The Lost Children that Fight on Africa's Soil

"An estimated 300,000 children under the age of eighteen are currently participating in armed conflicts in more than thirty different countries on nearly every continent. While most child soldiers are in their teens, some are as young as seven years old." Thoughout the world there are henous actions occuring with child soldiers, the majority located in Africa. Recently, movies such as Invisible Children and Blooddiamonds have attempted to protray to the world the cruel treatment and abuse these actions cause.

These children are ripped from their homes often after watching their parents and families be killed only to be stripped of their integrity and become what the rebels would have them be.

"When the mahi-mahi attacked my village, we all ran away. In our flight, the soldiers captured all the girls, even the very young. Once with the soldiers, you were forced to "marry" one of the soldiers. Whether he was as old as your father or young, bad or nice, you had to accept. If you refused, they would kill you. This happened to one of my friends. They would slaughter people like chickens. They would not even bury the bodies they slaughtered... I even saw a girl who refused to be "married" being tortured...".

This is an account of Jasmine, a girl from the southern region of Democratic Republic of Congo. She is simply expressing how brutal life is for these children and how there is no escape. Your life is in the hands of the soldiers around you; you are nothing, worthless, you are at their mercy and will.

These children of all ages, boys and girls alike, are ususally brainwashed, trained, given drugs (sometimes in the face) and then sent into battle with orders to kill. Often these chilren, which are as young as 8 years old, become fighters, sex slaves, spies and even human shields. The question we ask ourselves is why childern? Would adults not be much more efficient and intelegent?

Some would repond that "children are easy to manipulate and will do the unspeakable without question or protest, partly because their morals and value systems are not yeat fully formed." That is, children are at the age when they do not understand what is right and wrong; the have not yet reached the "age of reason and understanding," and so can be forced out of societies standards and made into murderers. And so we wonder, Is society doing anything to change what is happening with this issue? Does society really care?

In the Darfur region of Sudan, where there is an armed conflict in which non-Arab groups are fighting Arab groups; what some would title as "genocide," it is estimated that there are child soldiers doing a lot of the fighting, and/or being severally assaulted. According to BBC news "The current peace processes in Darfur and southern Sudan offer a real opportunity for the leaders of the Sudan to end the practice of recruitment and use of children once and for all." However, it is claimed that children are the target because they require nearly nothing. They are young and so have no understanding what is happening; they need no pay, nor do they receive any.

Since February of 2002 the government of Sudan has been aware of what has been aware of the unified rebel movement and that is it is using children as the principle fighting source. The amount of child soldiers is estimated by the United Nations to be more than 100,000. Furthermore, more than 100,000 refugees have poured into Chad, and it is estimated that more than 300,000 people have died, and a total of 2 million have been displaced in one form or another.

Meanwhile, in the African country of the Democratic Republic of Congo there is what appears to meet the most involvement with child soldiers. Amnesty international said, "It is estimated that children constitute up to 40 percent of some forces engaged in conflict - with girls making up about 40 percent of these children." As we know the Democratic Republic of Congo has been in a civil war for several years.

People live on much less than a dollar a day even though the country is one of the most abundant in natural minerals, such as diamonds. Children are used as slaves in all aspects of the imagination, diamond seekers and miners included. A number of forced children undergo this slavery in order to live. Brutal treatment is given to the one who does not complete his quota for any given day.

"More than 1,200 people continue to die every day in the Congo from the humanitarian consequences of the conflict." These humanitarian consequences include malnutrition and the lowest level of poverty conceivable. This system of war seems to be a shadow of what happened in Rwanda. That genocide has lead to these major civil wars in both Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo; which in turn has sparked a new desire for more soldiers and thus, more children recruits.

What is the world doing to change the atrocities that have arisen with child soldiers? The UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child, Art. 38 proclaimed:

"The Parties to the conflict shall take all feasible measures in order that children who have not attained the age of fifteen years do not take a direct part in hostilities and, in particular, they shall refrain from recruiting them into their armed forces. In recruiting among those persons who have attained the age of fifteen years but who have not attained the age of eighteen years, the Parties to the conflict shall endeavor to give priority to those who are oldest."

That is to say we as an international community we have to come to realize that these ghastly actions are happening, and thus, taking the first steps to make a change. Furthermore, we need to see that these numbers are simply estimates. In reality, there are probably more child soldiers than can be estimated.

Sometimes even when change seems feasible and children are released they are still incapable of adapting back to the ways of society as they once knew it. "Whether boys or girls - the majority of children released and reunited with their families or communities have received little or no support to return to civilian life, including adequate educational or vocational opportunities.

Some were as young as six when they were first recruited." These children, guilty to only doing what it takes to say alive, are suffering the consequences of their brutal life history. They cannot find their niche, however, there are now organizations around the world which are beginning to employ programs to re-assimilate these children. One of these programs is in Spain; it takes children and teaches to them cultural issues and standards, as well as overcoming their personal problem - anger, misunderstanding, why this happen to them etc.

The first step to solving the problem has been completed - realizing there was a problem. Now, it will take funding and support internationally to show these children their meaning; that they need not run into the gutters and hid at night so they will not be abducted. We have to teach them that even though they have lived by the gun and got whatever they have wanted as a result to power, there is a way to accomplish things on society's principles. It takes self-control on both parties, and it will take time.

Amnesty International Org. Child Soldiers http://web.amnesty.org/pages/childsoldiers-index-eng

Amnesty International Org. Children Soldiers Abandoned in the Democratic Republic of Congo. http://web.amnesty.org/pages/cod-111006-background-eng

CNN.com. Stolen kids turned into terrifying killers. www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/02/12/child.soldiers/index.html

BBCnews.com. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5277608.stm

Amnesty International Org. Children Soldiers Abandoned in the Democratic Republic of Congo. http://web.amnesty.org/pages/cod-111006-background-eng

International Crisis Group. Building a Congolese State Where There Was None. http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?

UNICEF. Convention on the Rights of a Child. http://www.unicef.org/crc/

Amnesty International Org. Children Soldiers Abandoned in the Democratic Republic of Congo. http://web.amnesty.org/pages/cod-111006-background-eng