Child Soldiers

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Child Soldiers

• UNICEF Definitionany child boy or girl
  under 18 years of age, who is part of any kind of
  regular or irregular armed force or armed group
  in any capacity, including, but not limited to
  cooks, porters, messengers, and anyone
  accompanying such groups other than family
  members. It includes girls and boys recruited
  for sexual purposes and/or forced marriage.
• The definition, therefore, does not only refer to
  a child who is carrying, or has carried, a weapon.

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Who recruits children and how do they get away
with it?

• Both government and arms bearing non-government
  agencies
• Most rampant in Africa and Asia
• 15 to be recruited according to UN Rights of the
  Child
• Trying to get it changed to 18
• Sometimes the Non-Government Agencies are more
  powerful than government agencies and they are
  harder to stop.

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How they get children to cooperate

• Some are drugged or given alcohol so they will
  obey
• Others are beaten or threatened into submission
• Still there are others who join voluntarily.
  These childrens families have been killed, they
  have nowhere to go, no food or shelter.
  Recruitment offers them a family, food and
  shelter, much like a gang. They feel accepted.

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Why children and what are they forced to do?

• Not only are children obedient, but they can be
  forced into doing anything.
• Other military or armed groups are less likely to
  shoot at a child than an adult.
• Children are forced to kill other children trying
  to escape
• Some children are brought in for the sole purpose
  of being sex slaves. Mostly girls who are more
  susceptible to rape and abuse by not only the
  adults, but the other children as well.

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Whos responsible?

• Should children be held accountable for their
  actions?
• Where there is alcohol, harassment, and drugs the
  children will not be held accountable
• What about the children who volunteer? They seem
  to know what theyre doing. The right and wrong
  of situation.
• No matter what situation the child was recruited
  under, the child is still a child. Their rights
  were taken away and many were forced to commit
  atrocities no child should ever be subjected to.
• Convention on Child Rights does not give a
  specific age at which children can be held
  criminally responsible, so we guess?
• The person who will be held responsible is the
  person in charge of the soldiers through the
  legal doctrine of command responsibility.

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What can we do?

• Awareness is a key issue
• (Community as well as political leaders)
• Rehabilitation instead of punishment for the
  children
• The children who are put through this ordeal need
  to be given appropriate help, whether it be
  psychological or physical.

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