Human Rights Issues- Genocide and Forcing Children

Have you ever been forced into doing something you don’t really want to do? Maybe your parents “force” you to do your homework or clean your room, but what if it was something damaging? What if you were forced to kill of an entire race or species? Ender Wiggin had to do just that at only eleven years of age. Orson Scott Card’s novel Ender’s Game demonstrates forcing children to go into wars and genocide, which have been issues in many other countries. Card presents genocide and forcing children to fight in wars through the character Ender; an eleven-year-old boy who is imposed into fighting and wiping out the whole bugger species. Card writes, “‘… You won every battle, and today you finally fought them at their home world, where the queen was, all the queens from all their colonies, they all were there and you destroyed them completely…’”(297). In this conversation, Ender realizes that it wasn’t a game, and all of the attacks he enforced were real. He actually committed genocide, something he clearly did not want to do. Another example is, “ ‘Of course we tricked you into it. That’s the whole point,’ said Graff. ‘It had to be a trick or you couldn’t have done it… But somebody with that much compassion could never be the killer we needed. Could never go into battle willing to win at all costs. If you knew, you couldn’t do it…’”(Card 298). With this detail, it shows that this was not Ender’s choice and that he did not want to harm anyone. Graff tricked Ender into doing this because deep down everyone knew that Ender could not really do it. However, a child had to lead the battle. “ ‘And it had to be a child, Ender,’ said Mazer. ‘You were faster than me. Better than me. I was too old and cautious. Any decent person who knows what warfare is can never go into battle with a whole heart. But you didn’t know. We mad sure you didn’t know. You were reckless and brilliant and young. It’s what you were born for.’”(Card 298). Graff and Mazer knew that they had to find a young, fresh mind, but with no emotion, so they could not tell him. As you can see, Ender clearly does not support genocide; however other people have different opinions, as genocide was a big issue in Germany. Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazi party and he was the man behind the idea of kill off all of the Jews. According to, “The Holocaust” Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’ started under cover of the war where more and more Jews were killed in concentration camps in Poland. They tried to keep it a secret but ultimately failed as eyewitnesses reported to governments. For example, “Though the Nazis tried to keep operation of camps secret, the scale of the killing made this virtually impossible. Eyewitnesses brought reports of Nazi atrocities in Poland to the Allied governments, who were harshly criticized after the war for their failure to respond, or to publicize news of the mass slaughter. This lack of action was likely mostly due to the Allied focus on winning the war at hand, but was also a result of the general incomprehension with which news of the Holocaust was met and the denial and disbelief that such atrocities could be occurring on such a scale.”(The Holocaust). This was probably the worst part of it all because Hitler was lying to his people and hiding the fact that he was executing genocide. Hitler also believed that future of Nazi Germany was in the children. The Hitler Youth movement was created in the 1920’s where children between 10-18 years old were forced to join. The Hitler Youth catered for 10 to 18 year olds. There were separate organizations for boys and girls. The task of the boys’ section was to prepare the boys for military service. For girls, the organization prepared them for motherhood.
Forcing children into the military is not just an issue Germany. Children’s fighting in the militia is an issue for war-torn countries like Columbia, Africa, the Middle East, and south Asia. According to Ann O’Neill, “Some children are kidnapped from their schools or their beds, some are recruited after seeing their parents slaughtered, some may even choose to join the militias as their best hope for survival.” There are many different ways that children end up in the army, but most of them are required and have no choice. They are also mistreated badly as all of them get brainwashed, trained, and drugged before they are sent out to battle. It is also reported that, “The journey from boy or girl to killing machine follows a horrifying route of indoctrination, including being forced to execute friends and family.”(CNN). Children have the right to choose what they want and should never have to be forced to kill anyone.
From these examples, we can see that genocide and mistreating children have been problems all over the world including, Germany, Africa, Columbia, and Middle East. When you are being “forced” to eat your veggies or clean your room it is not nearly as bad as being forced to participating in the military and killing an entire species. The next time I’m required to do my homework and eat my veggies, I think I will just do it.

Works Cited Page

Card, Orson S. Ender's Game. New York: Tor, 1991. Print.

O'Neill, Ann. "Stolen Kids Turned into Terrifying Killers." CNN. Cable News Network, 12 Feb. 2007. Web. 04 Dec. 2014. <http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/02/12/child.soldiers/>.

"The Holocaust." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/the-holocaust>.