Former Child Soldiers

Barbara, J. (n.d.). Impact of War on Children and Imperative to End War. Retrieved October 27, 2015. This source discusses the impact of war on children in depth. Children are very attached and dependent to adults. During this war, this attachment was interrupted when families were torn about, separated, and sometimes killed. The separation of families often left children to live with strangers or in ghettos with unsafe living conditions. Children rarely lived normal lives during the war. They were deprived of basic rights, such as getting an education, and kicked out of their homes. This website lists many direct impacts, such as, death, injury, disability, illness, rape, psychological suffering, and child soldiers. Each category gives specific

This led to “occasional dangerous physical assaults on one another or even staff at the school” (United States, National). When reintegrated into normal society without treatment, the child soldiers reverted back to their only way of living, which was in the brain-washed state of constant warfare. Even when medically checked over, the Gulu Regional Referral Hospital wrote them off as “possessed demons”, failing to recognize the implications of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Outdated and ineffective programs brush aside the traumas of war and write them off as mentally deranged, which would further isolate the once child soldiers from society and cause them to deal with the repercussions of PTSD, depression, anxiety, etc. alone. This is why the United States should set up rehabilitation centers, allowing the large percentage of child soldiers to find solace and return to normalcy, preventing from slipping back into the travesties of war and to not pose a threat to society.

First off, child soldiers are often forced to be recruited. “Often they are abducted at school, on the streets or at home.” ("From Cradle to War." Amnesty International. Amnesty International USA, Web. 3 May 2016.) Almost all child soldiers are forced to do things as a soldier that they wouldn’t actually do, such as hurt or kill others. So although some child soldiers want to hurt or kill, most don’t want to. So obviously, most child soldiers are forced to do bad things that they don’t want to do, and wouldn’t do if they hadn’t become a soldier.

“For child soldiers, everyday is a living nightmare” (Chatterjee, 2012). Child soldiers are children under the age of 18 who are used in the military for any source of benefit. Child soldiers worldwide have become a huge issue, leading to many unnecessary deaths as well as lifelong mental trauma. According to “For Child Soldiers, Every Day is a Living Nightmare” 90% of the child soldiers in Liberia show post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as 65% showing depression post-war. Developing these mental illnesses makes the rest of a child’s life a living hell, not to mention their inability to get a job or provide for themselves or their family. Mental illness is probably the best thing you can come out of the war with. An article written in SOS Children’s Villages charity called “Children in Conflict: Child Soldiers” states that over the last 10 years: over 2 million children have been killed, over 1 million children have been orphaned, and over 6 million children have been injured or even disabled, and over 10 million children have struggled with psychological trauma due to war.

The lasting trauma of being child soldiers creates atrocious PTSD. Child PTSD is an ongoing issue that needs to be addressed because people are experiencing traumatic flashbacks that are triggered by memories which bring them back

First off, child soldiers are held against their will to do dangerous tasks that they have no say in. In an article interviewing Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier, he states, "Somebody being shot in front of you, or you yourself shooting somebody became just like drinking a glass of water. Children who refused to fight, kill or showed any weakness were ruthlessly dealt with.”

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

Therefore, the effects of PTSD can alter a child’s behavior. Children who experience PTSD demonstrate social and behavioral problems, emotional problems and secondary traumatization which can continue into adulthood. Research in Vietnam Veteran 's families have revealed that “children of Veterans with PTSD are at higher risk for

For starters, when it comes to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the children of war-torn countries, such as Sierra Leone, suffer more mental challenges before they are sixteen than most people in America will ever experience. The adolescent child soldiers in particular battle the struggles of PTSD the hardest:

While there were some problems during the World Wars, today there is no significant problem with child soldiers in powerful countries, such as the USA, Britain, and other UN countries. Sadly, there are countries that do use children, including Somalia, Iraq, Mali, and others in Africa and around the Middle East. The logic behind why children are chosen for soldiers is sad and disturbing. Children are recruited because they can be persuaded to fight for things

Child soldiers should receive amnesty, to a certain extent. This is because they are being forced to do terrible things like killing, stealing, putting others in danger, etc. According to Michel Chikwanine from an interview, he said “They handed me a gun and said shoot straight ahead (which was where they had his bestfriend stand).... I dropped the gun and took the blindfold off to see

Child soldiers has been becoming a problem since 1980. The question is, should they be criminals or victims? I feel that these children should be victims because, if they are getting forced to join without any chance to say no, and their killing people because their getting forced to, then why make them a criminal? Children's brains are not fully developed, when they are getting told what to do at such a young age, they don't really think about how bad a crime can be that they caused. Kids under the age of 15 makes it a lot easier to bribe then an adult it would to bribe an adult.

PTSD is highly associated with armed forces or an armed group which is a recurrent and intrusive distressing recollection of the event including imagines, thoughts, or perceptions. According to DSM 5, criteria for PTSD include: having been directly exposed to traumatic events such as: death, threatened serious injury, or actual or threatened sexual violence and other traumatic events. Also, individuals suffer from Intrusion symptoms for over more than 1 month duration (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). PTSD for formal child soldiers involve killing of others, raped/sexually abused, stabbed or chopped people’s hands and other

The mental and emotional trauma that child soldiers go through generally has a negative effect on their wellbeing. Child soldiers see and experience things that no human should experience, let alone children. Child soldiers are subjected to very poor treatment. They are often forced to commit and take part in terrible crimes that go against their morality but they fear the punishment too much to stand up for what is right. Child soldiers are regularly beaten and abused for the smallest mistakes and errors. I believe that this inhibits the growth of a child as severely punishing a child for minor errors makes the child fearful of making mistakes. This makes the child very obedient. This is a positive to some extent. however, I believe that when children follow orders without thinking it is a negative as it is not a ‘growth mind-set’ and inhibits creativity and problem solving skills. How can these children become functioning members of society when all they have ever done is follow orders? I think that children need to be able to learn from their mistakes and grow and mature as people. They should not live in fear of punishment. I think we need to raise people that can think for themselves and form their own ideas and conclusions. We shouldn't make children robots that follow order.

Though the use of child soldiers is an overwhelmingly difficult issue to combat, it is not a hopeless cause. Groups like Child Soldiers International and USAID work tirelessly to help prevent children from being recruited and help children who have already been child soldiers in an attempt to end the use of child soldiers. Child Soldiers International works directly within communities to prevent children from being recruited. By doing this, they are able to gather integral information needed to create effectual responses to this issue. Creating laws from afar is one thing, but actually entering communities and finding out what needs to be done to directly help the people in those communities is what will be most effective in solving the problem. This organization uses what they learn from their