An estimated 300,000 children are forced to become soldiers every day all around the world and will be forced to grow up in a war environment. Many teens in African countries have been fighting in the war since the 90s. These children were forced to fight in the war to survive not being killed by a higher power. An estimated 40% of child soldiers are active in Africa. There is a big risk involved with a post-conflict society. Many children live in an environment that is constantly under threat of conflict. Child soldiers are an ongoing problem because children should not be forced to kill and have their innocence stripped from them. This issue requires citizens to take action because children should not be forced to fight in a war that they did not …show more content…
If they refused to join the boys would have been shot because they would have been seen as fighting against the rebels. Subsequently, at this point the issue is that these children are being stripped of their innocence as they are forced to kill.In the book A long Way Gone, Memoirs of a boy soldier, by Ishmael Beah has a very violent mindset. “We had been fighting for over two years, and killing had become a daily activity, I felt no pity for anyone.”It is important to show that over two years of fighting in the war Ishmael did not feel bad and would kill anyone he had to to survive,
Additionally, there are some child soldiers who joined the war voluntarily. Many children join to have an identity or feel apart of something.in the article Understanding the Recruitment of Child Soldiers in Africa by Anne-Lynn Dudenhoefer, it states “Pull factors include – paradoxically – seeking security in fighting forces, provision of food, a sense of belonging and ideology or group identity,” this shows that some children join the war to feel as if they are apart of a community fighting for a common cause
There is a problem in the world and something needs to be done of it. There are children, primarily in Africa, that are forced to massacre innocent men and women. These kids are called child soldiers. Child soldiers are kids who are associated in war. A popular book about child soldier is an autobiography by Ishmael Beah called A Long Way Gone.
They are taken from their villages and communities unexpectedly. The “rebels” make them watch while they murder their families and friends and rape women and girls. It has been estimated that around 80% of rebel groups are children. From the article Child Soldiers, it mentions that children have been performing in wars for thousands of years. Germans drafted their adolescents during WW1, and many other countries around the world have done the same.
Child soldiers have been a major issue in countries all over the world for a very long time. For example, Afghanistan is recruiting children to become a part of the Taliban, one of the largest terrorist groups in the country. A theme presented by Ishmael Beah in the book A Long Way Gone: memoirs of a boy soldier is that when all is lost, there is always hope. He went through brutal drugs and a dark childhood while he was in a civil war but he still was able to push through it and find happiness.
“Most of the kids are forced into fighting”. This tell me that there were actually kids that were forced to join so they can fight. “ Their choices are minimum they are just following orders,rather than making their own choices.” This tells me that they might be afraid to make their own choices that’s why they do what they are asked to because if they don’t do what they are asked to they might get killed. “Children are forced by commanders through false promises,drugs, and things which you can’t even imagine, to kill innocent civilians, other children and even their own families.”
“Tens of thousands of children are estimated to be recruited and used by armed groups. In 2019 alone, more than 7,740 children, some as young as six, were recruited and used as soldiers around the world, according to the United Nations. Most are recruited by non-state groups.” (Wuilbercq). There are more than seven thousand forty children that were child soldiers in twenty nineteen alone.
The rebels took over their property and evicted the family. The child soldiers also unwillingly sexually assaulted the sisters. While being screamed at to stop, the rebels just disregarded the yelling parents. No one should get violated the way the family was. In summary child soldiers must be abolished, for it is
The Problem of Child Soldiers “Since 2010, there’s been a 34% rise in the number of children living in conflict-affected areas, plus a staggering 170% rise in the number of reported grave violations committed against children in conflict.”(“Child Soldiers: Childhood's End”). This quote relates to my thesis statement because it shows the percentage of child soldiers that are in danger at a very young age and the rate of children in danger is still on the rise. Child Soldiers are young children that are put into war zones and danger zones at a very young age and have no control over what is going on. In A Long Way Gone the children got brained wash but doing drugs and not knowing they were, and being killed at too young of age by also being introduced to violence at too young of an age.
Another piece of evidence is "Children are often forced into fighting and have little choice over whether or not they enlist" (Child Soldiers Prosecution). They are usually forced into becoming a soldier, and don 't have much of a choose whether they enlist or not. It isn 't their fault that such terrible things around them.
In the article Should Child Soldiers be Prosecuted For Their Crimes it says,“if a child is under the age of 15 is considered too young to fight then he or she must be considered too young to be held criminally responsible for serious violations.” This explains how that they are easily manipulated and targeted because they aren't legally responsible to take responsibility for their actions. Each child were held in hostilities and couldn't have to opportunity to not fight. Also in Should Child Soldiers be Prosecuted For Their Crimes a report within the article it says, “ The report says child soldiers should not be prosecuted simply for the association with an armed group of having participation in hostilities.” Children are targeted to be recruited to war because nobody can take responsibility for the
How would you feel if you were recruited as a soldier during war? Since 2001, the participation of child soldiers has been reported in 21 on-going or recent armed conflicts in almost every region of the world. The importance of this is portrayed in Ishmael Beah’s memoir A Long Way Gone. The author believes that innocent kids should not be selected to fight as soldiers, lose their innocence killing people, witnessing violent scenes and suffer because of war.
The most important reason why child soldiers should be granted amnesty is because it is not their will to commit these crimes, it is simply being forced into act they would never commit unless their life was on the line. Emma Gordon, writer on E-international Relations Students says, “Children are often abducted at a young age, brutally initiated and forced to commit heinous atrocities, they are undoubtedly victims of these conflicts” (2011). Gordon uses the word “abducted” which shows that most if not all of child soldiers don’t chose to live that way. Additionally, the bulletin health
An unhealthy obsession with guns, being drugged to make killings seem normal, and being undoubtedly loyal to commanders is only part of what a child soldier is. Child soldiers can be dangerous and make up many armies in war-torn countries. In much of the world, usually in unstable countries, when conflict breaks out, children can quickly be swept up and put on the front lines to fight. Children may carry ten-pound guns and use bullets twice the size of their fingers. Some children are old enough to understand what they are doing, and others have no idea.
As these children have little access to education, they often think that this is an easy way out for them. Their parents either sell them to the recruiters for money as they are desperate to help the others in the families or the children think that by joining these armies,
Assignment page Video Where many children all over the world merrily and freely live under the protection of the law, for others, this is a distant reality, they live in a world where they’re battling poverty, stripped of their childhood and basic human rights are expunged, they’re the innocent victims of conflict, and war is made to seem their one and only duty, not to mention that these are children no more than 10 years of age. They are put into a situation where it’s to kill or be killed. The United Nations defines a child soldier as, “Any person under 18 years of age who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity.” Since the past 15 years, child soldiers are being used in almost every region of the world. Unlike most children, who go to school, they’re abducted from their families and forced into becoming a child soldier, where living conditions are beyond imaginable.
Have you ever imagined growing up on a life of drugs, war, crime, and seeing things that many adults won’t dare to ever see? In many countries around the world, this is what many children have to deal with. There is an occurring issue of people across Africa and parts of Asia using children as soldiers in war. They act and take upon the roles of real combatants, causing the people of the public to act in different ways. It’s been well documented that these children have used guns and war tactics, and committed various illegal and illicit acts of violence.