Whenever we think of war, we imagine rows of uniformed soldiers marching in step, or tanks and armoured vehicles traveling in convoy, but the last thing that came to our mind in relation to war is “children”. Unfortunately, in this cruel world, unimaginable things do happen. The harsh reality is that the majority of wars today are intrastate conflicts fought with small arms. According to the “Child Soldiers Global Report 2008”, whenever such conflicts take place, a large number of those fighters are children. It is really painful to imagine a picture of a child brandishing an AK-47 assault rifle or a rocket-powered grenade launcher, which becomes a reality now. Unfortunately, there are children who not only have to witness the violence of war, but also have to take active part in it.
Children soldiers are beneficiary, sometimes necessity for the militant groups as in some countries, the adult population is severely diminished because of war and disease. As a result, a large proportion of the population being comprised of children under eighteen and they were used as soldiers to fill the ranks. Also, children are easy to divert with accordance to the militants’ needs as they are innocent and obedient and reported fearless in battle. Unfortunate for the children who are being dragged to this cruelty and are forced to partake in military operations and to commit atrocities against their own people, all for the benefit of their captors. It is undoubtedly clear that these children are victims of slavery. However, some children chose to join the ranks of militant groups, which also contributes to the continuing use of child soldiers. There are many other reasons for the children to choose to join the ranks of militant groups, some of them, belonging from poor, conflict ravaged states, find themselves homeless, family-less or, somehow faced any extreme situation and therefore it became easier for the militant groups to brain-wash them. Most of them often join groups to exact revenge on those who destroyed their families.Regardless of whether those children need to specifically take an interest in armed conflict or not, laws that aims to protect them from such participation have been only reasonably effective at best. There can be two possible reasons behind this low rate of success: ambiguous language in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and difficulties associated with implementing Western ideas of childhood on non-Western states. The CRC states, “Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons who have not attained the age of fifteen years do not take a direct part in hostilities” and instead of prohibiting this strictly, they also mentioned recruitment of children between ages fifteen and eighteen should begin with the oldest first. Because of this, those groups have continued to get away with such a crime.
Rehabilitation and reintegration are also serious hurdles for child soldiers. The psychological needs of each child are different depending on that child’s experience as a soldier. Besides medical and psychological care, former child soldiers also need training and education. They need to be taught skills in order to join the workforce and to become productive members of society. Many states do not have the resources to provide for such services which forces the former child soldiers to turn back to the crime world for survival. Humanitarian groups want to adopt a policy, which would prohibit the use of children under eighteen in armed conflict. In the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child involved in Armed Conflict, the age for recruitment is raised. Even if the states agree to abide by a set of rules that strictly prohibits the recruitment, child soldiers will continue to exist their use. This problem could be stopped only when it is no longer beneficial for militant groups to recruit child soldiers, and when children in poor states will have plenty of other options besides joining these militant groups. The children are the future of the society and therefore, it’s our duty to protect their innocence from this evil.
Children soldiers are beneficiary, sometimes necessity for the militant groups as in some countries, the adult population is severely diminished because of war and disease. As a result, a large proportion of the population being comprised of children under eighteen and they were used as soldiers to fill the ranks. Also, children are easy to divert with accordance to the militants’ needs as they are innocent and obedient and reported fearless in battle. Unfortunate for the children who are being dragged to this cruelty and are forced to partake in military operations and to commit atrocities against their own people, all for the benefit of their captors. It is undoubtedly clear that these children are victims of slavery. However, some children chose to join the ranks of militant groups, which also contributes to the continuing use of child soldiers. There are many other reasons for the children to choose to join the ranks of militant groups, some of them, belonging from poor, conflict ravaged states, find themselves homeless, family-less or, somehow faced any extreme situation and therefore it became easier for the militant groups to brain-wash them. Most of them often join groups to exact revenge on those who destroyed their families.Regardless of whether those children need to specifically take an interest in armed conflict or not, laws that aims to protect them from such participation have been only reasonably effective at best. There can be two possible reasons behind this low rate of success: ambiguous language in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and difficulties associated with implementing Western ideas of childhood on non-Western states. The CRC states, “Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons who have not attained the age of fifteen years do not take a direct part in hostilities” and instead of prohibiting this strictly, they also mentioned recruitment of children between ages fifteen and eighteen should begin with the oldest first. Because of this, those groups have continued to get away with such a crime.
Rehabilitation and reintegration are also serious hurdles for child soldiers. The psychological needs of each child are different depending on that child’s experience as a soldier. Besides medical and psychological care, former child soldiers also need training and education. They need to be taught skills in order to join the workforce and to become productive members of society. Many states do not have the resources to provide for such services which forces the former child soldiers to turn back to the crime world for survival. Humanitarian groups want to adopt a policy, which would prohibit the use of children under eighteen in armed conflict. In the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child involved in Armed Conflict, the age for recruitment is raised. Even if the states agree to abide by a set of rules that strictly prohibits the recruitment, child soldiers will continue to exist their use. This problem could be stopped only when it is no longer beneficial for militant groups to recruit child soldiers, and when children in poor states will have plenty of other options besides joining these militant groups. The children are the future of the society and therefore, it’s our duty to protect their innocence from this evil.
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