The Employment Of Child Soldiers

Imagine having to fight in a war you don’t want to fight in, seeing friends and family die all around you, but no matter how far you run you can never escape. Child soldiers in Sierra Leone do not have to imagine this - for them, it is reality. Ishmael Beah, who became a soldier at just age 12, as well as researchers such as Christophe Bayer, Fionna Klasen, Hubertus Adam know too well that the events in the war can never be forgotten. The story Beah told in his memoir A Long Way Gone captures the inhumane events that take place in Sierra Leone and tells of a story that many children have to endure. Sources like Harvard claim “among the 87 war-torn countries...300,000 - 500,000 children are involved with fighting forces as child soldiers.” Many of those children are being forced into the war without any choice at all and having to kill others as well. With this information we’re forced to ask the question: how are these children being affected by the war?

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.

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.

Child Soldiers involves the unlawful recruitment of children under the age of 18, often through force, fraud or coercion. The use of child soldiers takes on three main forms: Direct involvement in armed conflict, whereby the child may be expected to partake in the fighting whilst being armed with a weapon, Indirect involvement through support roles, such as being a messenger, scout, cook, clearing landmines or even as sexual slaves and finally the use for particular political advantage, such as propaganda or as a human shield.

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.

The recruitment of child soldiers to enact warfare in defense of state or non-state missions has been on the rise particularly within the African continent. Alongside this inhumane act, is the growing awareness that returning veterans are experiencing mental health issues or Posttraumatic Stress Disorder resulting from living violence and trauma. Although both issues are unique, both are related since, as child soldiers mature into adults, mental illness interferes with their ability to function and can be a danger society. The United Nations has produced measures to end and prevent the recruitment of child soldiers, however, support for reunification and rehabilitation is needed for those young adults returning from a childhood of violence.

More than one million children were taken, and twenty-five thousand children (some as young as six) were forced to become part of the armed groups. The recruitment of children has taken the lives of more than two million children, and more than six million children were permanently disabled, caused one million children to be orphaned, left more than ten million children with serious psychological trauma, Currently, over three hundred thousand children, are serving as child soldiers in fifty countries in every region of the world. Most of them between the ages of eleven to fifteen.

Today, an estimated three hundred thousand children under age eighteen are participating in armed conflicts worldwide. Thousands more face recruitment or are members of armed forces and groups not presently at war.(McManimon) The life of a child soldier is filled with terror, violence, horrible living conditions, lack of proper sanitization and poor nutrition. Though being a soldier at first may seem like the child’s “escape” from the poverty they live in because of the promises that are made to them, most children are brought into situations that are often worse then what they were already living in. The children involved in these situations lose their basic human rights, are abused emotionally and physically, and are treated like slaves

Children have been used in armed conflicts since time immemorial. Today the world sees this issue as immoral and reprehensible. However, the use of children in armed conflicts continues. Statistics produced by various organizations including the United Nations human rights, Human Rights Watch and Peace Direct suggests that anywhere from 200,000 to 300,000 children under the age of 18 are serving as child soldiers in 50 different conflicts across 33 different countries. These young people are often kidnapped or forced into these positions. They are forced into accepting being child soldiers through poverty and the promise of assistance to their families and to themselves. They are also forced into this situation by being witnesses to

“Since 2001 child soldiers have been recruited in 21 armed conflicts all around the world.” (Borgen Project) “More than 200 million children today are child labourers. An estimated 120 million are engaged in hazardous work.”(The World Counts) These numbers are just a small dent in research of the use of cheap labor, children. Child laborers and soldiers have their potential, childhood, and dignity taken away from them. Child labor started in the industrial revolution, when factory owners didn’t need strength but hands. It became a favored method of obtaining factory and “sweatshop” workers. On the other hand, child soldiers are used because they are easy to manipulate, and force into performing violent actions. Some might say child laborers

A widely misunderstood concept of human security is the existence of child soldiers. Child soldiers are what the United Nations and other international organizations refer to as any person below 18 years of age who is “associated with an armed force or armed group.” They have been recruited or used by an armed force or group in any capacity, including but not limited to being employed as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers, spies or for sexual purposes. It does not only refer to a child who is taking or has taken a direct part in hostilities.”

“Shooting became just like drinking a glass of water” said Ishmael Beah, an ex-child-soldier, “children who refused to fight, kill or showed any weakness were ruthlessly dealt with.” As children’s involvement in armed conflict keeps on increasing, “Child Soldiers” becomes a more and more popular phrase on newspapers and news. Many, however, do not have an insight view on what are actually behind simply “300,000 under-age, cold-blooded killers” (The Economist, Dec. 10th, 1998). A simple question “What do child soldiers fight for?” covers a vast range of elements including wealth, fame, or to simply survive. The issue of child soldier has taken place throughout human history and becomes more and more severe. The constitution of child

Throughout history and in many cultures, children have been extensively involved in military campaigns even when such practices were supposedly against cultural morals. Since the 1970s a number of international conventions have come into effect that try to limit the participation of children in armed conflicts, nevertheless the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers reports that the use of children in military forces, and

While research on the total number of child soldiers is lacking, “It is commonly estimated that there are between 250,000 and 300,000 child soldiers involved in war somewhere in the world at any given time” (Rosen). Research analyzing wars in 2004 found that out of all 42 conflicts occurring in the world at that time, children were 80% of the fighting force (Schauer). While this is shocking, it is no wonder that the occurrence of child soldiers is high considering that the median age of Africa is 19.7 (). With fewer adults able to participate in active conflict, the large supply of children becomes a valuable resource to fighting conflicts.