Lra Child Soldiers

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.

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.

They carry messages to different camps and spy on government forces. Unfortunately, numerous children are caught while on the job. Others surrender to the government and then are detained for working for a rebel group, instead of being integrated back into a community. One of the major jobs of a child soldier is being a troop. When armies recruit children, they make sure they are able to find the most children in the most vulnerable places (Mancini 30). Ninety percent of the Lord’s Resistance Army are children (Mancini). Kids are sometimes forced to kill a family member or watch them be killed. Most younger children are recruited as suicide bombers. Children do not get stopped by armed forces when they run around a community. Therefore, they are able to bring out any sort of attack ( Mancini 21). Children recruited as suicide bombers are easily influenced into thinking that after they carry out their mission, they will go to heaven (25). One-third of child troops in the world are girls (56). When girls are exposed to killing family members and abducting other children, their girlhood is warped and relationships towards people change dramatically (58). On the other hand, girls may experience pleasure while battling on the front line because they finally feel equal to men. The girls that are not fighting on the battlefield are the “wives.” They are the children that are raped and prematurely give birth to kids whose

One injustice facing the world today is the use of child soldiers. According to child-soldiers.org, a child soldier is “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…” Child soldiers do not only include the combatants. There are also child soldiers in noncombatant positions. The most dreadful injustice is having child soldiers, because of the amount of children involved, the recruitment they face, their war experiences, and post battle feelings or events.

It is common for child soldiers had no choice in joining war efforts. Often child are kidnapped and forced into the war: “It is estimated that over the last 15 years 10,000 children have been abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) around Gula in northern Uganda, alone” (Children in Conflict). In places where poverty is high parents may send their children into the war in exchange for food or monetary value (Children as Soldiers). During Hitler’s reign, young boys were forced to attend Hitler Youth: “Membership in the State Youth becomes mandatory. The boys in Werner’s kameradschaften are taught parade maneuvers and quizzed on fitness standards and required to run sixty meters in twelve seconds. Everything is glory and country and competition and sacrifice” (Doerr 62). Children in wars are also subjected to sexual abuse from adult soldiers around them. The emotional impact from the sexual abuse and the highly dangerous situations they are placed in may last for the rest of their lives (Child Soldier 46). The use of child soldiers has been banned since 2000 when the United Nations adopted a protocol stating that the forced recruitment of children under 18 for armed conflict is illegal. More than 110 countries have ratified this protocol, but it continues to be an issue around the world (Facts About Child

The practice of recruiting child soldiers, i.e., people under the age of 18 to fight of serve support roles in the military, is frowned upon by many nations. Multiple military groups still either actively recruit or accept child soldiers into their ranks. This, sadly cannot be stopped from happening as militant and extremist groups have no sense of international law or moral conscious and will not adhere to international child laws so as to continually bolster their ranks.

It has been observed that when interviewed, almost all the children living in war zones or near war zones are constantly in fear of becoming a child soldier. This is no way to live, life should be about pursuing happiness, not constantly watching for men coming to take a child away. There have been many different proposals to try and stop the use of child soldiers, but this is such a widespread problem that it is difficult to fix. New ideas are presented every day that may have the potential to stop the war crime that is using child soldiers. Cultures of Resistance Network have been endlessly fighting to stop the use of child soldiers. They have been working alongside the UN to create a law making it a crime to have children fight in wars. The website explained how they are working towards this goal, “One of Child Soldiers International's major goals is to promote the widespread adoption of international legal standards—including those enshrined in relevant sections of the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child—prohibiting the military recruitment and use in hostilities of any person younger than eighteen years of age. The organization further works to promote the recognition and enforcement of these standards by all armed groups, both governmental and non-governmental” (End the Use of Child Soldiers). This new idea of creating a law that applies to every country is very possible solution. This idea is still in the early stages, so it is unclear whether it will be passed, but this has the potential to make a great difference. Getting these children out of war and into a safe place will be better for the future of the world. Another, similar way that the UN is working

The recruitment and use of child soldiers is still a lingering issue in the world. Primarily in third world countries, hundreds of thousands of children are forced to fight and kill others. They are utterly helpless to do anything about their situation. They live

Child soldiering is ultimately stated as follows: hundreds of children across the Democratic Republic of Congo are being forced into military and other groups as child soldiers. In 2015, 488 children were documented by the UN as new recruits. Out of these “488 new recruits, 26 were girls and 30 percent were under the age of 15”(Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict, 2016). Children are pulled in for multiple reasons, and then rise up to ranks of commanders and sergeants at young ages. For example, one boy was ordered into the military at age seven by his uncle, a powerful

Children from almost every region of the world are illegally serving in armed conflict around the world. In the last 2 years, 20 states have been reported to have child soldiers in government, government-affiliated, and non-state armed groups (“11 Facts About Child Soldiers”). Children should not be affiliated with war and should be protected from those who act otherwise because children have no understanding of life and deserve a life of freedom. Children are stripped of their youth to participate in dangerous and violent activities out of their free will, even if they were to be saved, they would still carry scars and bad habits that would prevent them from living a normal life. These children are our future generations and should be protected and well raised.

These young soldiers seem to not be committed into committing war crimes, but one of their commitments is without a doubt, survival. However, in order for them to accomplish this, they unfortunately have to commit these terrible atrocities to not get killed. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of these children have little to no option whether or not they want to be serving, they are forcibly recruited. Jeffrey Gettle, author of article entitled Armed and Underage argues this idea well with his quote, “purchased, kidnapped, or terrorized” are some of the ways these girls and boys become child soldiers (2009). This quote demonstrates the types of way they are involuntarily placed in the army and when they are in the field, many types abusement become present like when they oppose given orders.

* Child soldiers > * Some facts > * Why children join > * Voices of young soldiers > * Developments > * International Standards > * DDR > * Committee on the Rights of the Child > * Government armed forces > * Armed groups > * Frequently asked questions >

Around 120,000 adolescent children are now engaged in conflicts throughout Africa (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 4). In Sudan, for instance, thousands of children, some as young as 12, were recruited against their will into separatist and government groups (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 5). Thousands more children have been enlisted into the armed forces throughout Asia and the Pacific. The most significant numbers are in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and recently, Cambodia. Myanmar, a country in Asia, has some of the most child soldiers throughout the world, with children being recruited into both non-government and government armed forces (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 6). The number of child soldiers has been decreasing annually, but these children are still being taken against their will.