebellion arm forces, while 300,000 of them are currently combatants in war. To a deeper layer of the issue, wher...

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... Home Entert a Enterainment, 2012. Blu-Ray.
"Stopping the Use of Child Soldiers." The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 Apr. 2002. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. . http://www.unicef.org/media/media_72785.html Kaplan, Eben. "Child Soldiers Around the World." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, 2 Dec. 2005. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. .
Magnier, Mark. "Myanmar army releases child soldiers." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 7 Aug. 2013. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. .
"Under-age killers." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 12 Dec. 1998. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.

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