Child Soldiers
Sudan: Angels of East Africa
Definition
is any person below 18 years of age who is, or who has been, recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers, spies or for sexual purposes. It does not only refer to a child who is taking or has taken a direct part in hostilities.
Kony 2012
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Overview of Child Soldiers
Why use Children
- They are easy prey!!!
- They use little resources
- There are a plentiful amount
- And in most cases it is the only people left to fight
Becoming a Child Soldier
- Most are captured before the age of 15
- Many have to watch or kill their family
- Almost all are heavily drugged with different drug mixtures the most dominant being cocaine and a meth mixture
Locations
- Most notably in African nations such as Uganda, Sudan and Sierra Leone
- Greece, Ireland, United Nations, even the United States!!
- Have been used in conflicts in Europe, Middle East, basically everywhere
- Wars like the Vietnam War, World War I and II
Statistics
- In 109 Civivl Wars from 1987 to 2007. Children below the age of 15 were used in 81% of the conflicts. Rebel forces used them 71% of the time while government armies used them 55% of the time.
- There are about 300,000 child soldiers in combat right now
Solving the Problem
Machine Gun Preacher
Machine Gun Preacher... Sam Childers his Story
Walter
"There was two soldiers behind, and in-front, and on either side. So they told us to get out of the car and we started running and they shoot us so we fall down"
James
“I shot 20 [people]. I feel very bad. They ordered me to kill them. If I don’t do it then they would kill me”
“So my mother tried to run, to help us…so they killed my mother immediately. So my father also wanted to run so they killed him. The LRA abduct me…and I have to go in the bush.
“I was a young soldier. I carried my gun beside me and I walked with them”
“They burn everything, they shoot the people, they cut their lips, noses, everything.