Child Soldiers in Latin America Cesar Palacios, Karla Martinez, Natalie Ordoñez , Samanta Jimenez, Steven Legaspi Ms. D, Period 4 11/1/2016

What Are Child Soldiers ? We chose to focus on Child Soldiers in Latin America. According to dosomeothing.org child soldiers are anyone under the age of 18 who are used and forced to fight in wars by adults.

How many people does this affect in Latin America? According to Refworld, there are an estimated more than 300,000 child soldiers around all the globe. Our team focused on child soldiers in Latin America. However, we couldn’t find the accurate amount of child soldiers in Latin America.

Who are the most common victims of this type of slavery? Refworld states that, the average children under 18 are usually the most common age for child soldiers. Mostly males are common victims to fight in combat. Women are also in these armies but they don’t really fight in combat. Instead they sexually serve their leader. These slaves can be found in poor villages in Latin America or are abandoned children who are promised a better life.

Reasons why this type of slavery exists According to children and armed conflict.un.org: Child soldiers are used as fighters, cooks, suicide bombers, human shields, messengers, spies, and for sexual purposes Child soldiers are recruited by government forces as well as rebel groups. Rebels don’t have enough soldiers so they have to resort to child soldiers Children are easier to convince than adults Make them not know who there parents are and sometimes the rebels make the children shoot their parents. The country's army benefits from recruiting child soldiers Young girls and boys are also noted to be recruited for forced sexual purposes and/or forced marriage, and are often times trafficked

Living conditions and overall treatment As stated in Council on Foreign Relations, child soldiers are vulnerable, intimidated, and can be easily manipulated. During combat, they are usually daring or tenacious and confused. Children are used as messengers, bomb makers, minesweepers, and suicide bombers.

Child Soldiers Narrative : http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/15/horrific-use-of-child-soldiers-rising-in-colombia-report-finds/ This video will explain how a life of a child soldier is with an interview of 20 year old child soldier survivor/ escaper in Columbia. Her name is Sara Morales. She was captured at the age of 11.

What you can do to stop Child Soldiers. One organization that is working to stop Child soldiers is Cultures of resistance network http://culturesofresistance.org/abou They are an organization that help them on almost everything. They make fundraisers, donate money, etc. If you want to help you can sign up. If you sign up you will see all the events and fundraisers around the area.

The petition we found #stopmoderndayslavery #EndChildSoldiersInLatinAmerica

Our Conclusion Through our research we learned that child soldiers is a real thing and is really serious. Child soldiers are used as spies, shields, messengers, and more! An estimated of about 300,000 child soldiers are in Latin America.In Latin America it’s really hard to get clean and fresh water. Children can get killed and even their families! Children soldiers are easier to convince than adults that is why they are used more. Rebel groups don’t have enough soldiers so they have to recruit child soldiers. Child soldiers can be recruited by the government as well. In the end, child soldiers are a real thing and is very serious.

Work Cited Coha. "From Cradle to Conflict: Child Soldiers’ Growing Role in Latin America’s Drug Wars." COHA. N.p., 30 Apr. 2012. Web. 04 Nov. 2016. http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2014/07/11/while-living-conditions-in-port- au-prince-are-improving-haiti-countryside-remains-very-poor http://www.warchild.org.uk/issues/child-soldiers http://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/12/09/for-child-soldiers-every-day-is-a-living- nightmare/#126a7944603e hthttps://www.gopetition.competitions/child-soldiers-bradley-and-teo.html http://www.cfr.org/human-rights/child-soldiers-around-world/p9331

QUESTIONS? Audience Questions “CHILDREN PLAY SOLDIER. THAT MAKES SENSE. BUT WHY DO SOLDIERS PLAY CHILDREN?” Karl Kraus , Austrian Writer