Cause [ Child Soldiery ]
Imagine: when you were 9 years old, they forced you to watch while they raped and butchered your mom. They forced you to ingest gun-powder and blood. They twisted and abused your young mind until you broke. Now you rape and butcher other people’s moms.
International groups and governments began to look at child-soldiery in earnest in 1996 when the United Nations commissioned research on the impact of armed conflicts on children. The study reports that children are increasingly “…being sucked into a desolate moral vacuum. This is a space devoid of the most basic human values; a space in which children are slaughtered, raped and maimed; a space in which children are exploited as soldiers; a space in which children are starved and exposed to extreme brutality.” (Graca Machel, The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children)
The International Labor Organization claims that the world is witnessing a "trend in the form of more than 300,000 children actively involved in armed conflicts” (Brett and Specht, Young Soldiers and Why They Choose to Fight). Both World Vision and the above mentioned UN study confirm that children are currently fighting in government or rebel armies in about 30 different conflicts around the world. Children make good soldiers because they rarely challenge orders, they’re in abundant supply, and they adapt quickly to the military lifestyle for a very low cost.
According to Machel, there are many reasons that children become soldiers: “Some are conscripted, others are press-ganged or kidnapped, and still others are forced to join armed groups to defend their families...Children themselves may volunteer if they believe that this is the only way to guarantee regular meals, clothing or medical attention. Some case studies tell of parents who encourage their daughters to become soldiers if their marriage prospects are poor.”
Please read the following excerpt from Sunday Obote’s account in A War On Children, by D. H. Dunson:
“In a calculated way the rebels tried to destroy the humane instincts of these young children in order to turn them into efficient killing machines… ’When we reached the road we joined a bigger group. There were about 50 children our age. The next morning one of the children called Odoki tried to escape. He was caught by the guards posted half a kilometer from the spot where we spent the night. This was the scariest thing I saw. Odoki was brought before us all. The commander said: ‘We will prove to you that we don’t like children who try to escape. This boy will die in front of you here because he tried to escape.’ Odoki was then hit on the head with a big axe. He was dead but they continued to hit him until you could not recognize he was human.’ They were warned not to cry for him.”
While discussing forced marches, Obote remembers, “Some children became too tired to walk and simply fell down on the ground. We were ordered to beat them to death…a line of 200 or 300 people all beating one fallen child. The last person in the line would beat scattered pieces of human body.”
We are working to leverage resources behind prevention, disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration for these kids. We need more people who believe that war should not be a child’s best option for survival. Help us change the course of history.
Read full-length systems analysis of the forces behind child-soldiery.
