Child Soldiers Issues in Global Literature—Intermediate.
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Transcript of Child Soldiers Issues in Global Literature—Intermediate.
Child Soldiers
Issues in Global Literature—Intermediate
1846 Mexican American War
1861 US Civil War
1967 Cambodia
1964 Vietnam War
1943 Hitler Youth in Nuremburg
1914 WWI
Historical Tradition
1918 Russian Civil War
Contemporary Crisis• recent United Nations estimation: 250,000 child soldiers worldwide
• current Amnesty International count: over 300,000 child soldiers
• in more than 85 countries
• both boys & girls
• ages 8 to 18
A Global Issue
Nepal
Afghanistan
Chechnya
Columbia
Palestine
Congo
Iraq
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Somalia
Thailand
“The Perfect Weapon”• adults can resist warlords; children can’t• available in great numbers• easily manipulated• intensely loyal• fearless• expendable
Exploitation• Recruited– propaganda– poverty
• Abducted– kidnapped from families– taken from orphanages
• Forced to serve– Uganda: Lord’s Resistance Army
teaches child soldiers to burn
huts and beat infants to death– Iran: child soldiers used to
clear mine fields in 1980s– Palestine: children from the
West Bank & Gaza used
as suicide bombers
"No one is born violent. No child in Africa, Latin America, or Asia wants to be part of war.”
— Ishmael Beah at a Paris conference, author of A Long Way Gone
Some Volunteer
• promise of safety • sense of community• motivated by poverty & hunger
Trained to Kill
Iraq
Uganda
Thailand
Palestine
Liberia
Child soldiers being trained in Thailand
Fighting Adult Causes(Sometimes not knowing why)
• End of colonial rule• Freedom challenged• Lawlessness• Criminal drives
by warlords– resources
– greed
– power
"There might have been a little rhetoric at the beginning, but very quickly the ideology gets lost, and then it just becomes a bloodbath ... a war of madness.” — Ishmael Beah
Bound by Belief• commanders conjure spirits• magic & superstition• oils & amulets
In the Congo, leaders told boys that if they ate their victims they would grow stronger.
"The commanders would wear certain pearls and said that guns wouldn't hurt us, and we believed it.''
— Beah
Intimidated by Fear• extreme punishments• death for desertion• rejection upon return• orphaned, homeless• no where else to go
"These are brutally thuggy people who don't want to rule politically and have no strategy for winning a war.''
— Professor Neil Boothby Columbia University
Weakened by Deprivation• separated from families• denied educational opportunities• denied health care• denied a childhood
Fueled by Drug Use
• amphetamines• marijuana• “brown brown”
(cocaine and gunpowder)
Drawing by former child soldier Ishamel A. Kamara, age 18.
“I shot at everything that moved.”
— Beah
Trapped in Abuse• mental & emotional• physical• sexual• chemical
15-year-old soldier with
her infant in Liberia
Amputation
There are more than 6,000 amputees in Sierra Leone as a result of civil war. Former Liberian leader, Charles Taylor, is accused of backing a rebel group that cut off limbs, mutilated and raped thousands of civilians in Sierra Leone.
Rebels called the amputation of just four fingers “one love” after the rastafarian phrase “thumbs up.”
Human Rights Groups’ Efforts
• restore children to their families when possible• return to former communities• enroll in schools• place in homes
“It's ridiculous to appeal to
human rights with these groups
because they are so far on the criminal end of the spectrum.”
— Victoria Forbes Adam
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
Children at a mission school in Africa
United Nations Involvement
• UN passed protocols:
no combatants under age 18
• US, UK, and other countries
have not signed UN agreement– US allows 17 (parental consent)– UK allows 16
• UN military personnel:
peace keeping
Rescue, Rehabilitation & Hope
Above: Maxwell Fornah and Victor Musa, members of the Single Leg Amputee Sports Club of Sierra Leone, Freetown April 2006.
Small Group Discussion
1. What examples in US culture could you compare to the experience of child soldiers abroad?
2. What similarities do you see between your examples and child soldiers?
3. What differences do you see?