The Horror of Child Soldiers

They include messengers, porters, spies, and sex slaves. So great is the diversity of tasks that many advocates now prefer the less punchy but more accurate term, children associated with fighting forces.” (Gates para 5) Why should an undereducated child who hasn’t committed any crimes besides being involved in a war that they didn’t want to fight be prosecuted for anything. Another example of how some child soldiers aren’t killers comes from an article titled “Prosecuting Child Soldiers For Their Own Safety.” this article says that not all child soldiers murder but some cook or as said in the article “Most girls are forcibly abducted and given roles as cooks, porters, spies, “wives”, and in combat, says Susan McKay of the University of Wyoming, who has interviewed girl soldiers throughout central Africa.” (Leahy para 10) clearly not all children in combat have committed crimes but are rather victims and shouldn’t be prosecuted for being in the military but should be helped and given a second chance at their

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.

They are more easily driven by threats and punishment, so it’s easier to turn them to one’s cause and keep them following that cause than adult soldiers. Children are also easier to keep than adults. They eat less food, and are often “are usually more tolerant than adults to harsh living conditions” (Child Soldiers 1). In addition, child soldiers are considered easily replaceable and therefore dispensable. They are used in reconnaissance, mine clearing, and for front lines fighting to keep the more

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.

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.

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.”

Many children in America do not consider the problem of child soldiers happening around the world today as an issue, and many do not even think about it. Child Soldiers are a continuous problem that should be stopped instantly. Child Soldiers are innocent children who are forced into armed forces and non- state armed groups. Today, there are approximately 300,000 child soldiers in war, and 40% of armed forces are using these children as soldiers. These children are helpless and have little to no choice to go into war and leave their family behind.

This is the same situation that Juliet faced: “Young girls were forced into sexual relationships with men who were above our age. I was forced to become a rebel’s wife. They said “no issues” either you go with this man or we kill you. I got pregnant at a very early age with that man” (“Juliet’s Journey”). There are no excuses that can justify the treatment of child soldiers. Children are among the saddest victims of conflict: they rarely emerge from military service with a sense of their own worth and identity. Worse, they often experience violence that leaves them physically or psychologically scarred. Facing a difficult adolescence, many turn to drugs, alcohol, and anti-social behavior. No child should ever have to face the horrors and lasting effects of war.

Over the last ten years, at least over two million children are forcibly serving in the military, with them only being 10 years old or younger. Another conflict is that child soldiers are being isolated in many parts of africa, and are being used by armed groups as an ongoing conflicts like south asia, asia, and the middle east. Some governments have also recruited children under the age of 18 into their armed forces. One of their biggest challenges is to have freedom in their own hands without having to break the law.

However this is not a reality for children in war zones. Many of them get abducted from schools, out of their homes, or anywhere the rebels or the government is able to get to them. But, why are children the preferred “soldier”? According to Somasundaram in her article “Child Soldier: Understanding the Context, children are easily impressed, which is the choice of some military leaders. They believe children are less likely to question orders than adults due to fear” (Somasundaram, 2002 page 1270). Children easily believe what they are told, as their experience and maturity levels are not the same as adults. In addition, uneducated children are more likely to believe these “leaders” as they may not know any

As this quote from Riyad Al-Najem states, “In some areas the main reason of child recruitment is poverty, parents can’t find food for their kids, so they push them into armed groups to get money and food.” (PBS 2016) This shows how through being poor extra income is needed to have a good life. Other children are fighting because they have nothing to make money and no one to give them food and provide necessities. A boy named Charlie who was highlighted in an article by NPR interviewing Alexandra Zavis, “....his only source of income was a stall that was attacked and destroyed when his town was invaded by rebel troops about a year ago. And he made the decision to join the same rebels that had destroyed his livelihood because he needed a way to survive.”(NPR 2014) As you can now clearly see when nothing is left for you to live you are almost needed to find a way to make money and for these kids, it is through war. One kid also was fighting to provide yet again, this becomes especially evident when he says, “... I would be beaten up by people my age who were part of the Al Shabab… They made me want to join the TFG so I can defend myself.”(The New York Times 2010) As you can see all kids want to do is provide, and they sometimes choose the only option, and this is one of the main reasons why the world is still teeming with child

According to, “11 facts about child soldiers”, Children who are poor, have bad education,are displaced from their family, or live in a combat zone are more likely to be forced to join their local army or militia. This proves that they use them to their advantage because they don’t want to take the kids that are rich because their parents are probably paying the government more than the poor people. So the government needs a favor from the poor people so they take their children to fight. The rich kids might also put up more of a fight because they aren’t used to being told what to do and they have things to make their lives easier. Some kids are required to kill a family member (Child Soldiers). If their parents are rich and are paying the government a copious amount of money they won't want to cut them off. They still want to receive that money to pay for weapons for the soldiers or other things that will benefit

Poverty is a key factor of why children are manipulated into joining armed factions (21). Parts of the Middle East are very poor and it is very difficult to find some sort of job that pays enough to feed a whole family. Many kids drop out of school because "the time is for survival, not education"(21). Sadly, dropping out of school could hurt a child physically too. Various kinds of trauma happens to some kids at home; thus they try to escape and join an armed group because they think they will feel a sense of safety and protection "with guns in their own hands, than going about by themselves unarmed" (71-72). This is very common for females. Parents will sometimes push kids to join a faction because they cannot provide enough for them or themselves. Girls are occasionally stigmatized when they are put back into their community. Unfortunately, it is too much for the girls and they head back into an army. Over 30,000 children have been abducted in Uganda alone over the past few decades (30). Many kids wander the streets looking for food, money, or even a place to sleep. Armed forces sneak around communities at night to find kids to steal while they’re away from their parents. After the children are taken, they go straight into military training and

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.