1. CHILD SOLDIERS
C. Sheppard
GGS 12
2011

2. What is a child?
At what age do you stop calling a young person a “child”?
What are the basic needs of children?
What can happen if these needs are not met?

3. CHOOSE ONE PHOTO COLLAGE THAT STANDS OUT TO YOU
CHOOSE ONE PHOTO COLLAGE THAT STANDS OUT TO YOU. EXPLAIN WHY YOU HAVE CHOSEN THIS PHOTO.
Note: Female; Polish Soldiers from WWII; facial expressions (happy, scared, sad, angry etc.); ages; size of gun compared to child; adult demeanor (smoking); geographical location.

4. What should this age limit be? Why?
Should there be an age limit for someone to be recruited into an armed force?
What should this age limit be? Why?
Tamil Tigers – Sri Lanka

5. What should be the minimum age for combatants?

6. What does the law say?
The parties to the conflict shall take all feasible measures in order that children who have not attained the age of fifteen years do not take a direct part in the hostilities and, in particular, they shall refrain from recruiting them into their armed forces.
Article 77 - Protocol I of 1977, additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949
Convention on the Rights of Child (1989) defines a child as any person under the age of 18, unless majority is attained earlier in his or her country. However in Article 38, governing children and armed conflict, it uses 15 as the minimum age for recruitment and participation in hostilities.

7. Child Soldier Definition
Any child - boy or girl - under 18 years of age, who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity, including, but not limited to: cooks, porters, messengers, and anyone accompanying such groups other than family members. It includes girls and boys recruited for sexual purposes and/or forced marriage. The definition, therefore, does not only refer to a child who is carrying, or has carried weapons. (UNICEF)

8. Global Use of Child Soldiers
It is estimated that more than 300, 000 children under 18 are actively participating in armed conflicts worldwide. (Rayner)
Child soldiers exist in more than thirty countries worldwide. (UN Works)
In what countries have you heard of child soldiers being used?

10. Why do military commanders want children?
they don’t ask questions; they follow orders
they can be easily controlled
they can be made martyrs
need for fighters
they are not fully aware of the risks
Martyr: a person who is put to death or endures great suffering on behalf of any belief, principle, or cause
Chad

11. Why might children join a military group?
revenge, anger
no parental/family support
self-protection
peer pressure
their society values warfare, heroism, martyrdom
Sudan

12. Video: “I Don’t Want to Go Back”

13. Click box to begin.

14. Works Cited
Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Child Soldier. Vancouver: Douglas and MacIntyre, 2007.
“Child Soldiers.” Amnesty International Online. October 8,
“Child Soldiers.” United National Cyber School Bus Online. October 8,
“Children in Armed Conflict.” UNICEF Online. October 8, 2009.
“Children in War.” International Committee of the Red Cross Online. October 8,
“Exploring Humanitarian Law.” ICRC Online. October 9,
Rayner, Amanda, ed. A Life Like Mine: How Children Live Around the World. London: DK Publishing, 2002.
“What’s Going On - Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone.” UN Works Online. October 8,