Child Soldier Paper

Submitted By fivedialogues
Words: 894
Pages: 4
Open Document
Tony Hsu
English 104
September 24, 2013
Child Soldier Rehabilitation “We went from children who were afraid of gunshots to now children who were gunshots.” - Ishmael Beah, former child soldier.
The conscription of child soldiers happens all around the world and their degree of use is internationally sanctioned at varying grades of acceptability. The combat usages of children are authorized in some countries despite the practice being highly unethical. Up to half of the world’s child soldiers are in Africa and as many as 200,000 child soldiers are still affected by military influence. Many of these children are “invisible children,” orphaned by AIDS, violence and war. Michael Odeh, a Senior Research Assistant at Youth Advocate Program, states that, “children are easy to recruit because of their vulnerability and naiveté, but are often neglected once the conflict is over or when they leave the group.” For most of them, they will not have the chance to reintegrate back into the community but the fortunate few are rescued by government militias and are given a process of rehabilitation. In the Journal of International Policy Solutions author Aaron Young tackles the major issues of child soldiers around the world. UNICEF identifies three overlapping phases of "turning a child soldier back into a child." The first is disarmament and demobilization, which involves identifying child soldiers and taking them physically out of the military environment. The second phase is physical and psychological rehabilitation.
Former child soldiers are frequently in poor physical condition and have sustained massive psychological trauma as a result of their military experience and age. The third and final phase is reintegration with families and the community. The entire process of rehabilitation may take months, if not years, to complete. Young states that the Ugandan government, in collaboration with international organizations, has set up psychological counseling programs for former child soldiers. The program aims to reintegrate the children back into their own respective families and communities. These measures have had a mixed success. Children who have been released, rescued and escaped from the LRA are usually brought to the nearest army detachment and sent to the army's Child Protection Unit. From the CPU, they are taken to one of the rehabilitation centers in various cities. This specialized approach is based on the assumption that the trauma experienced by child soldiers requires individualized care in a specific setting before reunited with their families. This method focuses on providing medical care to the children, tracing their families, and getting them to participate in "psychosocial" programs before being released into their communities. According to Young, when child soldiers are identified, the international community can use local and community-based methods to demobilize, rehabilitate, and reintegrate them. There is no one right way to rehabilitate or reintegrate former child soldiers, but the international community can most effectively implement an effective approach towards this process. International organizations and states should focus on providing community and family members with the resources and assistance they need to successfully reunite and reintegrate former child solders with their communities.
The 18-year old rebellion of the Lord’s Resistance Army against the government has forced over 1.6 million Ugandans to flee and the refugees are neglected in overcrowded camps in order to escape random attacks and killings. The disturbing aspect of this war is the fact that this is fought by children on children; minors make up almost 90% of the LRA’s soldiers. Some recruits are as young as eight and are
Show More

Related Documents: Child Soldier Paper

Research Paper On Child Soldiers

Title of Research Paper By Your First and Last Name College Prep English 4 Ms. McClung 3 March 2015 Research Notes Source Information (Parenthetical Reference) Quotations or paraphrased passages Summary of Source and Insights (BBC) More than 9,000 child soldiers have been fighting in South Sudan's brutal civil war, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay has said. (War Child) There are an estimated 250,000 child soldiers in the world today. As part of their recruitment, children…

Words 1140 - Pages 5

Child Soldiers Research Paper

Committee Name: United Nation Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Committee Topic: Child Soldiers Country Name: Republic of Iraq A. Defined by the United Nations, a child soldier is someone under 18 years old who is or was in a government or non-governmental army, and jobs include fighting, cooking, and being a sexual slave. Reasons a child becomes a soldier are that he or she are in need of food or medical supplies, want to avenge the death of his or her family members, and sometimes to have a false…

Words 644 - Pages 3

Child Soldiers Research Paper

Having enough people in the military is always a problem, but it should not be solved by using kids as soldiers. Child soldiers are not used in the U.S., but it is a problem in many other countries. Child soldiers are victims because they can’t control what happens to them, adults take advantage of them being young, and they are punished if they do something wrong. Child soldiers can’t control what happens to them because they are too young to stand up for themselves. They are scared of the consequences…

Words 475 - Pages 2

Child Soldiers Research Paper

What is Child Soldiers ? Military use of children also known as child soldiers, is anyone under the age of eighteen who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity. There are approximately 250,000 child soldiers in the world with 40% of them being girls. Most rebel groups use child soldiers in order to fight the government however some governments also use child soldiers in armed conflict for their own benefit. Child soldiers are not only used as fighters…

Words 1961 - Pages 8

Child Soldiers Research Paper

How much does the average American know about Child Soldiers? The use of Child Soldiers was brought to awareness to Americans in the mid­90’s. Child Soldiers are being used because the lack of leaders wanting to spend money.It just happens to be cheaper taking children away from their familes and use them as a Child Soldier, as compared to hiring and paying an adult. The countries that currently still use Child Soldiers include: Columbia, Congo, India, Iraq,Israel ,Thailand ,Somalia ,Sudan…

Words 757 - Pages 4

Child Soldiers Essay

Child Soldiers: A Detestable Phenomenon Marc Gilker Child Soldiers: A Detestable Phenomenon Conflict affects every person on the planet, whether it is a smaller conflict, such as at home or in the workplace, or a large conflict like War between two nations, it is safe to say every person on Earth has been affected by some sort of conflict. Civil War’s have been occurring throughout history, and the issue I am going to be discussing in this paper is, the use of child soldiers in civil and…

Words 338 - Pages 2

The Pros And Cons Of Child Soldiers

Child soldiers are children below 18 years of age who are recruited by a state or non-state armed group. They are used as fighters, suicide bombers, cooks, human shields, messengers, spies, or for sexual purposes (11 Facts About Child Soldiers). The global use of children in armed conflicts by rebel forces and governments is one of the most horrifying trends in wars today. However, justice systems struggle to determine whether child soldiers are really the perpetrators or the victims. Child soldiers…

Words 891 - Pages 4

Rhetorical Analysis Of 'When Child Soldiers Grow Up'

Child soldiers are children under the age of 18 who are used in the military for any source of benefit. Child soldiers worldwide have become a huge issue, leading to many unnecessary deaths as well as lifelong mental trauma. Many children get brought into war under the age of 10 without any other options, and both boys and girls are subjected to the traumatic experience of war. This is an issue that dozens of countries have taken part in, making it an extremely important global issue. An article…

Words 1006 - Pages 5

Child Soldier Argumentative Essay

into being child soldiers from the age of eight. ~Sir Roger Moore~ I have learned about an issue that is affecting people or the ex-child soldiers. People have been debating if child soldiers are victims or predators. Child soldiers are being blamed for being in the war and killing people. Child soldiers don’t have a say in if they are to blame for being in the war. The children had no option in the war so therefore are the victims and not the predators. Some may say that the child soldiers know what…

Words 1365 - Pages 6

Essay on Sources Practice

shudder, not the author’s boilerplate prose. It is a vision of hell that Beah gives us, one worthy of Hieronymus Bosch, but as though depicted in primary colors by a naïve artist. 2 Source B Gberie, Lansana. "Writing on Child Soldiers.". N.p., 16 May 2007. Web. 29 May 2014. . The following is a photo of a young Zimbabwan boy holding a…

Words 2255 - Pages 10