Is There Anything Being Done to Stop the Act of Child Soldiers?

My question for the month of April is, is there anything being done to stop the act of child soldiers? There is in fact organizations that are focused on child soldiers and are working to help bring them to safety. But a couple of organizations can only do so much and it is up to society to pitch in and help.

Right now there are about 250,000 child soldiers in the world. Most child soldiers are held in Africa but there are also other parts of the world that have them too. The ages of child soldiers vary but most are between fifteen and eighteen but some can be as young as ten (“End the Use of Child Soldiers”)! Child soldiers need to be saved because they are living in an unsafe environment where they are forced to commit murder, get raped and are abused very badly. Child Soldiers International is a great organization that is working to bring these kids to safety. Child Soldiers International uses “thematic research and analysis [to] seek to inform and improve national and international policy and action through enhancing knowledge and understanding of the causes and complexity of child recruitment and use, and identifying sustainable solution”(“Our Work”). This organization is doing their best to help the children that are harmed within armed conflict and want to bring them to safety where they can be put into rehabilitation. UN is another organization that working to help stop the act of child soldiers. They work to “tighten up laws on selling guns to stop them reaching battlefields where child soldiers are fighting”(“Child Soldiers”). By guns not reaching the battlefield kids will not be able to commit crimes that they were unaware of. UN also helps ex-child soldiers with rehabilitation and providing them with a safe environment. One major step in the right direction to help child soldiers was the Child Prevention Act of 2007.This act encourages governments to not use child soldiers and to clearly identify the Human Rights Report (“Q & A: The Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2007”). Overtime, I believe that by organizations coming together and future acts being passed we will be able to reduce the amount of child soldiers used around the world and eventually stop it all together.

“Child Soldiers.” BBC News. BBC, 28 May 2004. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.

“End the Use of Child Soldiers.” End the Use of Child Soldiers. Cultures of Resistance Network, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.

“Our Work:.” Child Soldiers International. Child Soldiers International, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.

“Q & A: The Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2007.” Q & A: The Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2007. Human Rights Watch, 24 Apr. 2007. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.

Did the parents of the child soldier have a choice whether or not they fight?

My question for the month of March is, Did the parents of the child have a choice whether or not they fight? Most people would assume that there was no choice in the matter and if you did have a child there would be no way you would give your child away. But you would be surprised by the circumstances some families have been in and what the outcome has been.

If you were in a dangerous situation where you could either give your child up to war or sacrifice all of your family’s lives what would you choose? Families that do not give up their child when prompted to are tortured severely or sometimes even killed (“Coercion and Intimidation of Child Soldiers to Participate in Violence”). In some cases, the rebels do not just take the children, they take the whole family. Some families prefer this because everyone they care about will be together and they know that everyone is ok: “Some minors are in family units fighting alongside one another” (Mutter). Some of you might be thinking, why choose children why not take the parents because they are stronger? They took the children because they were unaware of the dangers, did not need pay and did not need as much food.

In most situations, the parents do not get to choose whether or not their child or children is put into war. Most children that are taken away from their families to fight in battle are either abducted or beaten to join (Maslen). Some children choose for themselves to be child soldiers. You may be wondering why a child would want to put themselves in that type of situation where they are beaten and starved, but in some cases it was a better situation than what they were living in before. In this type of position, the children choose to be child soldiers because they are “alone, orphaned, frightened, bored and frustrated, [and] they will often finally choose to fight” (“Children as Soldiers”). Other reason children to choose to fight is because they grow up around violence, poverty, starvation and family issues (“Child Soldiers”). Even though, some parents are given a choice, they really do not have one because it is either their child or their whole family.

Work Cited

“Child Soldiers.” Social Issues:. Vision, 2008. Web. 28 Mar. 2015.

“Children as Soldiers.” Children as Soldiers. Unicef, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2015.

“Coercion and Intimidation of Child Soldiers to Participate in Violence.” Coercion and Intimidation of Child Soldiers to Participate in Violence. Human Rights Watch, 16 Apr. 2008. Web. 28 Mar. 2015.

Maslen, Stuart. “The Use of Children as Soldiers in Africa Report.” The Use of Children as Soldiers in Africa Report. Relief Web, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2015.

Mutter, Paul. “Kids on the Front Line.” US News. U.S.News & World Report, 15 Feb. 2015. Web. 28 Mar. 2015.

Should child soldiers be punished for the crimes they commited?

Many countries destroy the innocence of a child by forcing them to fight in violence they are not aware of. Children are recruited to be soldiers because they are easy to manipulate and do not need much food or pay. The effects of being a child soldier can make what use to be a sweet child turn to violence in hard times. Child soldiers should not be held responsible for the people they have killed and are often times only a child soldier out of force or because they do not know what they are getting into.

It is not often that you come across a child that volunteers to be a soldier. Most children are either drugged, kidnapped or forced in some way to become a soldier. Forced recruitment is a very common way of recruiting children and it is carefully planned. Usually recruiters abduct children that are the most vulnerable and are gathered at large numbers. Some recruiters will even rape, beat or kill family members to get to the children (Child Soldiers Humanium). Child soldiers do not choose to commit the crimes they commit. Children at that age are too young to know of that scale of violence. “Children are especially vulnerable to military recruitment because they may be easily manipulated and can be drawn into violence when they are too young to resist or understand what is happening”(Child Soldiers Geneva). Children all around the world are being forced to fight for the very wrong reasons. Since children are too young to know of violence and do not need money they are abducted from their families and are forced to commit crimes in order to stay alive.

Many children that commit crimes do not know what they have done and are forced to live with the guilt for the rest of their lives. “If a child under the age of 15 is considered too young to fight, then he or she must also be considered too young to be held criminally responsible for serious violations of IHL while associated with armed forces or armed groups” (Analysis: Should Child Soldiers Be Prosecuted for Their Crimes?). If a child is not old enough to fight in the first place, then how is a child old enough to take the responsibilities of a crime they were unaware could cause so much damage. “No child shall be alleged as, be accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law by reason of acts or omissions that were not prohibited by national or international law at the time they were committed” (Rikhof). Children are not aware of the consequences that come with war crimes and often only commit them because it was either their lives or the other persons.

Some people think that if child soldiers are not punished they are more likely to conduct worse crimes. Many think that there were many cases where the child soldiers had control. “But there are cases of child soldiers clearly in control of their actions, who were not coerced, drugged or forced into committing atrocities” (Leahy). This may be true but even if the children were not drugged or forced to commit a crime they were still in a very dangerous situation. Some people think that the child soldiers should be punished because if they are not they will continue to do worse crimes and will know they will not be punished (Leahy). This could also happen but I think the children that were put into that dangerous situation would rather be put into a safe environment than continue to do violent crimes.

Child soldiers should not be punished for the crimes they commit because they were out of force or innocence. Children under eighteen should not be punished for any crimes they committed and should be moved to a safe environment. Children over eighteen should be minorly punished because they were more in control of their actions, but they were most likely also a young child when they were recruited. The number of child soldiers in other countries has grown throughout the years and that number needs to be stopped.

“Analysis: Should Child Soldiers Be Prosecuted for Their Crimes?” IRINnews. IRIN, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.

Child Soldiers. Geneva: ICRC, International Committee of the Red Cross, 2003. Child Soldiers. American Red Cross, Apr. 2011. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.

“Child Soldiers.” Humanium for Childrens Rights. Humanium, 05 Oct. 2011. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.

Leahy, Stephen. “Prosecuting Child Soldiers For Their Own Safety.” Stephen Leahy International Environmental Journalist. Stephen Leahy, 04 Jan. 2007. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.

Rikhof, Joseph. “Child Soldiers: Should They Be Punished?” (n.d.): n. pag. Cba, May 2009. Web. 24 Feb. 2015. <http://www.cba.org/cba/newsletters-sections/pdf/05-09-military_2.pdf>.

What were child soldiers used for?

My question of the month for the month of November is, What were child soldiers used for? Most people usually have some sort of idea as to what child soldiers are used for. These ideas consist of them fighting in battles, being spies and cooks. Many child soldiers are put to work with these jobs, but there are also many other tasks that child soldiers must perform.

When someone thinks of a child soldier, they usually think of a young boy fighting in battles. What most people do not know is that one third of child soldiers are girls(Valley).Usually the girls are forced to satisfy the sexual needs of older soldiers and are kept as sex slaves. Very few girls fight in battles, cook or have any of the other “luxurious” jobs. It is said that child soldiers are mainly used because,”They don’t eat as much food, don’t get paid and don’t have a highly developed sense of danger, making it all to easy to send them into the line of fire”(Ten Facts about Child Soldiers That Everyone Should Know). Many child soldiers are killed in the line of fire because they do not know what they are doing and they are being used as bait to draw the enemy’s fire. During the training the children go through to become a soldier, they use many dangerous weapons. They learn how to place explosives and shoot pistols and rifles. Many times they also have to kill their family or friends because it helps them “harden up”(Facts and Figures on Child Soldiers). Even though not all children participate in battle, they still have to go through training. Children that do not fight are porters, messengers, lookouts, cooks or sex slaves(Zerrougui). Although these children do not fight, they still have the risk of being killed. The effects that battle puts on the children is very sad, and many turn to violence. Also, even if the children escape most times they will end up back in a rebel group:”Without an education they have very little future prospects and sometimes return to the rebel groups as they have simply no other way of feeding themselves”(Panneke).

No child should have to go through the pain of leaving their family to fight in a battle they are not prepared for. They also should not have to kill their loved ones to prove themselves capable. It is wrong to use children as soldiers because of their lack of knowledge. I hope you have learned a little more about child soldiers and are willing to help stop the use of them.

Work Cited

“Facts and Figures on Child Soldiers.” Facts and Figures on Child Soldiers. Kindernothilfe, 2014. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.

Panneke, Anne. “Child Soldiers.” Child Soldiers. War Child UK, 2014. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.

“Ten Facts about Child Soldiers That Everyone Should Know.” The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 23 Dec. 2012. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.

Valley, Silicon. “Child Soldiers.” Globalization101. The Levin Institute, 2014. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.

Zerrougui, Leila, and Stephanie Tremblay. “Child Recruitment | United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.” United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the SecretaryGeneral for Children and Armed Conflict. United Nations, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2014.

Were both boys and girls used as child soldiers?

The first question I have chosen to research for this blog is, Were both boys and girls used as child soldiers? The simple answer to this question is yes but as I have researched I have found more specific details as to why. In this post I will be talking about what a child soldier is, how both boys and girls were used, why they joined, and what they had to do to join.

Children soldiers are kids fighting in wars for a specific group or a government force under the age of eighteen. There is estimated to be 250,000 child soldiers in the world, and forty percent of child soldiers are girls (Panneke)! There are even some children under the age of ten participating in battle! The recruitment of child soldiers breaks many human rights laws and needs to be stopped (11 Facts About Child Soldiers)! Both boys and girls were used as child soldiers. Surprisingly, girls that fought on the battlefield had similar jobs to the boys. Some examples of these jobs are fighting in combat, being a spy, messenger or being a servant. Although some girls participated in combat like most boy child soldiers, most of them were sex slaves (About the Issues:). There were many reasons for why children took part in being a child soldier. Some were forced and others did it by choice. Many child soldiers were abducted or threatened to join the forces. Additionally, parent’s of child soldiers would volunteer their kids because they needed money for food and other needs. Very few children volunteered themselves to be child soldiers. If a child did do this it, was mainly because of social pressure (Gnarahari). The ideal candidate for a child soldier is a kid who has been separated from their family or does not have a lot of money. Other main reasons for a child to become a soldier, is if they are living in a combat zone or do not have access to education. Some forces have a recruiting system. In order for a child to become a child soldier for them they would have to kill a family member, which makes it difficult for them to return home (Children in Conflict).

Having child soldiers is not something that should be supported anywhere in the world. Children are dying because they are being forced to fight for a government or group. Girls are being held as sex slaves and both boys and girls are dying on the battlefield not even knowing what they are fighting for. Families are giving their kids away for money and less fortunate children are being taken against their will. Supposedly, children soldiers are not aware of the dangers that come with being a soldier, but I think after a while they are just too scared to say no. Using child soldiers is not right, and it needs to be stopped!

Work Cited

“11 Facts About Child Soldiers.” DoSomething.org. DoSomething, n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.

“About the Issues:.” Child Soldiers International. Child Soldiers International UK., 2014. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.

“Children in Conflict: Child Soldiers.” Child Soldiers. SOS Children, n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.

Gnarahari. Child Soldiers.doc (n.d.): n. pag. Child Soldiers. Unicef. Web. 2 Nov. 2014.

Panneke, Anne. “Child Soldiers.” Child Soldiers. War Child UK., 2014. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.

Introduction

My blog, fightingyoung, is about child soldiers. In my blog I will be researching ten specific questions and answer one every month. Here are the questions I will be researching and answering.

What countries have used child soldiers?
Are both boys and girls used as child soldiers?
Did the family of the child solider have a choice whether they fight or not?
Was there a reward for donating your child to be a solider?
What were the child soldiers used for?
Are there still countries using child soldiers?
Did America use child soldiers?
Were the children forced to be soldiers because they were poor?
Is there anything being done to stop child soldiers in other countries?
What is the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2007?

As of now, I do not know too much about child soldiers but as I research these questions, I hope to become very educated on the topic. I am looking forward to posting the monthly questions and hope you will learn something from reading my blog!