As I was looking around to see what I wanted to write about, I came across something that has fascinated me for a while now-- the subject of child soldiers. A new study by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, released on May 21, had some good and bad news. The number of countries that employ child soldiers in conflict has decreased from 27 to 17 between 2004 and the end of 2007. While this is great to hear that fewer countries are deeming this as an acceptable practice in war, there is a downside.
The study found the decrease was due to conflicts ending, rather than countries implementing a strategy for change against the use of child soldiers. There needs to be more funding and more attention paid to the issue, according to the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
The worst governmental agency in perpetrating the issue of child soldiers is Myanmar. Chad is also very bad because of it's close proximity to Darfur, where children are regularly abducted near the border and forced into combat.
The report, a 400-page document which thoroughly analyzed the use of children in conflicts world-wide said it was disheartening to see what had been down to rehabilitate children, or lack thereof.
In Congo, where a brutal regional war killed more people than any other conflict since World War II, some 30,000 children are believed to have fought, but 11,000 of them received no help as money for the demobilization program ran dry, according to the report, which was covered in The New York Times article, "Fewer conflicts involve child soldiers, report finds."
Also heavily affected in the conflicts are young girls, who are taken as sex slaves, cooks and fighters. This is usually a result of the shame they feel after almost-constant sexual abuse.
One of the quotes used in the study that I found to be particularly disturbing about all this:
"Child soldiers are ideal because they don't complain, they don't expect to be paid, and if you tell them to kill, they kill," according to Senior officer in the Chadian National Army as published in The National Post's article, "Alarm over child soldiers."
Sometimes it really scares me to think that this is 2008, and this can still happen while so many people turn a blind eye.
The study found the decrease was due to conflicts ending, rather than countries implementing a strategy for change against the use of child soldiers. There needs to be more funding and more attention paid to the issue, according to the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
The worst governmental agency in perpetrating the issue of child soldiers is Myanmar. Chad is also very bad because of it's close proximity to Darfur, where children are regularly abducted near the border and forced into combat.
The report, a 400-page document which thoroughly analyzed the use of children in conflicts world-wide said it was disheartening to see what had been down to rehabilitate children, or lack thereof.
In Congo, where a brutal regional war killed more people than any other conflict since World War II, some 30,000 children are believed to have fought, but 11,000 of them received no help as money for the demobilization program ran dry, according to the report, which was covered in The New York Times article, "Fewer conflicts involve child soldiers, report finds."
Also heavily affected in the conflicts are young girls, who are taken as sex slaves, cooks and fighters. This is usually a result of the shame they feel after almost-constant sexual abuse.
One of the quotes used in the study that I found to be particularly disturbing about all this:
"Child soldiers are ideal because they don't complain, they don't expect to be paid, and if you tell them to kill, they kill," according to Senior officer in the Chadian National Army as published in The National Post's article, "Alarm over child soldiers."
Sometimes it really scares me to think that this is 2008, and this can still happen while so many people turn a blind eye.
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