By : Aliyah, Makailey, Nashida Child Soldiers By : Aliyah, Makailey, Nashida

Who? A child soldier is someone who is under the age of 18 who is forced or recruited to be a part of an armed force. Today, this effects as many as 300 000 children worldwide with as many 120 000 just in Africa. Children in the military fight on the front lines, participate in suicide missions and act as spies, messengers, porters and cooks. girls in the military are used as babysitters, cooks and are often forced to be sex slaves or mistresses for military leaders. These boys and girls are usually taken by force and many are as young as 8 years old.

Victim Story : Evelyn My name is *Evelyn, and my life changed forever when I was nine years old. I used to feel safe in my parent’s home, but when the rebels came, even they could not protect me. I was taken in the night. The rebels made me to be one of them. I was young so they knew they could brainwash me more easily. They made me march very far distances and taught me to operate large guns, how to loot and attack. The commanders trusted me because I would commit any atrocity they told me. I don’t know how many people I killed…I lost count. If I refused anything then I was beaten and tortured. They cut my back with a machete to teach me a lesson once, made me sit on dead bodies and participate in ceremonies with their spirits. I was first given to a man when I was ten years old. I screamed a lot at first…it was so painful. He pointed a gun to my face, so I stopped. After that, he always called on me. When he would go away to fight, other men would have me where they wanted, whenever they wanted. I was weak from lack of food and water, but there was no negotiation.

Story Continued... When I finally escaped, the people there recognized me for what I had done to them in the bush and they beat and stoned me, almost to the point of death. I was taken to another place to be safe, but the man who was assigned to guard me acted just like the men in the bush…I could not refuse. I had nothing to do. I was 13 then. When I returned home, many people did not accept me. They would disturb me all the time, yelling horrible things to me. I think they were afraid of me because of what I had done before. They didn’t understand that it wasn’t really me then. My parents couldn’t pay my school fees, and I couldn’t go back to a bush, so I felt I had no choice but to go to a man. It was all I knew. So I went. When my brothers forced the man to pay for me, he refused and left me for an older woman, so I was left to care for his child alone. I felt like my life was over at 14.

Where? The use of child soldiers is very common in Africa, but spreads out to over 25 different countries. Anywhere there is an unstable government, conflict, poverty, or lack of access to education for children is at risk of having children being exploited. Some of those countries are Burundi, colombia, and democratic republic of the congo. Every year the UN secretary-general publishes a “list of shame” that shows which state armed forces and non-state armed groups that still use and recruit children.

Why? One of the biggest reasons children are being used as soldiers are because the military organisations find them easier to recruit, entice or force into service, in general they are just more compliant and easier to manipulate. A reason child soldiers might be more “desirable” is they are viewed as expendable, replaceable and cheap to maintain. They are also psychologically more vulnerable than many adults, this makes them shapeable and since they also can lack sense of fear, and are going to accept more dangerous tasks without over thinking and second guessing them.

When? The use of child soldiers dates all the way back to the 20th century when Napoleon conscripted teenagers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon

20th Century 1949 Protocols I and II of the four Geneva Conventions set the age for involvement in war to 15 years old. 15 was believed to be an acceptable and reasonable age. https://www.google.ca/search?safe=strict&rlz=1C1GGRV_enCA751CA752&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=oPPdWtP7GoGDjwSBgrSgBw&q=conscription&oq=conscription&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l10.1909811.1913694.0.1914315.13.8.0.5.5.0.158.878.0j6.7.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..1.11.897.0..0i67k1.146.hNNkVUhBYTk#

1980’s Children joined armed groups in Cambodia in the 1980s as the best way to secure food and protection. http://www.newjerseyhills.com/child-soldier-of-cambodian-genocide-to-speak-at-college-in/article_ba302a80-4149-5179-875b-e703d92a4d41.html

1984 In Uganda, wars have been prevalent in these areas for the past 20 years between the Uganda Peoples Defense force and The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA have abducted over 30,000 children from many villages to serve as child soldiers. The Ugandan government has also abducted and recruit many young children around the age of 13. https://childsoldiersjdmm.weebly.com/timeline.html

1986 In Uganda in 1986, the National Resistance Army had an estimated 3,000 children, many under 16, including 500 girls, most of whom had been orphaned and who looked on the Army as a replacement for their parents. https://womenareboring.wordpress.com/2016/10/20/child-soldiers-where-are-the-girls/

1990 In Liberia children as young as seven were seen in combat because, according to the Director of the Liberian Red Cross, "those with guns could survive.” https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/news-photo/children-with-guns-during-the-civil-war-in-southern-sudan-news-photo/2672952

1990 In Myanmar parents would volunteer their children for the rebel Karen army because the guerrillas provided clothes and two meals a day http://www.worldlymind.org/karen.htm

How? Children are forced from their homes and kidnapped and are forced to fight and commit other horrible acts against their will. To prevent children from leaving, military leaders would threaten and tell them that they will be killed if they try to leave. Leaders will strip kids of their sense of home and will forbid certain foods and practices that will remind the kids of their culture. They abuse and force the kids into killing their families so they have nowhere left to go In some cases, military leaders will give the kids drugs like cocaine so they become aggressive and addicted.

Lord’s Resistance Army The LRA is a rebel group and heterodox Christian cult that operates in Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic republic of the congo. Joseph Kony formed the LRA in Northern uganda in 1987 as a means of trying to overthrow President Yoweri. Kony was determined to beat Yoweri’s army and started to kidnap children and train them to fight so he could make his army bigger. He forced them to kill family members so they would think they had no home to go back to. He would cut off civilians ears and lips to frighten northerners into silence. As the LRA became bigger, almost 2 million civilians left their homes and had to live in government run camps from 1996 to 2006.

LRA Continued: In 2006 a Cessation of Hostilities agreement was signed by the LRA and the government of Uganda. In 2008 kony failed to show up for the final signing of the peace agreement and, many believe that it was just a rouse aso that kony and his army could rest and plan. December 2008, Operation Lightning Thunder was launched. OLT was a joint attack on the LRA by the DRC, Uganda and south sudan. Unfortunately, Kony somehow heard of the planned attack and was able to get away before the attack came. During the attack 856 civilians were killed and more than 160 were abducted. A year later the LRA repeated the Christmas massacres in Northern congo. They killed 32 people and abducted 250. To this day Kony is still missing.

Unicef stands for the “united nations international children's emergency fund”. It was first established in 1946 on december 11, it was first made to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by world war ll. In 1950 unicef's mandate was extended to address the long term needs of children and women in developing countries everywhere. The children rescued from war are normally integrated into communities similar to their old one, unicef also provides demobilization kits that have shoes, hygiene products and civilian clothes. Unicef also opened up transit centres for the children to get a first assessment in a non-military environment before they are returned to their families.

A Long Way Gone: Ishmael Beah

Convention on the Rights of the Child

Clarify the differences between being a party to a convention/treaty and being a signatory and what are the legal implications.

Sources https://www.soschildrensvillages.ca/child-protection/child-soldiers?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvODMsbqj2gIVDzFpCh0fbwVOEAAYAiAAEgIdF_D_BwE https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/child-soldiers-around-world https://thebusinessofgiving.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/life-as-a-child-soldier-one-girl%E2%80%99s-story/ https://www.hrw.org/topic/childrens-rights/child-soldiers https://invisiblechildren.com/blog/2013/11/04/how-joseph-kony-brainwashes-child-soldiers/ https://invisiblechildren.com/challenge/history/ https://www.unicef.org/sowc96/2csoldrs.htm