How To Reduce Child Soldiers

The United Nations do multiple things such as following the devastation of the Second World War, with one central mission: the maintenance of international peace and security. The UN does this by working to prevent conflict; helping parties in conflict make peace; peacekeeping; and creating the conditions to allow peace to hold and flourish. These activities often overlap and should reinforce one another, to be effective. The term “human rights” was mentioned seven times in the UN's founding Charter, making the promotion and protection of human rights a key purpose and guiding principle of the Organization. In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights brought human rights into the realm of international law. Since then, the Organization has diligently protected human rights through legal instruments and on-the-ground activities. The united nations are a great group of people who are looking out for us ever since Canada has joined this group they have been able to make an impact such as. Today, Canada continues to uphold the UN by actively participating in the organization's activities and providing financial support. Canada consistently brings pragmatic ideas and solutions to the table, from peacekeeping proposals in the 1950s, to creating the International Criminal Court and banning landmines in the 1990s. Today, some of their current goals are to assist war-affected children, or to improve the UN’s management and

Child soldiers being used around the world related to interventionism which is a policy of non-defensive activity undertaken by a national, state, or political jurisdiction to manipulate an economy or society. This is the case because nations liek the United States are aware of what is going on and are trying to stop nations from recruiting child soldiers. People around globe are trying to stop this from happening since they understand that thesekids arebeing turned into ruthless, emotionless, and dangerous individiuals as opposed to growing and learning as they should.

The convention on the rights of the child 1989- The Convention's objective is to protect children from discrimination, neglect and abuse. It is the principal children's treaty, covering a full range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. It grants rights for children in peacetime as well as during armed conflict, and provides for the implementation of those rights. It can promote anti-discriminatory practice by giving children protection and rights. It can also make sure that children will be given somewhere safe to be; not near any war zones and hazardous areas which could cause ill- health.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is there for the rights of children should allow children priority

When I was younger my parents used to make me do work and chores around the house. I used to think that it was child labor or something like using me as some sort of soldier, and therefore I thought that should be illegal. But now I know better. That wasn’t anything that I thought it was. But there does exist child soldiers, and the practice of using child soldiers is wrong, unjust and immoral. Using child soldiers is immoral. This is true because it poisons the hearts of young children and it is unfair towards the children. Some may say that using child soldiers is good because it is a good military strategy. But this is wrong because it is immoral.

The United Nations Convention on the rights of a child (1989) is a treaty that sets out the rights and freedoms of all children in a set of 54 articles.

Kathy Vandergrift writes about the implementation of the United Nation Security Council’s Resolution 1612. Her work consists of writing about the resolution and how the Resolution 1612 could function and prevent further abuses against children. She states that making the protection of civilians in conflict, particularly children, is a priority. Her work shows how the United Nations dealt with the problem. The United Nations made some progress, but there is still a need for changes. Vandergrift shows the accomplishments and failures of the Security Council. She also mentions some measures that have been used for the protection of children. Those measures include public awareness, diplomacy of children and the support of humanitarian organizations

Are you aware that right now, at this very moment, there is a group of young boys ages 8-13 who are clenching a gun being ordered to kill against their will? It’s understood that others opinions about the dangers of child soldiers being free are only because they don’t want to risk anything but, isn’t life all about taking risks? You risk your life leaving the house, and breathing. Also, countries should not prosecute child soldiers for the crimes they committed during wartime. There also should not be an international minimum age of criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Here are three reasons why they should not be prosecuted or held responsible. Also that there should not be an age limit. One. Children are afraid, young, and clueless. Two. Children are 99.99% of the time drugged, forced, and brainwashed. “Children are often brainwashed and drugged before they are forced to fight. Their vulnerability can allow warlords to make them into cold-blooded killers” (O'Neill 1 ). Three. Children are independent, lonesome, and they want/need a family. One that gives them love.

The article begins with former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, head of the Global Citizenship Commission, proposing to the UN that a court should be set up to assess crimes that have been committed against children. The current refugee crisis has created a dire need for a court to investigate child labor, slavery, and marriage. The court would be able to take charge of cases petitioned by children and issue irrevocable rulings. Since so many children’s rights have been violated, someone needs to speak up on their behalf. The U.N. Children’s Fund has recently addressed the issue of the lack of protection in Europe from human traffickers. The Global Citizenship Commission includes very qualified individuals that have not only suggested for a children’s court, but they also have advocated for reform in U.N. refugee aid and veto processes.

The stakes are high, and the risks are obvious. We must remember that we are dealing with lives of children, not hardened criminals. Child soldiers and previous ones have a lot on their shoulders and by granting them amnesty we will be able to provide a better future for them. Many countries have participated in committing the atrocious crime of using children to fight in wars as part of their armies, some of them being Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Uganda and many others. Many people believe that previous child soldiers should be put through court to be convicted of the war crimes that they committed, but this often leads to time in prison and hard feelings of violence towards the government. There is nothing for these children in jail. They simply cannot thrive in that ghastly environment and it should be a crime to stop them right in the middle of their development. We must grant these children amnesty because what they did was only to survive and we can easily adjust them to a new life by providing them with proper education.

“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.

Imagine being terrorized and forced into an army at the young age of 9. You had no place to go anyway, for the people in the army killed your parents to abduct you. You are forced to fight for them, even if you don’t want to. You cannot escape since they would possibly kill you if you were caught, and you can’t even share that information, they could kill you for knowing so much about punishment. One day, you are in the battlefield and you kill an American soldier since you were forced to kill. Suddenly, you are captured by the US government and taken into jail. Many think you are the perpetrator, but others think that you deserve amnesty. Child soldiers have become a widely debated topic as armed forces continue to use them. Many think that they deserve to be given a second chance, but others think that they should be taken to jail for the deaths they were forced to create. Overall, child soldiers are victims that deserve amnesty because they are easily manipulated, they are terrorized into staying, and a specific child soldier, Omar Khadr, has been put on a biased trial against him. Child soldiers should be thought of as victims and should be given amnesty.

''Several articles in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) affect states parties' responsibilities concerning children who violate the law. Articles 37 and 40, however, set forth most of the substantive and procedural guarantees'' (p.4-6). The states across the countries began realize in 1989 that taking over the duties of the parents constricted the legal process of

Articles 1, 55, and 56 are the center pieces for promoting and protecting human rights. During the cold war humanitarian intervention went stagnant because the two superpowers who were facing off (US & Russia) were at odds about ideology and this caused world peace to be thrown into turmoil. The UN was very new and did not have the international legal clout to stop either superpower from promoting its system of governance through invasion or indirect military support. The Cold War caused social, economic, and political upheaval globally which allowed for the UN to revise its interpretation of humanitarian intervention. This allowed for a larger consensus among nations about which circumstances required intervention. From 1945 to 1976 five major human rights documents were adopted; The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Genocide Convention, Geneva Convention, Laws of War, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Cultural Economic Civil Rights. The end of the Cold War “liberated the UN which had established 20 new peace keeping missions from 1988-1993, more than it had taken in its entire 40 year history.” (Taha, 14) The major developments of the 1990‘s for international humanitarian

The United Nations is widely regarded and respected as the most powerful institution that promotes international cooperation and human rights action. In theory, actions implemented by and within the United Nations are based on the mutual global goal of protecting international human rights and preventing human sufferings. These actions are constituted through three main mechanisms: the Treaty-based system, the Human Rights Council, and Security Council and Humanitarian Interventions, with the level of confrontation and seriousness in each mechanism increases respectively. While aimed to serve the mutual goal of protecting human rights over the world and have shown some successes, in a world of sovereignty, actions when implemented are in fact grounded by the national interests of each state, including embracing its national sovereignty, concreting its strategic relationships with other states, and enhancing its reputation in the international community. This paper will analyze the successes and failures of each of the three mechanisms of the United Nations regime, through which it aims to prove that when it comes to actions, states focus more on their national, and in some cases, regional interests than on the mutual goal of strengthening human rights throughout the world, thus diminishing the legitimacy of the whole United Nations system.