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Struggles of sierra leone
Short term and long term effects of child soldiers
Guy goodwin-gill and ilene cohn, child soldiers, the role of children in armed conflicts, a study on behalf of the henry dunant institute, clarendon p...
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The Sierra Leone Civil War lasted eleven years and left Sierra Leone scared and unconstructed. The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) bombarded the country but faced constant resistance from the Sierra Leone Military. Both sides relied heavily on child soldiers throughout the war and a projected 5,000 to 10,000 child soldiers were collectively used by both the Sierra Leone government and the RUF. These children forcibly entered into a life of violence and oppression, and they have since struggled to reintegrate back into society. Child soldiers have returned home with no family or future and many still face severe complications. For over 150 years, present day Sierra Leone served as an important colonial asset to the British. Under British control in 1808, the capital city Freetown was used as a naval base for antislavery patrols. The British governor who controlled the Gold Coast was one of many Europeans to take up residency in Freetown from 1821 to 1874. Additionally, Fourah Bay College was established in 1827 and sparked a major period of educational improvement all throughout the West Coast of Africa. For over 100 years, this college served as the only European-style university south of the Sahara Dessert. Perhaps with assistance from the established college, a series of revolts began to occur throughout Sierra Leone after a hut tax was placed on all residents of the country. Responding to the enraged inhabitants, a constitution was proposed in 1951 and the people began gaining power from the British. Just 9 years later, Sir Milton Margai returns from London as Sierra Leone’s first Prime Minister after had discussing constitutional actions with the British. On April 27, 1961, Sierra Leone became an independent nation with Sir... ... middle of paper ... ...rim Reality," 565-587. . Beah, A Long Way Gone, 139-141. 20. Betancourt et al., "High Hopes, Grim Reality," 565-587. 21. Betancourt et al., "High Hopes, Grim Reality," 565-587. 22. African Charter on the Right and Welfare of the Child (n.p.: Organization of African Unity, 1990), 5-6, accessed May 21, 2014, http://www.au.int/en/sites/default/files/Charter_En_African_Charter_on_the_Rights_and_Wlefare_of_the_Child_AddisAbaba_July1990.pdf. 23. Betancourt et al., "High Hopes, Grim Reality," 565-587. 24. Shepler, "The Rites of the Child," 197-211. 25. IRIN, "Sierra Leone: Child Soldier Rehabilitation Programme Runs out of Cash," IRIN Humanitarian News and Analysis, last modified July 22, 2003, accessed May 20, 2014, http://www.irinnews.org/report/45097/sierra-leone-child-soldier-rehabilitation-programme-runs-out-of-cash. 26. Beah, A Long Way Gone, 136.
There was a war in Sierra Leone, Africa, from 1991 to 2002 where a rebel army stormed through African villages amputating and raping citizens left and right (“Sierra Leone Profile”). Adebunmi Savage, a former citizen of Sierra Leone, describes the reality of this civil war: In 1996 the war in Sierra Leone was becoming a horrific catastrophe. Children were recruited to be soldiers, families were murdered, death came easily, and staying alive was a privilege. Torture became the favorite pastime of the Revolutionary United Front rebel movement, which was against the citizens who supported Sierra Leone’s president, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.
...violent and underground culture of diamond workers. These workers were treated terribly and would often be exploited for their man power by the rebel army in order for the army to have more weapons to fight the government of Sierra Leone. However, when I comes down to the real issue, the rebel army is the center of all the problems that arise, including the child workers and soldiers. The army was one of the major reasons why Sierra Leone's Civil War was as violent as it was. There was nothing to stop them from doing what they wanted and the diamond industry was seen as a income source to fund themselves against the government. However despite all the money and power the rebel army had, they were defeated and the government was reestablished, with order and democracy leading the new leaders reign.
Schattuck, John. “Overview of Human Right Practices, 1995,” Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. March 1996: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 10 Oct 2013.
"Sierra Leone." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2013): 1-3. Academic Search Premier. Web. 11 November 2013.
Ifezue G. Rajabali M., ‘Protecting the interests of the child’ [2013] Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law 1: 77–85
While some children and adults are able to escape the wrath of the LRA, many are hurt, persecuted and forgotten about every year, by the group’s tactics. Children are taken during raids in villages near the borders of Uganda, Sudan, Congo, and the Central African Republic. The men are usually killed and the women flee, are killed, or trafficked. These raids are usually carried out by “child soldiers much younger than their victims,” where they are forced to kill possible relatives and kidnap other children. The male children that are taken are usually forc...
United Nations (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child.[online] Available at: [Accessed 1 April 2014].
• International treaty covering the rights of all children, through 54 articles, including the right of the child to express his/her views in relation to decisions being made that may affect them and their
The lack of parenting during the civil war in Sierra Leone is a major cause that leads to the use of child soldiers during the war. The outbreak of the war in Sierra Leone caused everyone to run for their lives, leaving behind loved ones. Due to the sudden outbreak, many children were split apart from their parents leaving them abandoned. Wen the war began “fathers had come running from their workplaces, only to stand in front of their empty houses with no indication of where their families had gone. Mothers wept as they ran towards schools, rivers and water taps to look for their children. Children ran home to look for their parents who were wandering the streets in search of them. As the gunfire intensified, people gave up looking for their loved ones and ran out of town” (Beah 9). Ishmael realizes that he will be alone without his family and begins to feel as if a part of his is lost. As for the separation of families, the children in Sierra Leone were forced to make their own sensible decisions in order to stay alive during that time. Young children who lost their families were brainwashed into believing that fighting in the war was the right thing to do. Correspondingly, the lack of parenting during this difficult...
These are the words of a 15-year-old girl in Uganda. Like her, there are an estimated 300,000 children under the age of eighteen who are serving as child soldiers in about thirty-six conflict zones (Shaikh). Life on the front lines often brings children face to face with the horrors of war. Too many children have personally experienced or witnessed physical violence, including executions, death squad killings, disappearances, torture, arrest, sexual abuse, bombings, forced displacement, destruction of home, and massacres. Over the past ten years, more than two million children have been killed, five million disabled, twelve million left homeless, one million orphaned or separated from their parents, and ten million psychologically traumatized (Unicef, “Children in War”). They have been robbed of their childhood and forced to become part of unwanted conflicts. In African countries, such as Chad, this problem is increasingly becoming a global issue that needs to be solved immediately. However, there are other countries, such as Sierra Leone, where the problem has been effectively resolved. Although the use of child soldiers will never completely diminish, it has been proven in Sierra Leone that Unicef's disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration program will lessen the amount of child soldiers in Chad and prevent their use in the future.
There is an increase in sexual violence on women during war, but long after the war is over the horrifying battle continues. Violence against women continues getting worse because when the men return from war they still have a militarized ideology or suffer from the affects of traumatic events. So if there is no enemy to attack, then women are usually the inopportune targets. Jones uses chapter 3 to discuss the women that she encountered while she volunteered in Sierra Leone, West Africa which was ravaged by rebel occupants. Gaddafi and his followers terrorized and brutalized civilians with torture, rape, and murder. He created camps and recruited boy soldiers who eventually became brutal commanders as well. One of Gaddafi's soldiers Sankoh founded the Revolutionary United Front of Sierra Leone (RUF) which is the most notorious guerrilla unit in the region. They forced fathers “to rape their own daughters; brothers forced to rape their sisters; boy soldiers gang raped old women, then chop off their arms” (Jones). After the war, the region would never be the same. Thousands of people died, and those that survived were left disabled, diseased or pregnant by their
(5) See Claude Ake, "The African Context of Human Rights," Africa Today, Vol. 32, number 5 (1987)
Over a period from 1960-1965, the first Republic of the Congo experienced a period of serious crisis. There was a terrible war for power that displayed senseless violence and the desperation to rule. There were many internal conflicts among the people. The country eventually gained independence from Belgium. For many countries this would be a time for celebration. Unfortunately for the people of the Congo this became a time to forget. Almost immediately after independence and the general elections, the country went into civil war. Major developed cities like Katanga and Kasai wanted to be independent from the Lumumba government. Different factions started to fight the government and Katanga and Kasai tried to secede from the rest of the country out of fear of the mutinous army that was out of control looting and killing.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Report (2000) Human Rights and Human Development (New York) p.19 [online] Available from: [Accessed 2 March 2011]
Julia S., Children's Rights in Africa: A Legal Perspective. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. 2013. Print.