Alli Craig
Mr. Ruddy
AP Language
March 14, 2015
Growing Up In the Wrong Arms Africa as a continent for many years has been associated with the immoral use of child soldiers, in closer detail, South Sudan, Uganda and Ethiopia. Many people around the world are uncertain or totally obvious to child soldiers or in reality child slavery. Any person under 18 years of age who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed forces or armed groups in any capacity is considered a child soldiers. The harsh treatment of these kids is recognized by many support groups one being the UNICEF, groups can work everyday to get to the bottom of this harsh labor but until the armed trades stops there will always a way to place a gun In a child’s hand
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Are there really soldiers without weapons? Controlling the trade would keep these arms out of the hands of children it would also play a role in stopping civil wars all over the grounds of Africa. Keeping weapons and firing arms out of the hands of the citizens would save lives and help regain peace and normal child life. Thousands of people have looked into the issue of child soldiers, SOS Children’s Village, non profit group working to find homes for the war stricken children states, “War affects every aspect of a child's development. Children affected by armed conflict can be injured or killed, uprooted from their homes and communities, internally displaced or refugees, orphaned or separated from their parents and families, subjected to sexual abuse and exploitation, victims of trauma as a result of being exposed to violence, deprived of education and recreation, at risk of becoming child soldiers.”(SOS) Before violating a child beyond “the right to life, the right to be with family and nurtured and respected”, (Grace Machel, UN, 1996) First think how can we take the guns and other weapons away to keep them out of the civil wars. The use of child soldiers has become more common in the last thirty years. Social norms have changed, traditions have altered, and instability has increased in many areas. Also, the proliferation of inexpensive, lightweight weapons has made it easier to use children as sol- diers. These small arms are lethal and easy to hide, transport, and use with little training. “In 2001, it was estimated that more than 300,000 children are actively participating today in more than thirty armed conflicts in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the former Soviet Union”(Child Soldiers). Without the complete stop of arms trade and maintain there will always be easy access to the trigger of the gun by the
“Child Soldiers Global Report 2001- Sierra Leone.” refworld. Child Soldiers International, 2001. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.
...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.
Frank Streir in his article “Do We Love Our Guns More Than Our Kids?” highlights how society’s children are being exposed to the used of guns and is involved in what is known as child gun violence. The article is presented from the standpoint of the United States of America society trends and happenings. Much statistics were evident in his research and findings on the issue. This issue is not present only in the U.S but is widespread in many nations across the globe and proves put our children at risk.
Gun violence in youth has become much more prevalent. Today’s youth are more likely to turn to guns to solve their problems with bullies or to help them to fight a mental illness. Kids are taking guns from their parents or are just going to the streets and buying the guns from random people. Although there are jurisdictions that have started to use gun violence programs to help combat these issues the programs are not found everywhere and are not going to work forever. One such program that we will learn about later on is Operation Ceasefire.
More than 20,000 children and youth under the age of 20 years old are injured or killed by guns in the U.S. The easy accesses kids have to getting their hands on guns are a major reason why firearms are the second leading cause of death among the youth. The majority of deaths by guns in the youth are homicides. About one-third of them are suicides. Seven percent are unintentional. People living in urban areas such as, older teens, males, African American youth, and Hispanic youth are more likely to be involved in gun homicides. People in rural areas like males and Caucasian youth are more likely to commit suicide. There were 2,711 infant, child, and teen firearm deaths. That’s seven deaths a day.
In the USA, more than 135,000 guns are brought to school by pupils, some children as young as nine years old. But this is not a good idea because some children use it seriously and just shoot their friends because they are annoyed at them.
“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.
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
Some of the deaths that were caused by gun violence was dealt to small children.Having a firearm in your home can cause a great risk if you have a child in your home because a firearm can be accessed by a child.In many situation the child is playing with firearm without adult supervision and end up either wounding themselves or end up dead. According to CNN “Guns kill Nearly 1,300 US children each year.”Also when a firearm is easily accessible a child will often grab a hold of it and it could be a possibility that they can take it to school there were some cases where a kid took a firearm to school and opened
Through the year’s shootings have increased by a significant amount. Individuals are becoming affected on a regular basis and are concerned about there safety. Parents are worried for there youth getting assaulted, sexually violence, tormented, kidnaped, murdered on the other hand, now there ending up to be more stressed for there child getting shot. Guns have been around for hundredths of years, both world wars were succeeded with guns, hence, guns were served to defend its nation through history. In Western society citizens purchase guns for self preservation.
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...
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.
Many of these deaths occur when children played with guns. In America, children between the ages of 5 and 14 are 17 times more likely to , younger than 15, are nine times more likely to die by a gun accident. Parents’ ownership of a weapon is a danger not only to their own children but also to their children’s friends. Children have an interest in guns due to the fact they think guns are cool from seeing them in video games and movies. Many gun owners are unaware that children have handled their guns.
The awareness of the international community needs to be fostered to press that child soldiers are wrong and would eliminate a generation in the process. Up until now, the international public pressure has experience several successes, some countries and armed rebel groups have agreed and committed themselves to return the children and not to recruit them as soldiers or part of hostilities anymore. Even so, monitoring of the commitments need to be done seriously. Education and rehabilitation program can also start to enter the conflicting regions. All in all, the children’s rights movement against child soldiers needs the support from the international public to press the armed groups to stop recruiting