Child soldiers

Causes Of child soldiers

• There are a lot of causes for child use in the military, private militias, and other organizations that require the use of soldiers for protection.

• A primary cause for child soldiers is that children can be easily manipulated, or that they have been orphaned or forced to join the military, seeking protection and food.

• The actual military can hold onto child soldiers longer, a child soldier could be fighting for over 20 years before they’re released. Meaning that they are a very efficient type of soldiers that some militaries might want to use for their own gain.

• There are tonnes of reasons for the use of children in the military. Some more issues can include poverty, an inadequate school system, or even to escape abuse or other kinds of domestic issues.

Child Soldiers Today

• Most child soldiers today serve in third world countries, reported in Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Mali, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen

• Child soldiers today are recruited as very young children, can even be under the age of 10

• They are so widely used, almost every armed conflict (wars) include child soldiers fighting

• Girls are estimated to be 10-30% of the child soldier population, usually used for sexual violence.

• Some children are not forced to become child soldiers, but they do so anyways because they feel obligated to from social pressure and thinking they’d get a source of income

• Government interaction to stop child soldiers is near nonexistent, and when they do intervene almost nothing changes

Child Labour in the Industrial Revolution

• Child workers were in any country that was having an industrial revolution (or even just any time)

• Child workers were forced to work at as early as six years old• They got little to no pay or rewards for their work (usually 3-4 pence a day, around 2£ in

today’s UK economy, 1750-2013) • No safety precautions were taken by anybody in the industry to protect the children (or

anyone)• Orphans were most commonly the child workers• 15% of workers in 1760 were under the age of 14• Children in factories were treated very cruelly, their safety neglected, and abused.• Children that were late or not working up to the quota were punished by being “weighed”,

a heavy weight would be tied to their neck and they would have to walk up and down aisles to show the other children an example of what happens when you’re late.

Similarities• They are both treated very cruelly with no safety or

consideration of their life before becoming a child worker/soldier

• They both usually become what they are because of low income, no parents/guardians, and other social and economic means.

• Both child soldiers and child workers in the 18th century had little to no income, and had to live off of the little support their “masters” supplied them with

• Both started work VERY young, as young as 6 years old• Cruel punishments for their “wrongdoings”• Forced to serve or work in the army or a job

Ishmael Beah

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 rehabilitation center, he struggled to regain his humanity and to reenter the world of civilians, who viewed him with fear and suspicion.

Ishmael Beah as a child soldier

1994: The First Battle

• We began to move swiftly among the bushes until we came to the edge of a swamp, where we formed an ambush, aiming our guns into the bog. We lay flat on our stomachs and waited. I was lying next to my friend Josiah. At 11, he was even younger than I was. Musa, a friend my age, 13, was also nearby. I looked around to see if I could catch their eyes, but they were concentrating on the invisible target in the swamp. The tops of my eyes began to ache, and the pain slowly rose up to my head. My ears became warm, and tears were running down my cheeks, even though I wasn’t crying. The veins on my arms stood out, and I could feel them pulsating as if they had begun to breathe of their own accord. We waited in the quiet, as hunters do. The silence tormented me.

Child soldiers solutions

• Young kids are targets to become child soldiers because they don’t understand the concept of death. Lots of children are abducted and beaten into submission and turned into child soldiers so one solution to this problem is guarding towns and guarding places where kids work. Family’s give up their kids to be child soldiers. In most countries where child soldiers are used they have bad roads so it’s hard for the military to reach parts of the country. It easy for militants to recruit child soldiers. Building roads would help stop recruitment of child soldiers.

Citations

• "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah Official Site." A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah Official Site. 15 Feb. 2007. Web. 21 Nov. 2014. <http://www.alongwaygone.com/>.

• A Long Way Gone: Memories of a Child Soldier. By John Madere

• "Child Soldiers." War Child. Web. 24 Nov. 2014. <http://www.thefundraisingfunnel.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/picture-2.png>.

• OSUN DEFENDER | People First: The Most Optimized Political News Platform From Nigeria, Set Up To Wrest Political Power From Vote-robbers." OSUN DEFENDER | People First: The Most Optimized Political News Platform From Nigeria, Set Up To Wrest Political Power From Vote-robbers. Web. 21 Nov. 2014. <http://www.osundefender.org/>.

• "End the Use of Child Soldiers." Cultures of Resistance. 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 21 Nov. 2014. <http://www.culturesofresistance.org/end-child-soldiers>. "About the Issues:." Child Soldiers International. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <http://www.child-soldiers.org/about_the_issues.php>.

• "About the Issues:." Child Soldiers International. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <http://www.child-soldiers.org/faq.php>.

• "11 Facts About Child Soldiers." DoSomething.org. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-child-soldiers>.

• "Child Labor in Factories During the Industrial Revolution." Child Labor in Factories During the Industrial Revolution. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <http://www2.needham.k12.ma.us/nhs/cur/Baker_00/2002_p7/ak_p7/childlabor.html>.

• "Measuring Worth - Purchasing Power of the Pound." Measuring Worth - Purchasing Power of the Pound. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/>.

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