Child Soldiers: Stop!

Child Soldiers
By Hannah
June 18, 2008
College Prep. Writing


I would like my arms and hands to be mended. I am in great agony and a terrible situation. I don’t have hands…I have to be fed by someone else. I would like to see my hands working…If the hospitals were working, I would like my hands to be treated. If it was up to me I would say that no child of my age should loose his hands. I would like to say to the militia, look what you have done you have destroyed my hands; please don’t continue to blow off children’s hands. Please stop the fighting.

- age twelve(2)

In the earlier 1980’s the newest form of soldiers took form, children. A child soldier is defined as someone under the age of eighteen fighting in a war, of any form. It is estimated that there are 300,000 child soldiers in the world.(6) Roughly 50% of these soldiers are of fourteen years of age or younger.(2) Children as young as six are brainwashed into killing and torturing people. Often they are threatened with their lives and made to kill their own families. The bulk of child soldiers are located in Africa.
Young children are abducted, forced, or join and are made to fight in Gorilla warfare. These children fight in rebel armies and armies approved by the government.
These wars not only affect the child soldiers who are made to fight in them, but children all over Africa. A survey, of children, taken in Africa showed that 77% of children saw someone killed, 63% were abducted from their homes, 52% seriously beaten, 35% sexually abused, 6% saw their families murdered, 2% of all children actually murdered their own families.(2) The children that fight in these wars are treated terribly. They are made to carry out the most violent and brutal acts. They are often trained to go on suicide missions and are made to do the jobs at the camp. The kids are placed in the first line of people on battle and made to be the most expendable. Child soldiers receive some of the worst treatment, no medical treatment, they are sexually, physically and mentally abused, they have no one to love them, suicide rates are high, and rehabilitation is a hard and complicated journey that many of those kids will never get a chance to take.
Not just young boys are used as soldiers. About 30% of the worlds armed children include girls.(2) These girls are expected to perform the same tasks as the boys along with more sexual tasks. Young girls are made to become “wives” of the soldiers, and most of these soldiers will have more the one “wife”. Girls that become pregnant have few choices on what to do, and their “husband” will usually make it for them. Girls are made to get abortions, which generally don’t go well due to the lack of good medical resources, kill their babies after they are born, give up the baby, or keep it. The Lords Resistance Army prefers that their “wives” keep their children. This ensures them more soldiers later in life. The kids when they reach the age of thirteen are made to fight in battles and training will start earlier then that.(2) People have been reported seeing teenage girls fighting in battle with a baby strapped the their backs. The stories of girls taken as “wives” are horrific and devastating.

“…I was forced to become a ‘wife’ to one of the rebels. Being new in the field, on the first night I refused. But he second night he said ‘Either you give in or death’ I still tried to refuse, and then the man got serious and knifed me on the head…that was how I got involved in sex at the age of fourteen, because I knew death was near.

- Age sixteen(2)

This is not a rare story for any girl on Africa, but a common horror that occurs on daily bases.
Kids who are recruited as soldier often become addicted to various drugs. Young soldiers are forced to or ticked, until they are addicted, to take different drugs given to them by commanders. The drugs are given so that these children are on an incredible high. They wont feel pain, need to sleep, or eat. The kids become fearless and don’t realize what they are doing. with the drugs they can fight for days straight without stopping or realizing they are even injured. In Sierra Leone, Africa, it is estimated that more than 80% of child soldier had used either heroine or cocaine.(2) The most common drugs used by the soldiers in Africa are marijuana, cocaine, heroine, and brown, brown. Brown, brown is a mix of heroine and gun powder.(1) The children are manipulated into using these drugs by being told they will protect them. They are also given as a form of medicine, and while the kids are on they cant feel their injuries then they want to stay on since they cant feel the pain. Children who refuse to take the drugs are often beaten of killed.
“We smoked jamba [marijuana] all the time. They told us it would ward off disease in the bush. Before battle they would make a shallow cut on the right temple, beside my right eye, and put powder in it, and cover it with plaster. Afterward I did not see anything as having value. I didn’t see any human being having any value. I felt light.”

- Age fifteen(2)

There are so many more stories of children who have these kinds of welt on their heads and wrist from this form of taking drugs.
There are multiple reason when armies choose to use children as soldiers.
 Children are more easily manipulated then adults
 They become fiercely loyal to whomever they fight for.
 They consider this all a game and often don’t realize the danger they are making them fearless.
 Children are extremely impressionable.
 They are also in a never ending supply and easy to get a hold of.
Children are often trained as suicide bombers are put in the first lines during battle. They are considered dispensable. When it comes to battle the children are often more proficient then the adults. They can hide in smaller places and don’t have that sense of caution that most adults do.
The reasons for children becoming soldiers are just because they are abducts. Many children opt to join because there is no other chance for their survival. there are multiple reasons why they join.
 They are abducted.
 They are told if they don’t they will murder their families.
 Their families are killed and they have no were else to go.
 Its better then starving to death.
 Families are sometimes able to escape to camp set up by the government to keep them safe, but to stay there any able bodied man or boy is made to fight.
 Their parent sell them to the army, because they are dieing of starvation.
In all reality these innocent children have no say in whether this happens or not. Villages all over Africa are still scared of young boys due to the incredibly high rate of boy soldiers.(2) Boys who are not even soldiers are often beaten, killed, chased out of town because of the fear of young boys.(1)
Rehabilitation is a hard and complicated journey for these children and the people who help. These kids are mentally, physically, and emotionally scared once they are released from the army. The suicide rate in the these kids is rather high and the rate for girls who commit suicide after it about 30% higher.(2) there are three steps in rehabilitation, being removed form the army, rehabilitation, and being relocated to a new home.(2) Kids after they are removed will often suffer from severe migraines, horrific nightmares, withdrawals, and they are extremely violent and angry. It has been reported the when some of these children look at water all they can see is flowing blood.(2) Fights will constantly break out between the kids, especially depending on if you were a rebel or if you were in the army.(1) The kids will attack and torture the councilors their and each other.(1) After they receive intensive care they are, hopefully, relocated to a new home. Due to the fear in the villages this become close to imposable and most of their families have been killed or are imposable to find.
Africa’s economy, government, and life in general is at great risk and using children as soldier only worsens this. With the high death rate of kids the next generation is being greatly decreased and the kids that will being the next generation are be mentally destroyed. A government that allows this must be completely morally corrupt. The longer this continues the more the moral compos of Africa is being destroyed.
This is were you come in. this is a huge problem that affect about 27 other countries in the world.(2) Donating to such programs like UNICEF, Samaritans Purse, coalition to stop child soldiers, and other reputable sites can help this situation. You can use and adopt a child program were you take care of a child by supplying a certain amount of money each month. So many things affect how easy it is to make children soldiers. Lowering the poverty level will help decrease the amount of starving and hopeless children and families. Writing letters to the government can help. Trying to fix the unbelievably corrupt government will also help eliminate this issue. The United Sates as a whole and as a world super power could set a better example. We could also try and stop the incredibly high arms flow. All of these things can make a difference. This is a complicated issue to fix and will take time and effort. But every contribution makes a difference and is appreciated.