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Essay about child labor during the war
Essay about child labor during the war
Essay about child labor during the war
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Uganda is located in East Africa and is separated into three main parts- a dessert region, a plateau, and swampy lowlands. This country is bordered by Rwanda and Tanzania from the south, on the east by Kenya, on the west by Congo, and on the north by Sudan. Ugandans military systems are run mostly by the savage Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA is located in the northern part of Uganda and consists of a total estimate of 45,000 soldiers of which 15,000 of them soldiers are children aged five to sixteen. Uganda military personnel take control of children aged between five and up, and mold them into a creation of destruction to protect the people of Uganda. Many children between the ages of five and twelve have witnessed traumatic occasions that no child of that age should even imagine happening in reality.
“I’ll die happy if the first bullet kills me- I will die for the freedom of Kosova,” says sixteen year old Elinda Muriqie (Mazurana). Elinda was one of the many abducted children at a young age. LRA’s keep a three step system in order to brainwash young children into becoming part of the force in Uganda, if they refuse to go then the soldiers will kidnap the child no matter how old the child is. The first step in brainwashing the children is to abandon all hope of returning home (Mazurana). After hope is lost in the mind of the child, then the soldier must make the child be blooded by the act of a murder, which in this case is meaning the soldier must make the child be enthused by the action taken for murder (Mazurana). The last step for brainwashing the child is making the child have his/her own sense of esteem (Mazurana). In order for a child to be part of the military in Uganda, he/she must learn the ways of operations in...
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... Child Soldiers.” Military Review. 01 May 2003: 26. eLibrary. Web. 10 Apr. 2014
Stephan, Crane. “Works of Stephen Crane: Red Badge Of Courage: Chapters 3 – 5.” MacMillian General Reference, 1963. eLibrary. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
Storr, Will. “Once the Killing Stops, The Nightmares Begin; The Child Soldiers Forced to Fight for Uganda’s Rebels have seen and done Terrible Things. But what Happens when they Grow up and Go Home?” Sunday Telegraph (London, England). 09 Feb. 2014: 12. eLibrary. Web.10 Apr. 2014
Uganda, Tom. “Charles was only 12 when He was Forced to Shoot a Man and Eat his Brain After Years of Killing, He just wants a Normal Life with his Mum ; Tragedy of Uganda’s Kidnapped Child Soldiers Exclusive.” Daily Mirror. 16 Sep. 2013: 30. eLibrary. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
“Use of Children as Soldiers.” Foreign Policy in Focus. 01 Nov. 2001: 1. eLibrary. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
The Red Badge of Courage and The Blue Hotel: The Singular Love of Stephen Crane
Schroeder, John W. "Stephen Crane Embattled," University of Kansas City Review, XVII (Winter 1950), 119 Rpt. in
“Child Soldiers Global Report 2001- Sierra Leone.” refworld. Child Soldiers International, 2001. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.
Since the end of the Cold War, the recruitment of child soldiers has been recognized as an increasingly global phenomenon. Although the majority of the relatively recent child soldier recruitment cases have developed from armed conflicts in Africa, by the beginning of the new millennium the trend increased globally, appearing on nearly every continent, including Asia, Europe and the Americas. The prevalence of this practice has turned it into a much talked about international issue. The aim of this paper is to look at how this issue is influenced and even aggravated by globalization. More specifically, it will be argued that globalization, expressed through the existence of international organizations, such as the United Nations, have been ineffective in putting a stop to child soldiery and that globalization, defined by the interconnectedness of world economies has lead to underdevelopment and therefore exasperated conflict and as a result child soldiery.
That is why we need strong men and boys to help us fight these guys, so what we can keep this village safe. You are free to leave, because we only want people here who can cook, prepare ammunition, and fight '"(106). The soldier continues to speak as if they know the orphans want to protect the families and not letting the children experience what they had experienced. [?] “‘This is your time to revenge the deaths of your families and to make sure more children do not lose their families’” (106).
Machel, Graca & Sebastian Salgado. The Impact of War on Children. London: C. Hurst, 2001.
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.
Throughout the world children younger than 18 are being enlisted into the armed forces to fight while suffering through multiple abuses from their commanders. Children living in areas and countries that are at war are seemingly always the ones being recruited into the armed forces. These children are said to be fighting in about 75 percent of the world’s conflicts with most being 14 years or younger (Singer 2). In 30 countries around the world, the number of boys and girls under the age of 18 fighting as soldiers in government and opposition armed forces is said to be around 300,000 (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 1). These statistics are clearly devastating and can be difficult to comprehend, since the number of child soldiers around the world should be zero. Furthermore, hundreds of thousands adolescent children are being or have been recruited into paramilitaries, militias and non-state groups in more than 85 countries (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 1). This information is also quite overwhelming. Child soldiers are used around the world, but in some areas, the numbers are more concentrated.
In Wendy Glauser’s Northern Uganda Cautiously Courts Freedom as Peace Talks Progress (http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/1675/northern-uganda-cautiously-courts-freedom-as-peace-talks-progress), negotiations between the Ugandan government and the LRA are discussed. Time after time, Joseph Kony has been given opportunities to sign peace treaties but he has denied. Now that these negotiations have been going on for quite some time now, more and more people are willing to give in to Kony’s conditions to ensure peace than they were before.
Africa has been described as “the world’s most silent crisis.” They’ve been labeled this because African’s have struggled with child soldiers for many years. Child soldiers are used all throughout Africa. That includes Mozambique, Somalia, Congo and Uganda. The Central African Region (CAR) is the most known vicinity that employs child soldiers due to the viral video released in 2012, by an organization called “The Invisible Children”. The focus of this video was on the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army leader, Joseph Kony. The video helped spread awareness about child soldiers but there are many other places that use child soldiers that are not talked about. This has been an issue for nearly 20 years. There’re places in the world where children are being abducted and coerced into becoming fighters at very young ages. Young adults should not just understand how this is happening, but why and how to help. Children should not have to worry about whether they are going to be abducted at night and have to kill their friends and family the next day. Children becoming soldiers in Africa has been an issue for far too long and needs to be stopped.
In 1987 a small group called the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) emerged in Northern Uganda. The corrupt leader of the group is named Joseph Kony, who declares himself a prophet and messenger of the spirits. The goal of Kony and the LRA is unclear as they claim they are looking for “peace” yet their actions would prove otherwise. Over the course of around 20 years, groups unders Konys command have killed thousands and displaced up to 40,000 people (Scott Johnson). When the LRA was at its prime, it had thousands of active troops throughout Northern Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, as well as asas South Sudan, where they trained most of their army. Kony had many troops that followed him, however a vast majority
Wells, Karen C.. "Children and youth at war." Childhood in a global perspective. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2009. 152. Print.
Over the course of 20 plus years, Uganda has relied mostly on their army to keep the LRA under control, however, this was not always successful. Outside of the war, their help with former soldiers has been somewhat effective. Programs such as Gulu Support the Children Organisation (GSCO) was created to help former soldiers recover and get back on their feet. This center provides rehabilitation and therapy for women and children affected by the LRA. These centers have been said to help allow ex soldiers to become mentally stable once more. One of the employees at these centers said that “We are [happy] because these centres are still relevant and doing the good work of receiving, counselling and even treating the injured children and older returnees, [and fostering amicable co-existence with these people [former rebels] who once tormented them” (Alobi). Unfortunately, due to lack of funds, several of these centers have been shut down. Besides GSCO, the only said the former soldiers receive is from the Ugandan government. The items given to these victims include a small amount of money, a mattress, blanket, hoe, cups, and growing seeds (Now people call me killer). This has been seen as ineffective because the soldiers still lack the rehabilitation they require, and the country is wasting money on a temporary fix
If a child goes to war and the rest of the world never notices, then it seems as though their life does not matter. The small African country of Sierra Leone was left devastated due to a civil war in the 1990s, and needed help from outside countries, including the United States. This war caused the children of Sierra Leone to fall victim to the horrifying violence. As the United States became even more powerful in the 90s, the state of Sierra Leone diminished into a helpless post-war country. Due to the traumatic war, the children of Sierra Leone were left with a more consequential life compared to American children.
The overriding challenge Uganda faces today is the curse of poverty. Poverty, ‘the lack of something”(“Poverty.”), something can be materials, knowledge, or anything one justifies as necessary to living. Associated with poverty is the question of what causes poverty and how to stop poverty? The poverty rate in Uganda has declined from the year 2002 from the year 2009, which shows the percent of residents living in poverty has decreasing. Yet, the year is 2014 and the poverty rate could have drastically changed over the course of five years. One could assume the poverty rate would continue to decrease, which would be astounding and beneficial, but does poverty ever decrease enough to an acceptable level or even nonexistence? Poverty is a complex issue that continues to puzzle people from all across the globe. Poverty could possible be a question that is never truly answered.