Child Soldiers

Childhood innocence has been a common phrase used to describe a pure and true subject. However, in some developing countries where the political climate is unstable, children (under the age of 18) are stripped of their rights to innocence when forced into an armed faction, political group, or any other form of a combat organization regardless of whether there is a current ongoing armed conflict or not. It is important to note that the definition of child soldier applies to any position the child may hold (including cooks, messengers, porters, and spies) despite being directly involved in hostilities. The initiation process is brutal and inhumane; where children are forced to perform vile and violent acts against both their targets and upon one another.      

These children are forced to witness and carry out horrifying acts from the moment they are taken. They are beaten or killed if they attempt to escape, oftentimes (if not always) by other children who live under the same circumstances. They are subjected to hard labor, torture, and forced to ingest drugs and/or alcohol to make it easier to break them down. Rape and murder are the most common atrocities committed against them aside from forced tasks. The raping of girls is a commonplace event that has become an expectation and norm within the militias they are forced to serve. They are oftentimes forced into prostitution should they be lucky to survive encounters and are able to flee. There are even certain groups that use children as suicide bombers due to it being easier for them to get in and out of areas unnoticed coupled with the fact that they have and underdeveloped sense of danger. Fortunately, there is a global effort made by multiple organizations to end childhood warfare. Invisible Children and WarChild are both such organizations whose are goals to raise awareness and rehabilitate for the future of the victims of the militarization of children. As stated by War Child, “Child Soldier. Some words just don’t belong together.”.

http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/canadian-ads-take-issue-child-soldiers-14816

Invisible Children is an organization that was established in 2004 in order to increase awareness about the use of child soldiers by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Central Africa. The LRA is led by Ugandan born Joseph Koney. He has expanded his forces by abducting local children and forcing them to serve in his army. The idea for the organization began when college students Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey, and Laren Poole went to Africa in 2003 to create a documentary about the war in Darfur. After discovering the atrocities of the LRA, they decided to focus their film, "Invisible Children: The Rough Cut," about child soldiers. They sponsored screenings at many schools and churches in the U.S. and began selling merchandise and collecting donations to raise money for the cause. The organization hopes to end the LRA conflict and address short and long term effects through media,mobilization, protection, and recovery. The organization works with local agencies to warn rural communities of potential LRA attacks. They are also active in regional economic recovery programs and rehabilitating children through education. They advocated for the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, which made it American policy to capture Joseph Koney and stop the LRA rebels. After it was passed in Congress, one hundred U.S. soldiers were deployed to the region in 2011. Most recently, they sponsored a campaign of internet videos called "Kony2012." The purpose was to spread awareness about the LRA in order to put more pressure on the U.S. to intervene. The powerful message of the campaign was hindered by controversy when one of the founders, Jason Russell, was arrested in San Diego for erratic behavior and public nudity. There have also been some criticism of the organization's focus on the LRA. Critics note that Invisible Children downplays the Ugandan government's role in the violence and their own history of using child soldiers.

http://childnotsoldiernyu.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/welcome-to-childnotsoldiers-new-webpage/

War Child is an organization working to stop the use of children in combat. There are approximately 250,000 children today used as soldiers, 40% of them girls. Aside from being soldiers themselves, girls are often used as “wives” of the male soldiers in the fashion of sex slaves. Children are chosen because they are an easily brainwashed, eat little, and do not have a developed sense of danger. Due to those factors, they are typically used as scouts and other expendable, front-line positions. Both boys and girls are ostracized from their communities because of their actions.  The boys have killed and the girls often have had children of their own. They can’t go back home and re-integrate themselves in normal society. The experiences desensitize them from extreme violence, and they do not have developed social interaction skills since they are taken and used as they are developing both mentally and physically.

War Child hopes to provide awareness, education, counseling, and health services (including drug use rehabilitation). With these interventions the children have a greater chance to grow into productive adults that can become re-integrated into a normal lifestyle within their community. With help to develop critical social skills and education, they have an increased number of opportunities to avoid poverty and the poor health.

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