Eritrea, a small country in the Horn of Africa, has been labeled the “North Korea of Africa.” Eritrea is a relatively new country that gained its independence in 1993 after a 30-year war with its neighboring country Ethiopia (Stevis and Parkinson, WSJ). Disputes over the border, however, continued until 1998 and tensions prevail to this day. The Eritrean government prohibits its citizens from leaving the country and military conscription is mandatory for both male and female youths starting at the age of 18. Today, unaccompanied Eritrean minors are leaving the totalitarian state in massive numbers. In fact, unaccompanied Eritrean minors constitute one of the main groups of migrant children travelling to Europe (New York Times, …show more content…
Keetharuth states that “...Eritrea’s military/national service programmes include arbitrary and indefinite duration, often for years beyond the 18 months set out in the law; their involuntary nature; the use of conscripts as forced labour, including manual labour; the inhumane conditions of service; the rape and torture often associated with these military/national service programmes…” (Keetharuth October 2016, p.1). Another factor, in addition to evading military conscription, that forces unaccompanied minors to leave Eritrea is the high levels of poverty. Many Eritrean minors suffer starvation level poverty and their living conditions are exacerbated by ineffective government economic policies, a recent example would be the Eritrean government’s introduction of new currencies in 2015 and restrictions on cash flow. These two factors have lead to massive numbers of unaccompanied Eritrean minors to leave the country. Unaccompanied minors are those who are separated from their families and travel alone outside of their country. Unaccompanied Eritrean minors who lack adult supervision are extremely vulnerable and at high-risk of abuse and sex-trafficking when making the journey to Europe. Eritrean minors who desert their military duty or those near the age of conscription are even more vulnerable because of the government's “shoot to kill” border policy. In
Childhood is a very delicate and shapeable period. Minors who are subject to live in poor
Political strife has been always present on an international scale with surges of civil war due to government overthrow, sending nations into unrest. Although not common recently, the ideology of recruiting child soldiers still remains, and the lasting effects on the children are traumatizing. From witnessing the carnage of constant bombshells erupting in the distance to whole families being executed, the images are etched deep into their minds, haunting them even after they are discharged from the armies. Although putting an immediate end to child soldiers is unrealistic, the United States should aid in creating and training members of war-affected countries to run long-lasting Rehabilitation centers due to the unqualified and ineffective
This essay explores how unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) are oppressed in the UK. An unaccompanied asylum seeking child is a person under the age of eighteen who has left their country of origin in order to seek refuge and is ‘separated from both parents and are not being cared for by an adult who, by law or custom has responsibility to do so’ (UNHCR, 1994:121). They are therefore applying for asylum in their own right.
A child should not have to do or experience adult things. In the book Night by ElieWiesel … Loss of innocence is shown when Elie is fighting for his father. Three ways that lossof innocence exists in today’s world is child soldiers, children working to provide for theirfamilies, and when a child is taken away from their family. Loss of innocence has many forms,one in which is shown in the book Night by Elie Wiesel and the real life situation of child 2soldiers etc. For example, Elie fights for his father, giving his food and water to him so he could live.
Part of being an effective community advocate and a leader was listening to the needs of the population I was serving and providing them with the resources necessary to facilitate the transition into a new country and life. I dedicated time to interview each unaccompanied minor in order to learn about their reasons for migration, most included stories of violence, war, and abuse. The stories I recorded and the research I conducted into each child’s case was used to determine eligibility for services and legal representation. In addition, after becoming aware of the difficulty many of these children experienced in learning English at their new schools, I took the initiative to lead weekly English classes for recently arrived
The parents realize that a sad existence of shame,and agony is in their child's future, if they stay in Tanzania. As Robert Penn Warren highlights in
No one wants their childhood to be utterly destroyed or have their family taken away from them in the blink of an eye, without the chance to even say one last goodbye. The odd chance of that happening to us, here in America, is slim to none. In Sierra Leone on the other hand, along with many other parts of Africa, child soldiers are being put to use in armies. In A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, the recruitment of child soldiers, African living situations, and the psychological trauma endured by the children deals with the issue of child soldiers.
Beginning in 2011, the United States has witnessed a massive influx in the numbers of unattended alien children arriving at the country’s southern borders. As thousands of children continued to arrive at the U.S. Border Patrol facilities, resources were quickly depleted, culminating in an immigration crisis with the arrival of over 60,000 children in 2014 (Chen & Gill, 2015). These children were coming mainly from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador and the majority of the new arrivals were without parents or caretakers (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], 2014).
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.
The main reason for choosing this topic was that I was inspired by numerous news articles about children who are independently trying to seek refuge for their families, from war-torn cities they would travel hundreds of miles to other countries pleading for support, hoping that due to their youth some officials would be discouraged from turning them down.
These Children are being exploited from their families and then taking into custody. Human service reports that children are being brutally recruitment, by being taken away and often being harassed by older people. This is a society impact, this is a big problem, for the global impact, which can work together to reintegrate, child soldiers back to society to make them, a productive individuals. All around the world every child has dream of going to school and learning about everything, but in some states that's not the case they are compelled to become instruments of war kill, and to be killed. Child soldiers are being forced to give violent expression towards adults, they are often thought that adults are the main enemy and they are always thought that they are alone in this
For children who eventually leave these militias and rebel groups, rehabilitation and reintegration into their homes or a new life may be extremely difficult. The kids may be rejected as being former child soldier, be resented and abandoned by community and family for that they had been forced to do, and even be subject to trial by their community or other groups. The children were taken at a young age and most do not have any valuable job skills, and may turn to the streets for money and to continue their drug addiction. Consistent aid and support is a necessity for these kids to return to normalcy. This includes group, community, and family support and letting the child know that they are loved and forgiven. (Drexler 3). Ishmael states in
Unaccompanied children have recently become a concern in the United States. According to recent statistics the U.S Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) noted that a majority of these children being apprehended at the border are not from Mexico but from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Honduras being noted as one of the poorest nations in Latin America was branded as the murder capital of the world with a reported 90 homicides per 100,000 people. Most of the illegal children that come from Mexico are deported. What many people don’t understand is that not all these children are at the age of ten or younger. Actually many of these children are teenagers that are affiliated with violent gangs.
“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.
Many child migrants, like Fito, want to be able give themselves better lives because they do not have any guardians caring for them. Fito