The Use of Child Soldiers
The use of child solider has become more and more common. Throughout history children have been forcibly recruited to participate in military campaigns, many times even against there own people. Child soldiers are any children under the age of 18 who are recruited by a sate or non-state armed group as fighter, cooks, suicide bombers, human shields, messenger spies or for sexual purposes. It is estimated that 30000 child soldiers are currently active around the world and this number is growing larger each year. Child soldiers are used for a few main reasons. Children are much easier to brain wash then any adult, as a child you do not understand how death really works and it is very easy to convince children that killing is nothing more then a game. Being a child you also lack the sense of fear and awareness of a situation that you develop over the years, due to this the smallest children as young as 7 years old are given AK47’s and are usually placed closet to the enemy. Children are also know to be very unpredictable and this is favored among those recruiting them being said that this makes them better fighters. Children also require much less food than any full grown adult; children also do not require any pay and these are two major ways to save money. Children are also often chosen due to how easy they are to recruit. Many children are abducted right from there homes. Villages are also sometimes forced to provide a certain number of children annually as soldiers in exchange from being kept safe for any attacks. Sometimes children are volunteered by there parents due to extreme poverty and hunger at home. Not as often, children sometimes volunteer themselves in attempts to avenge there loved ones. Some places in Africa even go as far as tell the kids that if they participate they will be granted with magically powers and