Introduction
A child generally is a human who is between the two stages in life, which are birth stage and puberty stages. Therefore, a child is a minor since he or she is younger than majority age. A child is any human who is below eighteen years of age. The age of responsibilities of children varies from community to community. The societies consider children responsible for the society bound actions that is, actions such as voting, marriage, and working among others at different ages. In addition, children in various societies have different ages of criminal activities. Under the common law, a child who is under the age of seven years was assumed incapable of committing any crime.
Children have their rights where the rights of care and special protection are given particular attention. It is the right of children not to be abused, exploited, neglected, or discriminated. The presence of children soldiers is a form of abusing the right of protection of the child. It is the right of every child to attend school and to live a life that is free from violence. It is unequivocally wrong to use kids as soldiers as this constitutes breach of children rights (David 109).
Throughout the world, it is estimated that there are 250,000 child soldiers, of whom 40% are girls. Child soldiers are used by the rebel groups to fight the governments but in some instances, some governments use them in armed conflicts. “Not all of these children are used in active combat; others are used as spies, porters, and cooks. Children in some instances forced to maim or kill a member of their family” (Graça 19). This is used by their trainers to break the bonds between these children and their communities so that it becomes difficult for them to return to their homes.
African continent has the largest population of children soldiers where they are being used in countries like Chad, Sudan, Somalia, and Democratic Republic of Congo and in the Republic of Central Africa. There are various reasons why children are used as soldiers. One of the reasons is that they are easier to brainwash and condition as compared to adults this means that compared to adults they are easy to manipulate. They also do not need a lot of money in payment and do not consume much food. In addition, their sense of danger is underdeveloped meaning that it is easier to send them into line of fire. In many countries that are affected by conflicts, children population is large hence; the supply of recruits is constant.
Therefore, recruiting children to become soldiers is a form of abuse that should be fought with all means. “The International Criminal Court is at the forefront to prosecute anyone who violates this right. This is evidenced by the recent prosecution that was given to Sierra Leone’s former president Charles Taylor who was sentenced for 50 years for using child soldiers” (Graça 16). We should not have child soldiers due to a number of reasons.
Firstly, children soldiers do not get their right of education. Most of them miss out of school for many years. This makes them to have very little prospects in future and in most cases, since they do not have a place where they can feed themselves they only return to those rebel groups. This exploitation destroys the lives of innocent children who would have become important people in the society if they had been educated.
Another reason why we should not have child soldiers is that they are excommunicated from their families. As stated earlier, these children during recruitment are forced to kill their family members hence even when they escape or are set free they cannot go back to their homes. In addition, girls get children during the time they are in wars hence their families and communities refuse to accept them back at home (David 109). This makes their lives more miserable by curtailing their association with their biological parents.
Their involvement in wars also damages them psychologically for life. They are trained to kill and this makes them to be ill psychologically. They are also given drugs which in one way or another damage them. In addition, these child soldiers become victims of conflict. “Children become victims either through becoming homeless, disabled, or psychologically traumatized or through being killed” (Glazer 382). Their lives are negatively affected.
Child soldiers are also made to become drug addicts. These drugs are given to them so that they overcome reluctant to fight and their fear. This affects their lives as they completely depend on drugs. Therefore, their lives become miserable as they need a constant supply of these drugs and since they lack resources to get the drugs, they engage themselves in various crimes such as theft, killing among other bad crimes. “Solid statistics are hard to come by, however, as most armies and militia do not want to admit to their use of child soldiers” (Graça 16).
Finally, these children are exposed to atrocities that include beheadings, rapes, and amputations. Girl soldiers are raped and used as sex workers. Their lives are also affected negatively as these effects are felt for very long times even after the physical scars that they get in wars have healed. This in addition affects them psychologically for life. “Many people have been physically or sexually abuse by the very forces for which children have been fighting, and have seen their parents killed, sometimes in the most brutal manner, in front of their eyes” (Glazer 380).
Therefore, there is an urging need for all to be at fore front in stopping our children from being trained to become soldiers. This heinous act has many effects in our children and this is the reason why the United Nations plays an imperative role in ensuring that our children rights are not violated. If all people are going to be against child solders, this will be a forgotten thing.
Work Cited
Graça, Machel. "Children at Both Ends of the Gun," In Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, United Nations/Unicef, 1996,
Glazer, Ilsa M. Armies of the Young: Child Soldiers in War and Terrorism Anthropological Quarterly - Volume 79, Number 2, spring 2006, pp. 373-384
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