Child Soldiers

Contemporary Crisis 250,000 child soldiers worldwide recent United Nations estimation: 250,000 child soldiers worldwide current Amnesty International count: over 300,000 child soldiers in more than 85 countries both boys & girls ages 8 to 18

A Global Issue Afghanistan Sri Lanka Congo Chechnya Thailand Nepal Sudan Iraq Columbia Somalia Palestine

What is a Child Soldier? “A person under the age of 18 who directly or indirectly participates in an armed conflict as part of an armed force or group.”

Why are Children Used? Poverty – Leaders find it easier to recruit young children when there is widespread poverty. Many will consider they have nothing to lose by entering into war, especially if they get meals, clothing, and medical care Manipulation – Children are easier to manipulate and are cheaper than adults

Why are Children Used? Environment – Children who grow up with a country that has been at war see it as a way of life Light Weapons – Weapons have become lighter, so anyone can use them. With the end of the Cold War, many weapons were sold cheaply on the world market

“The Perfect Weapon” adults can resist warlords; children can’t available in great numbers intensely loyal fearless Expendable Much cheaper than adults

Roles infantry shock troops raiders sentries spies trench diggers porters

Exploitation Recruited Abducted Forced to serve propaganda poverty Abducted kidnapped from families taken from orphanages Forced to serve Uganda: Lord’s Resistance Army teaches child soldiers to burn huts and beat infants to death Iran: child soldiers used to clear mine fields in 1980s Palestine: children from the West Bank & Gaza used as suicide bombers "No one is born violent. No child in Africa, Latin America, or Asia wants to be part of war.” — Ishmael Beah at a Paris conference, author of A Long Way Gone

Some “Volunteer” promise of safety sense of community motivated by poverty & hunger

Why “choose” to join an armed group? Hunger Poverty Loss of family / home Protection Tricked Vengeance Defining their identity

Trained to Kill Thailand Liberia Uganda Iraq Palestine

Bound by Belief commanders conjure spirits magic & superstition oils & amulets "The commanders would wear certain pearls and said that guns wouldn't hurt us, and we believed it.'' — Beah In the Congo, leaders told boys that if they ate their victims they would grow stronger.

Intimidated by Fear extreme punishments death for desertion rejection upon return orphaned, homeless no where else to go "These are brutally thuggy people who don't want to rule politically and have no strategy for winning a war.'' — Professor Neil Boothby Columbia University

Weakened by Deprivation separated from families denied educational opportunities denied health care denied a childhood

Fueled by Drug Use amphetamines marijuana “brown brown” (cocaine and gunpowder) “I shot at everything that moved.” — Beah Drawing by former child soldier Ishamel A. Kamara, age 18.

Trapped in Abuse mental & emotional physical sexual chemical 15-year-old soldier with her infant in Liberia

Amputation Rebels called the amputation of just four fingers “one love” after the rastafarian phrase “thumbs up.” There are more than 6,000 amputees in Sierra Leone as a result of civil war. Former Liberian leader, Charles Taylor, is accused of backing a rebel group that cut off limbs, mutilated and raped thousands of civilians in Sierra Leone.

Human Rights Groups’ Efforts restore children to their families when possible return to former communities enroll in schools place in homes Children at a mission school in Africa “It's ridiculous to appeal to human rights with these groups because they are so far on the criminal end of the spectrum.” — Victoria Forbes Adam Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers

United Nations Involvement UN passed protocols: no combatants under age 18

Rescue, Rehabilitation & Hope Above: Maxwell Fornah and Victor Musa, members of the Single Leg Amputee Sports Club of Sierra Leone, Freetown April 2006.

About Ishmael Beah At the age of twelve, Ishmael fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. Eventually released by the army and sent to a UNICEF rehabiliation center, he struggled to regain his humanity and to reenter the world of civilians, who viewed him with fear and suspicion.