Child Soldiers

Issues in Global Literature—Intermediate

1846 Mexican American War

1861 US Civil War

1967 Cambodia

1964 Vietnam War

1943 Hitler Youth in Nuremburg

1914 WWI

Historical Tradition

1918 Russian Civil War

Contemporary Crisis• 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

Nepal

Afghanistan

Chechnya

Columbia

Palestine

Congo

Iraq

Sri Lanka

Sudan

Somalia

Thailand

“The Perfect Weapon”• adults can resist warlords; children can’t• available in great numbers• easily manipulated• intensely loyal• fearless• expendable

Exploitation• Recruited– 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

Trained to Kill

Iraq

Uganda

Thailand

Palestine

Liberia

Child soldiers being trained in Thailand

Fighting Adult Causes(Sometimes not knowing why)

• End of colonial rule• Freedom challenged• Lawlessness• Criminal drives

by warlords– resources

– greed

– power

"There might have been a little rhetoric at the beginning, but very quickly the ideology gets lost, and then it just becomes a bloodbath ... a war of madness.” — Ishmael Beah

Bound by Belief• commanders conjure spirits• magic & superstition• oils & amulets

In the Congo, leaders told boys that if they ate their victims they would grow stronger.

"The commanders would wear certain pearls and said that guns wouldn't hurt us, and we believed it.''

— Beah

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)

Drawing by former child soldier Ishamel A. Kamara, age 18.

“I shot at everything that moved.”

— Beah

Trapped in Abuse• mental & emotional• physical• sexual• chemical

15-year-old soldier with

her infant in Liberia

Amputation

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.

Rebels called the amputation of just four fingers “one love” after the rastafarian phrase “thumbs up.”

Human Rights Groups’ Efforts

• restore children to their families when possible• return to former communities• enroll in schools• place in homes

“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

Children at a mission school in Africa

United Nations Involvement

• UN passed protocols:

no combatants under age 18

• US, UK, and other countries

have not signed UN agreement– US allows 17 (parental consent)– UK allows 16

• UN military personnel:

peace keeping

Rescue, Rehabilitation & Hope

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

Small Group Discussion

1. What examples in US culture could you compare to the experience of child soldiers abroad?

2. What similarities do you see between your examples and child soldiers?

3. What differences do you see?