Child soldier essay

Child soldier essay

Child soldiers in Liberia were cynically used as they were perceived as cheap and expendable, and easier to condition into fearless killing and unquestioning obedience. Firstly, kids do not get to have a chance at life. The process of reintegration should help children to establish new foundation in life base on their individual capacities. Despite their debates about where the colonial village child soldier essay have been located, the experts agree that the…. Anti-trafficking groups are looking into the situation. Given the lack of systematic birth registration in most African countries, child soldier essay, even if the political will to prevent underage recruitment exist, a good number of children would inevitably be recruited.

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Child Soldiers "The question of children and armed conflict is an integral part of the United Nations' core responsibilities for the maintenance of international peace and securityfor the advancement of human rights and for sustainable human development. Children posses a vulnerable personality, hence child soldier essay can be easily molded and manipulated into committing serious crimes for instance atrocious crimes like rape and murder of innocent civilians, they carry around rifles such as AK's and G4's as if they were born with it. To test their loyalty with their group they are sometimes even forced to injure or kill their own family members or friends. Those who are spared a less tragic fate are chosen to serve as sex slaves, cooks, child soldier essay, porters, guards and spies Baker.

According to various human research reports,children, most of them under the age of 18 are part of various major conflicts around the world, and more hundreds of thousands are soldiers of the armed forces, who are put "on the go" status, which means that they are fully trained and are ready to go into the battle ground whenever necessary Baker. Although most of the ripe child soldiers vary between the ages of 15 -- 18 their child soldier essay happens at the age of 10 and in the past, child soldier essay, the recruitment age for training is recorded to be even lower. AI has been working diligently for this cause and has been successful enough to now have the attention of major international forums. It is now working for the abused rights of child soldiers, recruited both by the governments and the opposition groups, ratios of this activity is common in countries like, Sri Lanka, Republic of Congo, Angola, Rwanda, Uganda and Sierra Leone.

History of Child Slavery: When we hear the word "child soldiers or "child slavery," the first thing or place that comes to mind is Africa, a place which people still associate with all kinds of evils and horrors. In the true sense of reality, the use of children as young soldiers as been in practice for over a thousand years, the child soldier essay of which spreading all over the world, and now with a refined method and colorful definition is still the norm in advanced countries like the United States and the United Kingdome. Hence we can easily that the use of children as soldiers has never been only restricted to Africa. Ancient Greece: In ancient Greece, the Spartans were the first to approach the construction of their society in a militaristic way.

The keen focus of their military recruitment was very young boys, sometimes even taken by force if a situation of that sort arose. The Spartans have always been known for their surviving skills, considering that they used to train and raise their warriors to make sure they met the challenges to defeat their Greek rivals, including their rivalry with Athens. Hence child soldier essay young soldiers were the key to the protection of their small city like state. Even in recent days, small counties and kingdoms recruit small children for their military for the same purpose. In the early Roman historythe violent nature of the regions warriors ensured the popularity and the attractiveness of the There were always seldom problems encountered while "recruiting" young children for training.

Considering that the adult male warriors were always absent child soldier essay of their own missions, young children were used for the protection of the homes and the city walls. The much smaller children were not even spared, since they were too small to handle weapons and machinery, they were used as spied or messengers Singer. The Middle East: In the s the Ottoman Turks used to kidnap young Christian boys and used to torture them and brainwash them into serving and prove their loyalty to the sultan, who was the ruler of the Ottoman Empire. Once trained under immensely hard circumstances these young boys would become part of an elite army of the Middle East and at that time all of Europe.

They used to be called the Janissaries. However, under the religious codes of Islam, it prohibits the recruitment of boys under the age of 15 in the army or in a war. The Western World: In Europe and America, children usually performed the support roles. For instance, "the drummer boy" became a very important figure in the American military, in the British navy, young recruited troops were as helping boys or aides in their fleet missions. Until then, the treatment with young recruited children was very much humane; it was not until the 20th century that the true face of war fare was revealed all over the world and hence child soldier essay immense responsibility of child protection was felt Mamiro, child soldier essay. Hence child soldier essay movement aimed at the same purpose was initiated, which gained popularity very quickly under the efforts of Eglantyne Jebb and from then on the international community gradually took steps to eliminate the use of children as warriors.

How do children become soldiers? Sometimes another pattern is observed, children often run away from their homes because of an unstable child soldier essay which scares them for instance a violent father or a chaotic family often attracts them to the ideology of an "army" and " discipline. There are other recorded reasons as well, since children are vulnerable and impressionable, they can easily be tricked into becoming such dispensable accessory to war fronts, child soldier essay. In Sierra Leone, the worst child soldier essay behavior by young soldiers was recorded. With the manufacture of child soldier essay metal weapons it has only become easier and encouraging for children to become part of such activities.

Once they children have been recruited, they are not just given training for military purposes, because sometimes they are also hired to perform adult related tasks such as cooks, child soldier essay, porters, guards, spies and messengers Horning. Sometimes it gets so barbaric that children are sent into the minefields before the senior troops to erase all the possibility of them being exploded by bombs, more often they are used in suicide missions since they are considered completely dispensable. Also, they are forced to act ill against child soldier essay own families to ensure their loyalty. In some countries where this crime is slowly being recognized, child soldier essay, rehabilitation programs are being setup so that these lost children can find their families, if not that then continue with their left over education and all help is provided to them to have a normal civilian life.

However, in countries where these programs are not yet offered, children have to struggle through every hurdle in life, once the "ideology" to becoming a child soldier rubs off. Inthe United Nations adopted the protocol on the "Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. However, child soldier essay, children involved in armed wars are still…. References Al Arjani, S. Coping strategies of traumatized children lost their father in the current conflict. Arabpsynet e. Baker, A. Effects of political and military traumas on children: The Palestinian case.

Clinical Psychology Review, 19, child soldier essay, -- Child soldier essay, E. Psychological aspects of traumatic injury in children and adolescents, child soldier essay. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 12, -- Dybdahl, R. Children and mothers in war: An outcome study of a psychosocial intervention program. Child Development, 72, -- Such jobs would put the children in potentially the most dangerous and deadly of the jobs available. Failing to perform tasks to the approval of superiors, whether that be fetching firewood, carrying ammunition, child soldier essay, or committing a murder, would invariably lead to severe punishments.

There were even reports of young girls being killed for failing to cook properly Denov ,-page 3. Among the most common forms of punishment was the. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, established a legal and ethical instrument for promoting and protecting the rights of children. The International Community responded enthusiastically to the Convention, and that type of broad participating "symbolizes something very special about the Convention, something that gives it unique importance and authority. Child Soldering in Rwanda Child Soldiering in Rwanda In Rwanda, child soldiers have been used by different players as a part of reaching key objectives. To see the long-term consequences, requires examining the issue in detail and why it is occurring.

This will be accomplished through studying the problem and how it is impacting the country. These factors will show the lasting effects on the region and the people who live within. UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was written to address the issue of using children in armed conflict. Two influences are identified -- state crisis and local conditions. When it comes to preventing the conscription of children into armed forces, state crisis can be difficult to prevent, but local conditions are something that can be addressed De Berry, The Convention was written to highlight the opinion.

Children's Literature - Hardy Boys and Encyclopedia Brown The Shore Road Mystery On page 12 of The Shore Road Mystery there is moment of potential stress between brothers Joe and Frank, and their Aunt Gertude, over the boys' bad move of tracking in dirt on mother's freshly vacuumed carpet. In any family, child soldier essay, boys and fathers especially are prone to forget to take their shoes off in the winter it's snow and ice. In addition, they tend to be more prone to special education placement Altshuler The researcher concluded that Public schools child soldier essay child welfare agencies must begin to work together to support students' educational functioning.

Professionals in both systems appear eager to work together more collaboratively, but need to resolve the historical mistrust, child soldier essay. Schools of social work can help by teaching their students ways to break child soldier essay the chasms that separate, child soldier essay. Child soldier essay Tools Study Documents Child soldier essay Guides Child soldier essay us FAQs Our Blog Citation Generator Flash Card Generator Login SignUp. Download this Research Paper in word format. Excerpt from Research Paper : Child Soldiers "The question of children and armed conflict is an integral part of the United Nations' core responsibilities for the maintenance of international peace and securityfor the advancement of human rights and for sustainable human development.

In the early Roman historychild soldier essay, the violent nature of the regions warriors ensured the popularity and the attractiveness of the, child soldier essay. Read Full Research Paper. Child Soldiers of Sierra Leone Words: Length: 10 Pages Topic: Children Paper : Child Soldiers in Burundi and Words: Length: 20 Pages Topic: Military Paper : Child Soldering in Rwanda Words: Length: 2 Pages Topic: Military Paper : Child Labor Myanmar, Colombia, Yemen Words: Length: 5 Pages Topic: Military Paper : Children's Literature - Hardy Boys and Encyclopedia Words: Length: 7 Pages Topic: Children Paper : Children Are the Most Vulnerable Words: Length: 10 Pages Topic: Children Paper child soldier essay

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In the early Roman history , the violent nature of the regions warriors ensured the popularity and the attractiveness of the There were always seldom problems encountered while "recruiting" young children for training. Considering that the adult male warriors were always absent because of their own missions, young children were used for the protection of the homes and the city walls. The much smaller children were not even spared, since they were too small to handle weapons and machinery, they were used as spied or messengers Singer. The Middle East: In the s the Ottoman Turks used to kidnap young Christian boys and used to torture them and brainwash them into serving and prove their loyalty to the sultan, who was the ruler of the Ottoman Empire.

Once trained under immensely hard circumstances these young boys would become part of an elite army of the Middle East and at that time all of Europe. They used to be called the Janissaries. However, under the religious codes of Islam, it prohibits the recruitment of boys under the age of 15 in the army or in a war. The Western World: In Europe and America, children usually performed the support roles. For instance, "the drummer boy" became a very important figure in the American military, in the British navy, young recruited troops were as helping boys or aides in their fleet missions. Until then, the treatment with young recruited children was very much humane; it was not until the 20th century that the true face of war fare was revealed all over the world and hence the immense responsibility of child protection was felt Mamiro.

Hence a movement aimed at the same purpose was initiated, which gained popularity very quickly under the efforts of Eglantyne Jebb and from then on the international community gradually took steps to eliminate the use of children as warriors. How do children become soldiers? Sometimes another pattern is observed, children often run away from their homes because of an unstable environment which scares them for instance a violent father or a chaotic family often attracts them to the ideology of an "army" and " discipline. There are other recorded reasons as well, since children are vulnerable and impressionable, they can easily be tricked into becoming such dispensable accessory to war fronts.

In Sierra Leone, the worst recorded behavior by young soldiers was recorded. With the manufacture of light metal weapons it has only become easier and encouraging for children to become part of such activities. Once they children have been recruited, they are not just given training for military purposes, because sometimes they are also hired to perform adult related tasks such as cooks, porters, guards, spies and messengers Horning. Sometimes it gets so barbaric that children are sent into the minefields before the senior troops to erase all the possibility of them being exploded by bombs, more often they are used in suicide missions since they are considered completely dispensable. Also, they are forced to act ill against their own families to ensure their loyalty.

In some countries where this crime is slowly being recognized, rehabilitation programs are being setup so that these lost children can find their families, if not that then continue with their left over education and all help is provided to them to have a normal civilian life. However, in countries where these programs are not yet offered, children have to struggle through every hurdle in life, once the "ideology" to becoming a child soldier rubs off. In , the United Nations adopted the protocol on the "Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict.

However, children involved in armed wars are still…. References Al Arjani, S. Coping strategies of traumatized children lost their father in the current conflict. Arabpsynet e. The African Charter of Rights of the Child defines a child as a person up to 18 years of age. Its article 22; paragraph 2 forbids the recruitment and participation of children in armed combats or civil hostilities. The global campaign and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the involvement of children in armed conflicts, entered into force on February 12th This was a milestone in the campaign against the recruitment and use of children in armed conflicts UNICEF: 4. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and involvement of children in armed conflicts put the minimum age for direct participation in hostilities to This was a shift from the previous minimum age of 15 years specified in the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols of on the Rights of the Child and other legal instruments on Child Rights Satyendra: To give these conventions some legal teeth, the Rome Statute of International Criminal Court provides, that the court shall have jurisdiction in respect of war crimes.

A war crime is defined to include 'conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years' into national armed forces or armed groups or using them to participate actively in civil and armed hostilities. In the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that State Parties may not compulsorily recruit those less than 18 years. The Protocol also requires that armed groups may not 'under any circumstances', recruit persons under the age of 18 years. States Parties are mandated by the Protocol to take all feasible measures to ensure that members of their armed forces who have not attained the age of 18 years do not take a direct part in hostilities. The implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Geneva Conventions Additional Protocol 11, the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court have been problematic.

Several questions can be raise. This question is very pertinent because armed opposition groups exist because they reject the jurisdiction and legitimacy of the state to rule. Theoretically, most African States set 18 years as the minimum age for recruitment into regular armed forces. But in practice, the situation is different. Angola is a country severely affected by the phenomenon of child soldiers. But she recently reduced the age of conscription from 15 to 17 years. Burundi and Rwanda have the lowest legal recruitment ages of 15 or 16 in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Uganda formerly accepts children with the apparent age of 13 to be enrolled with parental consent. In Chad, the minimum age is less than 18 years. Libya accepts volunteers at 17 years or younger. By virtue of the South African Constitution, under a state of emergency, children of 15 years of age or above can be used directly in armed conflict. Mozambique with widespread problem of child soldiers, legislation allows the armed forces to change the minimum conscription age of 18 in time of war. Given the lack of systematic birth registration in most African countries, even if the political will to prevent underage recruitment exist, a good number of children would inevitably be recruited.

In some circumstances, children do volunteer to join the armed forces. Most of those who responded were street children. In the Namibian civil war, military commanders paid police officers to find new recruits. Namibia also collaborated with Angola in catching Angolans who have fled to Namibia to avoid conscription. In the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, it was usual to round-up High School children and sent them to military training camps. Although the minimum legal age of recruitment is 18 years in the Sudan, recruitment into the Popular Defense Forces does start lawfully at 16 years. The creation of government-sponsored militia forces like the Janjanwi in Darfur and other parts of the country has tended to open the floodgates to child recruitment.

In many parts of the country, the Legitimate Defense Groups recruits young people into their ranks. But the psychological Institute in Algiers reports indicates that children as young as 13 years of age fighting for the FIS and other Islamic groups are not driven by religious motives, but rather by frustration and impossibility of starting a family because of unemployment and housing problems UNICEF: , , Horeman and Stolwijk: , UN: , Islamic Salvation Front -FIS: Website. The age-long conflict between the Hutus and Tutsi in Burundi has been characterized by mass recruitment of child soldiers as a defense and survival strategy.

Most of these 12 year olds were recruited from primary schools and were armed by politicians, businessmen and serving and retired members of the armed forces. The establishment of military Schools in most African countries is another avenue of recruiting child soldiers. In a number of African countries including Nigeria, the establishment of military schools serves as a backdoor through which child soldiers are recruitment into the official armed forces. In Nigeria children as young as 10 years or less are admitted into military schools. In both Nigeria and Benin, children in military schools are not official members of the armed forces.

But on graduation, they are officially encouraged to pursue a military career. This usually occurs when most of them are about 15 or 17 years of age. Like in Burundi, military schools appear to serve as backdoor recruitment outlet for thousands of child soldiers into the armed forces of Rwanda. Just like some African governments have violated national laws, regional and international conventions on children, so also opposition groups have flouted international laws against the use of children in combat. Yet, in , the Inter-African Network for Human Rights and Development AFRONET and Human Rights Watch alleged that UNITA abducted children and young men and women of 13 years of age living in border towns of Cazombo and Lumbala Nguimbo.

On the same token, the Front for the Liberation of the Cabinda Enclave FLEC-FAC recruited children as young as 8 years of age into its fighting forces. In the case of Angola, Arlarccchi the executive director, UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, noted that between and every third child has been involved in military operations and many have fired a gun at another human being. After the Lusaka Peace Accord in , soldiers from both the regular army and UNITA forces were officially demobilized. A total of 8, child soldiers were registered. Children comprised 12 per cent of UNITA troops gathered in the 15 quartering areas.

This figure greatly underestimates the scale of the problem since many soldiers had been recruited as children but had reached 18 by the time of registration. By the end of March , only 2, child soldiers had been demobilized and over 50 per cent of the total had deserted the quartering areas. In , Union for the Total Independence of Angola UNITA began demobilizing its child soldiers and had returned 2, children to civilian life by January Yet despite pledging not to recruit children again UNITA continued to recruit a great number into its ranks. Recruits were taken to isolated military camps and subjected to psychological stress and extreme hardships. Those who attempted to desert were executed.

Women, many as young as 13 years old, were recruited forcibly to serve as porters and camp followers. com, Kayaya: , Mulenga: , US Department of State: In Sierra Leone, both the rebel force: The Revolutionary United Front RUF and government forces recruited children as young as five years of age into its rank. For Uganda, the Lords Resistance Army LRA systematically abducts children from the schools, communities and homes. Children who attempt to escape, resist, cannot keep up, or become ill are killed. Generally, the rebels take their captives across the border to an LRA camp in Sudan.

There, these children are tortured, threatened and sexually abused. Reports suggest that the LRA has now turned to selling abducted children into slavery in exchange for arms. Therefore, the use of child soldiers must stop throughout the world. Firstly, kids do not get to have a chance at life. What is life? It is a gift from. Child soldier is a worldwide issue, but it became most critical in the Africa. Child soldiers are any children under the age of 18 who are recruited by some rebel groups and used as fighters, cooks, messengers, human shields and suicide bombers, some of them even under the aged 10 when they are forced to serve.

Physically vulnerable and easily intimidated, children typically make obedient soldiers. Most of them are abducted or recruited by force, and often compelled to follow orders under threat. In the United States the idea of children serving as soldiers is an unfathomable concept; in many countries around the world, however, child soldiers perform tasks such as robbery, torture, and even murder for people such as drug lords, and political activists. Things like this are tragic even for adults; dealing with death everyday, knowing that one could be killed any second by an opposing force can really hurt someone mentally, and physically. This tragedy is not really even thought of that much.

or are recruited into the military. Any child under the age of 18 is a target. The most vulnerable are children under the age of The younger they are, the easier it is to control them. No children should ever experience anything this inhumane and horrific. Unfortunately, these children are ripped from their innocence and forced into an unimaginable hell. Life in the military is not easy for anyone. Dedication is essential to be a successful soldier. However, the children forced into the military. Are child soldiers the ones to blame for all those massacres? Do they deserve being charged for being forced to murder? Or do we grant them protection? Over the past 10 years more than one million child soldiers have been massacred in hostility, over 6 million were wounded, and 10 million of them were left with severe brain trauma.

All of this because these children are forced into becoming something they have never wanted to be apart of. There are many children as young as 7 that are recruited as. Home Page Child Soldiers.