Argumentative Essay: Why Children To Join The Military

It’s estimated 300,000 child soldiers are still in the world today in at least twenty countries. Sierra Leone was just one of them. Forcing AK-47’s on children in the midst of war (1991-2002.) Adults once forced to be a child soldiers still have vivid, traumatic memories from their brainwashed childhood. They have their innocent childhoods taken away from being on the front lines of combat & have to grieve for the separation from their family. It’s key for everyone to understand what children are going through in other countries not as fortunate as yours.

It is common for child soldiers had no choice in joining war efforts. Often child are kidnapped and forced into the war: “It is estimated that over the last 15 years 10,000 children have been abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) around Gula in northern Uganda, alone” (Children in Conflict). In places where poverty is high parents may send their children into the war in exchange for food or monetary value (Children as Soldiers). During Hitler’s reign, young boys were forced to attend Hitler Youth: “Membership in the State Youth becomes mandatory. The boys in Werner’s kameradschaften are taught parade maneuvers and quizzed on fitness standards and required to run sixty meters in twelve seconds. Everything is glory and country and competition and sacrifice” (Doerr 62). Children in wars are also subjected to sexual abuse from adult soldiers around them. The emotional impact from the sexual abuse and the highly dangerous situations they are placed in may last for the rest of their lives (Child Soldier 46). The use of child soldiers has been banned since 2000 when the United Nations adopted a protocol stating that the forced recruitment of children under 18 for armed conflict is illegal. More than 110 countries have ratified this protocol, but it continues to be an issue around the world (Facts About Child

War, in and of itself, is an atrocity, but it becomes even more abhorrent when children are pulled into the conflict. Unfortunately, some military groups find children useful in the war effort. The wars these children are forced to be part of often leave wounds--both psychological and physical, but these kids can be healed, at least to an extent, and rehabilitated. Children are often used in war because it is easy and efficient to use them as compared to their adult counterparts. For one, children are easy to control, coerce, and indoctrinate.

A lot of the children interviewed within the first chapter of Peter W. Singer’s book Children at War are under the age of 12. They speak of torturing people in the most horrific of ways. Such as when joining the paramilitaries, A., age twelve, states that the first thing they make you do is kill someone. A random person is picked for the recruits to chop off his hands and arms. It is important to realize however, that not all of these child soldiers are as young as 7. Singer explains that a “A ‘child soldier’ is generally defined (under both international law and common practice) as any person under eighteen years of age who is engaged in deadly combat or combat support as part of an armed force or group.” What is most horrendous is

These children are forced to leave parents and loved ones to join the army for a long period of time. Nick Taussig, author of the article “Innocence lost: The Child Soldiers Forced to Murder,” interviewed a former child soldier named Ojok, and his tragedy childhood. Ojok expressed his feelings and memories of how he was dragged, and beaten, when forced to become a child soldier. Ojok was taken in the middle of the night, without knowing, and with only his shirt and underpants. He suffered walking 12 hours straight, without food, just water, and this horror continued for 3 days.

“Children might feel that they have to protect themselves in any way possible, if the official state structure, community, or family cannot; by perceiving to have no choice, they might try to run away the violence and abuse around them, and enlisting might become a perceived means of survival for them.” “The most common traumatic life events of those who had been abducted were forced to skin, chop, or cook dead bodies, forced to eat human flesh, and forced to loot property and burn houses”. Child soldiers might act more harshly than normal at things. “Many children that are involved in armed conflict are not cognitively mature enough to comprehend the seriousness of what they are being made to do. This immaturity makes them less likely to contradict orders and more likely to be fearless” “What the children go through in the formative years of their lives will have lasting effects on their personality, and livelihood later

The mere idea of a child under the age of eighteen being directly affected by war is unimaginable. However, it has happened and is still happening, and the effects these children confront in the aftermath is awful. When a country is participating in a war, it creates an environment that is psychologically more damaging to boys than girls.

* Child soldiers > * Some facts > * Why children join > * Voices of young soldiers > * Developments > * International Standards > * DDR > * Committee on the Rights of the Child > * Government armed forces > * Armed groups > * Frequently asked questions >

Greater attention and action against the worldwide use of child soldiers need to be addressed by the world community because children are being forced out of their homes, traumatized by all of the killings and dying surrounding them and they are being starved and beaten. Today, there are thousands of children involved in these armed jobs all around the world. There is an estimated 3,000 children, many under 16, including 500 girls in the army. (“Child Soldiers”)

while talking to Gettleman (Packet Page 8). This explains that the children are used to and like to use guns. This can result in them using guns on other people who didn’t do anything. Lastly, Gettleman states that the child soldiers are very loyal (Packet page 6). What this Make clear is that no matter how old the children get, they will probably stay with the people they fight with which may result in them fighting again.

Child soldiers are found throughout history again and again. Child soldiers have been conscripted to war, kidnapped to participate in war-like acts, and even volunteered for these wars. Often, the children did not know what they were volunteering for. They were excited for the fun, exciting uniforms; they were excited to be a part of something bigger, and to feel like adults.

These children are trained to kill, they don’t get to have the childhood they need. Immediately after they join the army the are thrown into training, their education completely abandoned. Being taught to kill at such a young age is something no child should have to go through, but these kids do so. These kids are forced to watched videos of executions and suicide bombers, even executing some prisoners themselves. In the article “Prosecuting Child Soldiers for their Own Safety” by Stephen Leahly, he writes about how children are told to kill someone in their own family or be killed themselves.

War has affected many people, and in those countries that war has reached it has left many obstacles to overcome. Children and their parents have been affected greatly. Children that live in poverty, children that have lost a parent, lack basic necessities, are often forced to fight in wars and become child soldiers. Children are of described as someone who is under the age of eighteen, but in reality a child is a young person dependent on an adult. Child soldiers are faced with very difficult decisions that can be very traumatic to someone at that age.Child soldiers are often taken advantage of, being sexually assaulted or have been forced to kill people. They can be haunted by the decisions they make during their time as a soldier and

Around 120,000 adolescent children are now engaged in conflicts throughout Africa (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 4). In Sudan, for instance, thousands of children, some as young as 12, were recruited against their will into separatist and government groups (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 5). Thousands more children have been enlisted into the armed forces throughout Asia and the Pacific. The most significant numbers are in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and recently, Cambodia. Myanmar, a country in Asia, has some of the most child soldiers throughout the world, with children being recruited into both non-government and government armed forces (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 6). The number of child soldiers has been decreasing annually, but these children are still being taken against their will.

Children in armed conflicts is when a child under the age of 18 has been recruited into an armed group by force where they are then be used as spies, fighters, messengers, cooks, and many more things. More than 100,000 kids have been forced into joining these armed groups. Consequently, minors working in these armed groups may come from a substandard life when they are recruited. They are then pressured into committing acts of violence. They could have also been beaten up and abused, as well as being forced into taking drugs and other harmful substances. Some kids join armed forces