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How war affects children
Short term and long term effects of child soldiers
Short term and long term effects of child soldiers
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In the country of Uganda lies terror in the lives of many children. Many citizens around the world, are unaware of the inhumane and gruesome occurrences that children have to experience in Uganda. They are oblivious of the unwanted attacks and child abductions that occur from rebels, in order to turn children into child soldiers. These children, who are under the age of 18 are forced into the army; they are brainwashed and are physically, mentally and sexually abused. Children who are abducted are stripped away from their families and past lives, and turned into mindless killing machines. These children are trained to obey and take orders from corrupt officers who pressure them into battle. This issue of using children as soldiers has …show more content…
Child soldiers are considered a social injustice as children are not treated fairly. Children are kidnapped, and put into armies to fight in combat. They are used as sex slaves, human targets and are put into battles. If you compare how the children are treated in Uganda and how they are deprived of basic necessities of life, you can understand how they are treated unjustly. They are not treated as children but more like slaves thrown into combat. These children are victims of the inequity of this world. They are not given the resources that are needed to live a normal and happy life. Children need a safe and enjoyable environment to grow up happy and healthy, yet these kids grow up in an environment full of terror and fear. Overall, child soldiers live and unfair and unjust life, that ruins a child’s mental and physical …show more content…
They Catholic Church abides by respecting and nurturing human life. The Catholic Social Teachings can be applied to this situation as it recalls the importance of respecting others in our global community. Life and Dignity of the Human Person, is a CST that represents the respect of others in our world. It states that we are all create in the image of God and quality of life should be spread amongst all. Rights and Responsibilities, Option for the Poor and Vulnerable, The Dignity of Work and The Rights of Workers, Solidarity and Creation of Stewardship, also defend that all people, even children deserve respect. Although each Catholic Social Teaching, defends a different human right, each teachings supports an injustice that can be connected to the abuse that the children are
Capturing children and turning them into child soldiers is an increasing epidemic in Sierra Leone. Ishmael Beah, author of the memoir A Long Way Gone, speaks of his time as a child soldier. Beah was born in Sierra Leone and at only thirteen years old he was captured by the national army and turned into a “vicious soldier.” (Beah, Bio Ref Bank) During the time of Beah’s childhood, a civil war had erupted between a rebel group known as the Revolutionary United Front and the corrupt Sierra Leone government. It was during this time when the recruitment of child soldiers began in the war. Ishmael Beah recalls that when he was only twelve years old his parents and two brothers were killed by the rebel group and he fled his village. While he and his friends were on a journey for a period of months, Beah was captured by the Sierra Leonean Army. The army brainwashed him, as well as other children, with “various drugs that included amphetamines, marijuana, and brown brown.” (Beah, Bio Ref Bank) The child soldiers were taught to fight viciously and the effects of the drugs forced them to carry out kill orders. Beah was released from the army after three years of fighting and dozens of murders. Ishmael Beah’s memoir of his time as a child soldier expresses the deep struggle between his survival and any gleam of hope for the future.
...be seen as an entity that promotes vile results. However, it is imperative to understand that globalization is multilayered and difficult to fully understand. In the case of child soldiers, globalization has played a pertinent role in unifying international organizations in hopes of finding a solution to this “phenomenon”. On the other hand, although certain international organizations such as United Nations have had a prominent role in advocating against child soldiery, for the following reasons, its attempts are insufficient: it lacks the ability to enforce sanctions established within the international community and it does not do enough to recognize the political, social and economic inequalities that are prevalent in most of these fragile states. Therefore, child soldiery, cannot be eradicated until these issues are dealt with on a collective global scale.
...t they are easy to access; they are low cost, and easy to manipulate. When children are on the battlefield fighting for their lives, they become more violent and tend to do more killing than usual, raping girls, and torturing others. The armies, militia, and rebel groups recruit the children and separate the community to resist the conscription. The child is being forced to commit murder and turn against their family and friends because this proves that the child is recognized and implicated in the violence they have created. Child soldiers are known to be criminals, traitors, or even terrorists, so they would be held in military prisons. When either girl or boys are captured they go through abusive interrogation procedure, torture, isolations, rape, and death threats. These are the consequences of children being on the battlefield and shortly after being captured.
These conditions, caused by structural violence and weakened social systems, had severe consequences for all, but more so for children the children of Sierra Leone. Children make up the mass majority of the population of Sierra Leone. Because of the war, children had even less access to standardized education, they suffered immensely because of the unemploy¬ment of their parents, and thousands of children resorted to the struggle of surviving on the street (Zack-Williams, 2001). Children were preyed on by “thugs”. Soon children were unknowingly recruited as “child soldiers.” (It must be known that the term child soldier ...
After achieving economic dominance following the events of World War II, the United States and its allies in Europe began to spread their influence. Commonly referred to as “the West”, these nations impacted people all over the world through music, propaganda, and relief efforts. The United States, as a free superpower, is morally obligated to promote democracy around the world (Evinger and Montanez-Muhinda). This can easily be observed in the stories of two children, Mariatu Kamara and Ishmael Beah, whose lives are changed by a brutal civil war. Despite playing a large role in both tales, the effects of western world are much more prevalent and impactful in A Long Way Gone than in The Bite of the Mango.
As an example, in the article Child Soldiers it states “ More often than not, children have no say in whether they enlist or not and once recruited the children have become brainwashed through the use of drugs and alcohol” (Child Soldiers) As you can see, this shows how children have no control if they kill or not from either being threatened with death or being drugged. In addition, in the article The Child Soldier on Trial at Guantanamo it talks about how a child soldier got interrogated by guards where they told him he would be gang-raped and murdered if he didn’t obey (Prasow). This is another example of how these kids have to choose between life and death at such a young age. This is just one main reason why these kids deserve
"Facts About Child Soldiers." Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch, 03 Dec 2008. Web. 18 Nov 2013. .
A child soldier is a child who has been abducted and forced to fight in a conflict in which they would not typically be involved in. Child soldiers have their relatively normal childhood taken away if they are abducted. Instead of playing with the other children, they are forced to murder them. Many are forced to watch the people they once knew be tortured and they may even take part in the act. Child soldiers are internationally banned, yet many countries still utilize them to this day. Uganda is one country in which they are used. The use of children in armed combat in Uganda sheds light on the fact that the concept of power is indeed a double-edged sword.
Themes of Catholic Social Teaching, such as the Dignity of the Human Person further ensures why they are mainly focused on, due to the belief that each and every person are made in the image of God and is to be treated equally with freedom and dignity. This means that you and your neighbour, whether they are homeless or not, are to be seen as the children of God and are to be treated as such. This teaching sees these people that are “homeless” not just as a person who is without a home but also as a person experiencing stages homelessness and are to be treated with the same views and rights as any other person. By understanding the Human Rights each person is entitled to their rights in justice, rather than simply in charity.
Child soldier is a worldwide issue, but it became most critical in the Africa. Child soldiers are any children under the age of 18 who are recruited by some rebel groups and used as fighters, cooks, messengers, human shields and suicide bombers, some of them even under the aged 10 when they are forced to serve. Physically vulnerable and easily intimidated, children typically make obedient soldiers. Most of them are abducted or recruited by force, and often compelled to follow orders under threat of death. As society breaks down during conflict, leaving children no access to school, driving them from their homes, or separating them from family members, many children feel that rebel groups become their best chance for survival. Others seek escape from poverty or join military forces to avenge family members who have been killed by the war. Sometimes they even forced to commit atrocities against their own family (britjob p 4 ). The horrible and tragic fate of many unfortunate children is set on path of war murders and suffering, more nations should help to prevent these tragedies and to help stop the suffering of these poor, unfortunate an innocent children.
“Use of Children as Soldiers.” Foreign Policy in Focus. 01 Nov. 2001: 1. eLibrary. Web. 10
In a significant part of the world, there are many countries that recruit child to become soldiers against their will. Child soldiers are being utilized to commit horrendous actions that people would not believe could be done by just kids. The United States should intervene in wars where child soldiers are being used ,because they are transformed against their will,being killed and the ones who survived are more likely to become psychopaths.
“Compelled to become instruments of war, to kill and be killed, child soldiers are forced to give violent expression to the hatreds of adults” (“Child Soldiers” 1). This quotation by Olara Otunnu explains that children are forced into becoming weapons of war. Children under 18 years old are being recruited into the army because of poverty issues, multiple economic problems, and the qualities of children, however, many organizations are trying to implement ways to stop the human rights violation.
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.
The Life and Dignity of the Human Person is a principle of the Catholic Social Teaching which is the foundation of all of the principles. It states that “all human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society.” Youth homelessness is just one issue that is clearly in breach of the life and dignity of the human person, as these ‘young people’ are either voluntarily or involuntarily without a home. As a result, they may also ...