...costumes of their favorite soldier, dreaming of engaging in warfare, only to abandon the costume the following day. For children of Sierra Leone however, the costume is plastered against their bodies, and the dreams of the American children is their reality. Children residing in Sierra Leone from the years of 1991- 2002 were forced to participate in their country’s civil war, having to endure countless atrocious experiences. If these children are able to evade death for a long enough time, they may be lucky enough to be moved to a completely foreign area for rehabilitation and reintegration back into regular society. However, due to their role in the war, child soldiers...
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...woke up everyday as a child soldier. He trained and went to go attack enemies and villages. When he needed motivation or when he had accomplished his goal, he went to do drugs and shoot guns with his friends. He didn’t choose to be a child soldier and commit terrible actions on his own. He was forced to do these actions and was bribed to execute orders from his commanders. Ishmael’s situation is not uncommon around the world. In fact, there are multiple amounts of people who are/were child soldiers. Though a fraction of child soldiers were committed to being a child soldier, most of them are forced into the war. If they do not do what they are told, they could be killed. This issue is a hotly debated topic. While...
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...from their community. Others join in conflict, fighting back for what they have lost and hoping that fighting will resolve their issues. Either way, children shouldn’t be in these dangerous situations. The matter of child soldiers seems to be a major problem as of today, but children have been used in wars ever since 1998. In fact, at least 36 countries around the world have used child soldiers. Most countries that use child soldiers concentrate in Africa and South Asia. In conflict, kids are subject to abuse and, even worse, sexual assault. This shouldn’t be happening. It isn’t right...
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...thousands of child soldiers are put on the front lines each day. Their lives put at risk for values most of they don't even believe in. We don’t allow child soldiers in the U.S., let alone, capturing and beating children to become soldiers. Child soldiers have been around for hundreds of years. Why has it taken us so long to notice that we should do something. So why have we let other countries capture kids and use them on the battlefield? Ten-year-olds in the U.S. are running around on the playground, playing cars and enjoying childhood while other ten-year-olds are being scarred for life with gruesome images of war. Child soldiers are robbed of their childhood and of their childlike qualities; one of the...
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...Child Soldiers still deserve to play a card game of war instead of fighting in a real with real guns.This means that child soldiers are still kids and deserve happiness even after what they have done or have lost their innocence. Child Soldiers can be scarred after committing terrible things, or from seeing horrific things,but that doesn't mean they are all monsters and bad people. In A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah on page 169 he says, “I believe children have the resilience to outlive their sufferings, if given a chance.” Ishmael Beah was forced to be a child soldier at the age of 12. He was in the war from the ages of 12-15. He spent time in a home to help him recover; this proves that they can regain happiness. Child Soldiers can be ‘reborn’,...
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...violence drives everyone to desperation. Sometimes there’s not enough soldiers for a war, or a rebellion becomes more about cruelty than passion. During this time, countries turn to children. Whether they volunteer themselves, or are forced to join a militia, underage kids are seen holding weapons and killing people. The majority of people are strongly against this, but the controversy is whether to grant amnesty to these junior soldiers, or prosecute them for their crimes. The children may not be able to make healthy decisions while their home is a war zone, but they should still be punished for taking other people’s (possibly American soldier’s) lives. As seen throughout history, war drives families...
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...Child Soldiers: Criminals or Victims? Children are known as the innocence of society. The ever growing problem of child soldiers is a saddening and striking one. They are clearly victims of a much larger game ran by militias and corrupt governments, they are not wrong, but are wronged. Children are pushed and nudged into taking up arms through different ways .In war torn regions, Children are grown up and raised with the plague of war, it is all they know. They are not accustomed to regular childhoods, and they have no opportunities, so children tend to follow what they see, which is war and bloodshed. Militia leaders in third world countries tend to drug children and force them into being soldiers, upon refusal they even threaten and kill...
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...2013 Child Soldiers What accounts for the phenomenon of child soldiers in Africa? The primary cause contributing to the recruitment of child soldiers in Africa is poverty. While other factors such as ‘war’ itself, proliferation of small arms, lack of education, displacement all inevitably lead to child soldier recruitment, it is however poverty at the root of these circumstances. Therefore this essay shall argue this case by examining how Africa has come to have such high levels of poverty and by showing the association between other factors and that of poverty. To establish what is meant by the term ‘child soldier’ it must first be defined and a brief description offered that explains the recruitment practices used. This in turn allows the reader to better comprehend the devastating outcomes when underlying causes such as extreme poverty are not addressed. Subsequently this essay examines the factors that account for the phenomenon of child soldiers in Africa and through this examination of causal factors it will become apparent that poverty is a recurring theme. Once it has been established that poverty is indeed the major cause of child soldier recruitment attention is then given to what is being done to stop it. Finally consideration must be given to the problems that arise when addressing the issues of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of the child soldier back into the community, to avoid a replication of the whole cycle. This focus on stopping child soldier...
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...Did you know that over the last ten years, two million child soldiers have died in war, four million have been seriously injured, and ten million have been left with serious psychological trauma? Armies and terrorist groups capture and use children for many traumatizing jobs that sometimes involves executing or torturing others. Young children are also being sent into war and suicide missions were their lives could easily end in an instant. Many children are stripped of their rights and are forced to obey orders unquestioningly. Use of child soldiers in Iran is a dangerous and deadly violation of human rights that impacts children daily. First, child Soldiers are being used in fighting and battle all over Iran. Many children under seventeen...
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...18 Stripped of a Childhood Somewhere in the world, there are thousands of soldiers fighting for their rights and beliefs. These soldiers are not heroic figures, or even part of the military. They are drugged children, being sent out with weapons and being forced to kill. The issue of whether or not child soldiers deserve amnesty has been a debate that has been going on for years. Fourteen countries throughout the world have used these children as suicide bombers, slaves, and sources of military, for many decades. Many have been rescued from this ordeal, but, “estimates suggest that as many as 300,000 child soldiers are active in conflicts around the world,” (Chatterjee, paragraph 2). Child soldiers deserve amnesty, since they are kidnapped,...
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...making it out of the war after the mental, physical, and emotional damage he had been through. Ishmael Beah was a child soldier the Sierra Leone government army recruited to fight against the rebels in the Sierra Leone Civil War. He was forced to fight in the war when he turned thirteen and he fought for almost three years before being rescued by UNICEF. Throughout his time in the war, he had seen extremely horrifying actions that no child should ever see. History has proven that the use of child soldiers should be banned internationally because child soldiers suffer from mental illnesses, are exposed to...
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...Compelled to become instruments of war, to kill and be killed, child soldiers are forced to give violent expression to the hatreds of adults -- Olara Otunnu In the country of Uganda lies terror in the minds of many children. Many people are unaware of the inhumane and wretched experiences that happen in Uganda. Families cannot sleep peacefully at night because of unwanted attacks from rebels who torture and abduct their children. These children are then forced to be placed into an army, comprised mostly of children in an environment that radically changes their soul. Like the quote from Olara Otunnu, children are used as objects to carry forth actions that certain adults feel towards their civilization. If one is fortunate enough to escape or rescued then they must deal with the cruel effects of reintegrating into society. Research confirms that it is immoral to have child soldiers in Uganda because war-related experiences inhibit a healthy growth as a one suffers from psychological and physical trauma. Known to be one of the worse humanitarian crises since World War II, the epidemic in Uganda began over twenty years ago. This came about due to a man name Joseph Kony and his ideology of establishing a government based on the Ten Commandments (Benter 1). He believed with a large enough army, he would be able to overthrow the current system residing in Uganda today. One usually associates the idea of an army with adults; men and women who voluntary commit to serve their country...
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...millions, of soldiers, still alive today, who were forced into war as children. Because many of these child soldiers were forced into warfare and had no choice but to partake in the violence, they should be granted amnesty by the United Nations. Additionally, many readers believe that these soldiers are too young to be held accountable for the actions they were forced into. Furthermore, these warriors had only two options when facing tough situations: cooperate with their commanders or be brutally murdered for not fighting. Perhaps the most important piece of information on this topic is the fact that child soldiers had no choice but to comply with orders given to them. Oftentimes, they “are pushed by their adult commanders into perpetrating atrocities” through threats of mistreatment, torture, or even the murder of loved ones (Johannesburg, paragraph 8). In more extreme cases, if the children refused to fight, they were seen as ‘worthless’ or ‘inferior’ and killed. Moreover, child soldiers were taken advantage of by their chiefs through deception. Even further, they were often scared into believing that daily fighting, murdering, and death were the societal norm for everyone, which is a foggy perception of the world....
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...Africa in Cinema- Final Paper Professor Rice May 2010 Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone This semester, the topic of Child Soldiers presented a very interesting dilemma that several countries in Africa continue to face today. Sierra Leone, in particular, has struck an interest because of the many films and readings that try to depict this story of the civil war. In class, we have viewed two films representing the problems with child soldiers in Sierra Leone which include films titled Blood Diamond and Ezra. Both films represent opposite sides of the spectrum, as Blood Diamond shows the Western view of child soldiers and Ezra represents the first African view of child soldiers. Before discussing the two films, there are also two articles that depict the issues of child soldiers in great detail. In the first article by A. B. Zack-Williams titled, “Child Soldiers in the Civil War in Sierra Leone,” the author describes the reasons behind children even joining rebel based armies such as the RUF, why children are chosen as soldiers against their will, and the examination of policies that are yet to be instilled on this matter. The first valid point that the author makes is the purpose of the RUF (Revolutionary United Front). The focus of this organization is to seek a better life for the people in Sierra Leone. They feel as if their lives have been wasted because of poor housing, malnutrition and no opportunity to succeed and that the government is to blame. With that said...
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...Name: Professor: Class: Date of submission: Child Soldiers: How the United States has an obligation to help them. In many parts of the world throughout history young children have been involved in armed conflicts. The destiny of the children who are recruited into armed conflict is tragically changed when they are forced to participate in the conflicts. Worldwide the number of child of ages ranging from 6-19 working as child soldiers is estimated to be over 250,000 (“Child soldiers”). These children are deprive of their chance to live a normal life like other young children in other parts of the world but instead are exposed both physical and psychological abuse which affect them for the rest of their lives. The problem of children getting involved in armed conflict as soldiers has grown in different third world countries and needs to be stopped. In this analysis paper the argument that the United States has an obligation to send our military to help the child soldiers around the world will be discussed. There are many different reasons given to support the argument that the United States has an obligation to help in improving the problem of child solders throughout the world. The first reason why the United States is obligated to help child soldiers is that in most cases the child soldiers are recruited by force to join the armed groups. The United States has been one of the leading countries in fighting human trafficking for both labour and sexual exploitation...
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