Child Soldiers and the International Community - Research Paper Example

Child Soldiers and the International Community of Your Contents Introduction 3 Reasons for the Use of Child Soldiers in Armed Conflict 3 Trends in Child Soldier Recruitment and Utilization 5 Disadvantages of Child Soldier Usage and Dangers to Society 6 Challenges in Controlling the Use of Child Soldiers 7 Recommendations for the Elimination of Child Soldiers 8 Conclusion 9 Bibliography 11 Introduction The term child solider refers to any person below the age of 18 who has been recruited or used in any capacity in an armed group or armed force (Drumbl, 2012). The United Nations’ law forbids the mobilization and use of such persons in armed conflicts anywhere in the world. However, in spite of this prohibition, an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 children were actively involved in armed conflicts around the world between the years 1988 and 2002 (Gates & Reich, 2010, p. 55). There is therefore a question of why child soldiers exist around the world. This leads to questions of why the international community struggles to control the problem of child soldiers. Finally, there is the question of whether there are recommendations for improvement or not. This research paper examines the issue of child soldiers around the world. It will critically evaluate the trends in the development and radicalization of child soldiers and why it is so difficult to control this process. Finally, the research paper will seek to deduce recommendations on how the issue of child soldiers can be handled in the international community. Reasons for the Use of Child Soldiers in Armed Conflict Evidence exist that child soldiers have been used in wars for hundreds of years (Gates & Reich, 2010). This was the norm because most communities sought to recruit as many people as possible from within those communities to win wars. The Second World War was fought with the use of young men in various capacities, and a typical example is the Hitler Youth, which was an organization for the recruitment of teenage boys to handle various roles in the Axis side of the war (Drumbl, 2012). The main reason identified for the use of child soldiers is that it is cheap to acquire such soldiers and give them very little (Dallaire, 2011). This is because wars are expensive. And in every war, there is the need to acquire logistics and human resources. This indicates that every armed group in a conflict will need to have sufficient funds to pay for all these things. Hiring adult soldiers come with high costs. This is because adults have obligations and as such, they need to have money to pay for these obligations. Adults also have a stronger view of their rights and their responsibilities. Therefore, they are likely to make demands for a more comprehensive compensation that will enable them to meet these obligations. On the other hand, child soldiers are young, and they have limited obligations so they are willing to fight for absolutely little and this means it is cheaper to bring them into an armed conflict and use them for almost free (Denov, 2012). This implies that groups with limited budgets, particularly those that need to fight for survival might consider recruiting children as young as 14 to fight in their wars. This enables them to gain important numbers and also achieve better results in their military affairs. Other authors argue that the psychology of children is extremely different from that of adults (Singer, 2006). This is because children’s attitudes and views towards death and killing are different from adults. In the normal sense, children have a greater fear of dying but in most wars children are easier to get children to overcome their fear of death through strong indoctrination and the use of drugs to stimulate these children to literally build a perception that they are invincible (Denov, 2012). This indoctrination and the use of drugs can get children to have a strong attitude towards killing other people. On the other hand, adults have their own perceptions and views of life. This has been developed over several years and as such, it is difficult to get them to shun this view and accept other views, even if drugs are involved. Therefore, it can be said that children can be easily made to become killing machines and as such, their advances are bound to be more lethal and they can do more things that adults might not be able to do easily (Singer, 2006). In other words, when children are converted to child soldiers, the same kind of interest and desire a child might have in sitting behind a standard video game to play for hours can be converted into realities and a child can be made to kill hundreds of people without feeling the severity of that act. A third reason for using child soldiers presented by some authorities like Mapp (2011) indicates that child soldiers are used because of the lack of controls and the abuse of this loophole. This is because in some parts of the world like Sierra Leone, Congo and Turkey, the attention of the international community there is somewhat limited and as such, perpetrators of armed conflicts are not under any form of restrictions in choosing who they use in their conflicts (Mapp, 2011). These conflicts are therefore led by combatants with no reputation and no awareness of the laws of professional military doctrine. Therefore, they are only influenced by one thing – the realities of the war they are involved in. Hence, they tend to fight and organize their armies with little or no sensitivity to international law. This leads to a situation where they recruit children and use them in various capacities. Other soldiers and warlords tend to be influenced by their opponents who use child soldiers. These warlords often accuse their opponents of using child soldiers and as such, they respond by also recruiting and using children within their jurisdiction to fight against them. Trends in Child Soldier Recruitment and Utilization Rosen identifies that there are four main stages in the recruitment and utilization of child soldiers in war and it includes: 1. A decision by the military leaders to use children; 2. Mobilization of potential child combatants; 3. Indoctrination of the potential child combatants; 4. Utilization and hardening of child soldiers (Rosen, 2012) The main process of recruiting and using child soldiers happens when the authorities of a given military organization decides to extend their recruitment drive to children. Whereas some groups will want to create a formal structure for the onward recruitment of children into their military group by using them in safer roles until they are old enough, others recruit children to directly indulge in the warfront (Grover, 2009). When the decision is made by the people at the top of an armed group, there is the mobilization of children to partake in the ranks and file of the group. In most cases, this mobilization is done through the kidnapping of the children who might have the right features to enlist and fight in the war (Rosen, 2012). In other cases, vulnerable children like orphans might join the group in question and fight in the war as a means of survival (Rosen, 2012). Once the children are brought into the group, they are trained and given indoctrination. This gets them to gain an interest in war and violence and this prepares them on how to use arms and ammunition and also wage war. The result is that the children become more sophisticated in their ability to participate in war and also deal with other issues. In this stage, most children are introduced to drugs and alcohol as a means of getting them to become ruthless in the battlefield (Grover, 2009). When these child soldiers are seen to be competent enough, they are allowed to take part in various operations. This includes advances and other military actions that involves major activities and processes that are normally handled by older and more matured people in the normal sense. Disadvantages of Child Soldier Usage and Dangers to Society The creation of a generation of child soldiers poses major challenges to a nation and a community. The idea of having children who have killed in war implies that there is a tradition of military violence that is instilled in a given community or society (Denov, 2012). This is because in a situation where children are actively involved in war, it implies that there is a system of radicalizing and indoctrinating people to fight. Therefore, instead of schools and other institutions which teaches children productive skills in their lives, there are institutions that teach war and all the negative things that come with it, including hatred and violence. This shows that the society is likely to be locked into a cycle of violent warfare and this will come at a cost of perpetually indulging in war and violence. Secondly, child soldiers are children who are not given the right opportunities and privileges in life. They are clearly misled and allowed to become what they might not really want to. No one will have a child and hope the child will become a child soldier. This means that the creation and utilization of child soldiers is a negative thing and it destroys the very foundation on which society must be built and developed. Finally, child soldiers create a situation where carnage and destruction in warfare is maximized. Evidence shows that older soldiers involved in war are more considerate and more thoughtful in their actions in the battlefield and after a major battle (Gates & Reich, 2010). On the other hand, child soldiers are said to be people with limited knowledge and understanding of compassion and sympathy, thus, they are prone to cause major destructions without any form of sensitivity in the process (Singer, 2006). Therefore, their utilization is problematic and this creates more damage and destruction in a given conflict. Challenges in Controlling the Use of Child Soldiers There are two views on why the problem of child soldiers continues to persist. The first view has to do with the developed world and the second view has to do with the developing world. In the developed world, there is the problem of the “politics of age” whereby nations and other recognized military groups try to lobby for the age of involvement in warfare to be reduced significantly (Mapp, 2011). This is because the governments and militaries of nations around the world tend to have programs that get them to use children in various capacities to prepare them for war. In some countries like South Korea, Israel and Turkey, the laws are such that young people, sometimes younger than 18 are conscripted into the army. This is done through some indirect laws that are made to get these persons to gain military training. In other countries, the use of some groups like the Boys Scout gets children to be exposed to armed conflict. However, in most cases, these countries in the developing world never use children directly in armed conflict. In the developing world though, children are actively recruited mainly because of the accountability and leadership structures of war groups. Most wars in the developing world, particularly Africa are ran by fragmented rebel groups who tend to set up various unmanaged and unconnected groups that are somewhat autonomous. These groups operate in inaccessible terrains where they abduct and use children, some of them as young as 7 in various military positions. This has been reported in Eastern Congo, Northern Uganda and Colombia, where rebels lived in the jungles and abducted young children and used in various capacities in war. Whilst boys were armed and used in war, girls were made to serve as wives to commanders in these wars. And due to the difficulty in arresting the people responsible for this, the practice goes on and little can be done to prevent it. Recommendations for the Elimination of Child Soldiers The practice of using child soldiers is one that has received tremendous awareness over the past decade. Indeed there have been various cases where people were charged in war crimes tribunals around the world for using child soldiers in war. However, in spite of all these efforts, the use of child soldiers continues to-date. In order to deal with the challenge, there is the need for a universal consensus to be reached in the international community on which age is the barest minimum age for participation in military activities. Most people and groups argue that the age should be set by law for 18. And with that arrangement, there can be a major campaign to hold governments and groups that use persons younger than that age in warfare. The international community will need to insist on national governments adhering to this standard. Once that is done, the national governments can be seen as the exemplary force and they can gain support from the international community to deal with any group that uses child soldiers. The groups that use various tactics to abduct and radicalize child soldiers will need to be handled by the international community, rather than by national governments This is because the biggest challenge in dealing with groups like the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda and the FARC Rebels in Colombia is the fact that they can move across borders in their bid to escape arrest. Hence, the use of an international model that seek to promote cooperation between different governments to end this trend of the abduction and radicalization of children will help to reduce incidents of child soldiers tremendously. Conclusion This paper has examined important elements of the problem of child soldiers. It identifies that a child soldier is a person below the age of 18 who is utilized in armed conflicts. The problem of child soldiers exists because children are seen to be more dedicated soldiers and they are easily configured into killing machines that follow orders better than adult soldiers. Child soldiers are also cheap and they might be used as a means of getting at the opponents of a given group. The main disadvantage of having a situation where children are indoctrinated and used in war is that it destroys the lives of innocent children. Secondly, it creates a cycle of warfare and militancy in a given community because the use of child soldiers perpetuates warfare. Finally, child soldiers are more destructive in warfare than adults. The challenges in dealing with child soldiers are the fact that most countries politicize the definition of a strict plan to eliminate child soldiers. In the developing world, child soldiers exits because of the lack of laws against the use of child soldiers. It is recommended that the international community takes a strict stand on this issue of child soldiers in order to provide a system of dealing with the issue. Bibliography Dallaire, R. (2011). They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children: The Global Quest to Eradicate the Use of Child Soldiers. Indianapolis, IN: Bloomsbury. Denov, M. (2012). Child Soldiers: Sierra Leones Revolutionary United Front. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Drumbl, M. A. (2012). Reimagining Child Soldiers in International Law and Policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gates, S., & Reich, S. (2010). Child Soldiers in the Age of Fractured States. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. Grover, S. C. (2009). Prosecuting International Crimes and Human Rights Abuses. New York: Springer. Mapp, S. C. (2011). Global Child Welfare and Well-Being. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Rosen, D. M. (2012). Child Soldiers: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. Singer, P. W. (2006). Children at War. 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