Child Soldiers
Since 1998 over 100000 child soldiers have been released from armed groups and that is just a few of the many more children that have been abducted by rebels and other military groups. These children are forced to fight for these groups and in return the children get drugs and get addicted so they will come back to their groups to get more. The use of Child soldiers is horrific but the history of the problem does not go back too far but the extent of the problem today has been terrifying. The repercussions of the problem are long lasting and some don't go away even though some future solutions might help but it will not fix the experiences some of the children have gone through.
Africa is the most common place for the use of child soldier. Children between the ages 10 to 18 have been abducted by armed groups and forced to fight for them. Over 250000 Child soldiers that were separated from their families have been recorded apart from the ones who have still yet to be found. The Children are used for combat, messengers, support tasks and even for landmine detection which is very cruel. The female kids they capture are used as sex slaves for money. In July 2012 Mr. Lubanga Dyilo was sentenced to 14 years for forcing kids to fight in his army.
This problem with child soldiers has become so serious because everyday a new town or village is being attacked and new kids are becoming monsters with weapons forced to attack villages also. Kids are raped and beaten for their belongings. Villages are left destroyed and blood everywhere with bodies left on the ground while animals pick from them and survivors come back to their burned down village to see the brutal action that has taken place their. They leave the villag...
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...e song “Enfants Soldats D’ici & D’Ailleurs” helps raise money that will be used to help fight the problem with child soldier. All money made goes to help put an end to child soldiers. Child soldiers International also promotes protocol to the convention on the rights of the child on how military cannot use anyone under 18. So far 144 member states have ratified and 49 members have yet to do so.
Such a big problem like this wont stick around forever as it draws lots of attention to itself. Child soldiers history will never be forgotten and the every problem has a solution but we just need to find the right solution that will solve the whole problem like the International Criminal Court and organizations like Child Soldiers International to help with the repercussions of the problem. The United Nations set 2016 as a deadline for the end of child soldier use.
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
Since the end of the Cold War, the recruitment of child soldiers has been recognized as an increasingly global phenomenon. Although the majority of the relatively recent child soldier recruitment cases have developed from armed conflicts in Africa, by the beginning of the new millennium the trend increased globally, appearing on nearly every continent, including Asia, Europe and the Americas. The prevalence of this practice has turned it into a much talked about international issue. The aim of this paper is to look at how this issue is influenced and even aggravated by globalization. More specifically, it will be argued that globalization, expressed through the existence of international organizations, such as the United Nations, have been ineffective in putting a stop to child soldiery and that globalization, defined by the interconnectedness of world economies has lead to underdevelopment and therefore exasperated conflict and as a result child soldiery.
In order to understand the effects that come with being a child soldier, one must first understand how a child ends up in such a position. To three teenage boys living in a small Indian village, the hope of a better life for themselves and their families as well as the affirmation of employment seemed promising. So pr...
Zack-Williams, A.B. (2001). Child Soldiers in the Civil War in Sierra Leone. Review of African Political Economy, 28 (87), 73–82.
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
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. Children at such a young age don't have the mental ability to think long term of their actions, especially when they are being forced or drugged to. Some may argue that if child criminals get punished for their actions then child soldiers should too, but that is just not the case. The difference being child criminals choose to
"Child Soldiers." BBC World Service. BBC World Watch, 12 Jun 2006. Web. 18 Nov 2013. .
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.
Everyday a child, from the regions in Africa, is recruited or abducted from their family to fight in an army. Children who are drafted to fight usually do not have parents and are older (The Situation). Some volunteer for income, food, or because they are pressured into combat (The Situation). Those who are taken from their homes or families happen to be in a war zone, misplaced or are poor (The Situation). The children who are homeless, and know the generals are out for them end up hiding and running for their lives throughout the night. Families and children hide from the captors underneath schools, churches and cellars (Steel). Parents are forced to tell where their children are hidden, if not they are tortured and even killed (Steel). After being abducted the children are then enforced to march to camp, anyone who attempts to escape is killed (Steel). As soon as these children are captured they are immediately trained to fight.
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.
Across the world, in over a dozen nations, 300,000 children are employed in various organized and guerilla military groups. Throughout the years, numerous actions have been taken by the UN and other national groups which have attempted to regulate the situation, yet the efforts have proven faulty, In the current year, thousands of children will die fighting in both civil and foreign wars for rebel groups and even organized government armies. So long as children remain serving in military disputes, the world’s progress will remain stagnant. Past ratifications from the United Nations include; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,1948, the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child, 1989, and UN Security Council Resolutions 1261, 1460, 1612, and 2143. Though these resolutions have aided in decreasing the conscription of child soldiers, more affirmative action in necessary to set a forceful precedent and terminate the unjust use of children in military conflict. Thus, the United Nations must enact a resolution which regulates the forced military service of children under the age of
Children definitely play the victim part in this because they are often punished harshly if they don’t do something right or they are given the worst jobs. According to an article called, The Challenges of the African Criminal Court in Prosecuting Child Soldiers, “ Military commanders encourage to delegate the ‘dirtiest’ orders to child soldiers. “ The commanders of the children often deal out the most unfortunate jobs to the children like, performing an execution, or being a suicide bomber or even watching an execution to see how it’s performed. To be fair, there are circumstances where children choose to do these jobs or want to do them. It is only under those circumstances, however children still should never be given the job of performing an execution or being a suicide bomber. All of these reasons explain the children should not be prosecuted and should be treated like