Conflicts in Africa, specifically in West African countries have been rampant for many years. As a

For years the use of children in both conflict between states and civil war has been evident, children are being forced by bad people and throughout their false promises. Even this getting too far people don’t know what to do they’re afraid to defend themselves because they know what the commanders could do to them. They think they don’t have a way out. And even the parents are giving out their own children because they

The use of child soldiers have become a normal contribution to armies, especially in countries such as Africa. Although, countries such as Afghanistan, India, and Libya have been using child soldiers since 2011. According to “Children in Conflict: Child Soldiers,” there has been 36 countries involved since 1998. Something needs to be done about this issue due to the fact that thousands of

Recently, two million children have died over the past ten years due to becoming a child soldier. A huge deplorable development that has extended recently is the increase of child soldiers. Children are constantly being used as soldiers for various reasons. In some countries, there are more child soldiers than they are adults because children are more compliant. Children have been exploited as soldiers because they are being recruited to do a violent action, it is difficult for them to, later on, assimilate back to their lives, and child soldiers are regularly used in developing countries.

What are child soldiers? Child soldiers are people under eighteen who partake in either a regular or irregular armed group in any way. According to Warchild there are an estimated 250,000 child soldiers in the world and often as a part of their recruitment they are forced to either kill or maim a loved one so that they cannot go back home. In Ishmael Beah’s novel A Long Way Gone (Memoirs of a Boy Soldier) the author recounts his life as a child soldier fighting on the government side in Sierra Leone from age thirteen to sixteen. This paper will be attempting to answer the questions of why certain armed groups use children, why it is wrong to do so, and how people are taking a stand to stop it.

Visualize men with guns breaking down your door and pointing them at your family. Now imagine these men taking your children, forcing them to serve in their military force. In only an instant, your children are gone and you are left with no knowledge of the fate of your kids. As terrifying and seemingly impossible as this imagined scenario may be, it is a stark reality for many families in third world countries. Where families fear not if their children will be taken but when those doors will be broken down, and their screaming children will be dragged out through the front door. The parents know that they cannot not stop these men even if they attempt to. Yet, in an unreasonable twist becoming a child soldier is not only a gamble with the reaper, but it is also a chance to survive. Enough food to survive is more or less guaranteed, while back at home the odds of surviving are insurmountably against them. Becoming a child soldier is a double edged sword that is neither ally nor enemy to the children. These children are abused and coerced into staying with the men who ripped them from their families. Those that attempt to escape or resist are torn down brutally in order to be rebuilt, while those that embrace it sacrifice their humanity and risk the onset of psychologically damaging PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Militias and rebel forces, strained on man power, turn to child soldiers as a cheap and readily available replacement source. Trained to become war hardened

Children all across world are being exploited as child soldiers. Everyday kids younger the age of 10 are putting their lives on the line mostly by force. ¨Over the last ten years, two million children have been killed in conflict. Over one million have been orphaned, over six million have been seriously injured or permanently disabled and over ten million have been left with serious psychological trauma.¨(Children In Conflict). A child soldier is a child with armed forces; they’re trained to fight, cook, be porters, messengers, informant spies, etc. Countries all across the world have been using children to fight, places like the United Kingdom, Africa, and Asia lean on children to do their dirty work regardless of what laws are put into place for recruitment age.

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,

For years children are being forced by commanders into being a soldier, this is due to conflicts between states and civil wars. Some children are even under 10 years old when they are being forced to serve, despite this, in the last 10 years, at least 10 million children are being killed or left seriously injured. Some children are willingly volunteer themselves, as they believe it would be giving some form of income and security. At least 10 or 30% of soldiers are reported to be girls, they are often used for fighting, many of them are abducted or recruited by the force.

Children in US are perceived as the next generation, the future per say. We have multiple laws across the country to punish many ways of what we call is child abuse. While some may argue more could be done, I feel the intention to protect the children in this country is not questionable for most people. While reading these articles about children soldiers, one thing is clear: poverty and education seems to be the common ground why children are either forced, or willingly join an army.

“Youth are a vital site for understanding nation and globalization.” (Shepler, Youthscapes, p. 122) One of the topic is child soldiers. Some people believe that child soldier is just a tragedy of wars. However, “understanding the war as a crisis of youth does not mean just understanding RUF rebels and their reasons for revolt. We must strive to understand the situation of a whole generation defined by political and economic disenfranchisement.” (Shepler, Youthscapes, p. 125) In A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beach was joined the rebel to “avenge the deaths of (my) family and to survive.” (Beach, A Long Way Gone, p.199) Similar to Ishmael, “some children joined the rebels as a means of assuring their own survival.” (Shepler, Youthscapes, p. 124) However, there are many causes beside the survival. To find out whether the use of child solider will end any time soon, identify the causes of child solider is essential.

Greater attention and action against the worldwide use of child soldiers need to be addressed by the world community because children are being forced out of their homes, traumatized by all of the killings and dying surrounding them and they are being starved and beaten. Today, there are thousands of children involved in these armed jobs all around the world. There is an estimated 3,000 children, many under 16, including 500 girls in the army. (“Child Soldiers”)

Why and how children are use for war? For hundreds of years, children have suffered many hardships during armed conflicts, and they have been especially vulnerable to being recruited, abducted or forced into joining armed groups for the sake of child soldiering. Around the world, there are more than 250,000 child soldiers deployed in active combat today. Six million child soldiers have become disabled or displaced, and two million have been killed. Armed conflict imposes huge hardship on young people living in war zones.

“Compelled to become instruments of war, to kill and be killed, child soldiers are forced to give violent expression to the hatreds of adults” (“Child Soldiers” 1). This quotation by Olara Otunnu explains that children are forced into becoming weapons of war. Children under 18 years old are being recruited into the army because of poverty issues, multiple economic problems, and the qualities of children, however, many organizations are trying to implement ways to stop the human rights violation.

c. Purpose Statement: d. Review of Main Points: i. First, I will discuss the military group that is grabbing the kids to help them fight. ii. Second, I will discuss the age of kids and what happens to them and their families. iii.

Despite of voluntary choice to combat, child soldiering remains a violent crime. Children that join rebel groups are desperate and vulnerable. They decide to become soldiers due to poverty as they want to support their family or because they are lonely. Frequently, children are encouraged to join armed forces as culturally child soldiering is accepted. For example, in Sri Lanka, society transmits the idea of “bravery” to children and makes them idolize warriors and soldiers (Silva). While, in African countries, such as Sudan and Kenya, part of the society views child soldiering as a “escape from poverty” which is not true as child soldiers do not gain weekly salary (Cohn and Goodwin-Gill). In addition, due to the lack of education and awareness,