The Horrors of a Child Soldier and Its Prevalence in Africa

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Throughout history there have been people, under the radar, crying out for help against the social injustices that strip them of their rights to live a normal life. Whether it be on a large or small scale, people all over the world are becoming victims of a cruel and weary lifestyle. Among the more prevalent, the practice of child soldiering has proved to be a very serious social injustice issue. The horrors these children face are unfathomable to most and bring many to tears. After observing the practice of child soldiering, one can see that it is a very serious social injustice issue that must be addressed.
Many people around the world have heard and even seen the brutalities of child soldiers, but what is a child soldier? “A child soldier refers to any person below eighteen years of age who is, or who has been, recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, spies or for sexual purposes” (Paris Principles on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict 2007). Using children as soldiers has been accepted in many areas of the world, particularly in areas where there is poor social stability. In most cases, violent conflict breaks out in response to economical, political, and social inequalities between a group of people. Rebel forces begin to form and soon take drastic measures. Because these rebel forces are usually weak and lack resources, they turn to the use of children as soldiers. With the modern weapons of today, these men have made it easy for children to become dangerous combatants.
For many, it is hard to understand why anyone would use children as soldiers. To put it simply, these men know that children are e...

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...oly Spirit. The inspiration is supposedly Christian based. They first engaged in an armed revolt against the Ugandan government, but later moved its activities to parts of Sudan, Central African Republic and DR Congo. The LRA is infamous for evident human rights violations, including abduction, murder, mutilation, sexual enslavement of young children, and child soldiering. Another group well know for using children as soldiers is the Revolutionary United Front. This particular rebel group made has made great use of child soldiers by using horrific methods to harden their new recruits into dangerous weapons. Since the LRA began in the 1980s, over thirty-thousand have been abducted and forced to serve as child soldiers or as wives of the older rebels; however, these numbers are growing rapidly with over ten thousand children abducted in the last eighteen months alone.

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