Preview

Child Soldiers In Sierra Leone Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
470 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Child Soldiers In Sierra Leone Essay
Intro to Graduate Humanities

8 June 2013

Psychological effects on Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone and the Reintegration Process

Broad History: The Sierra Leone Civil War began in 1991 and lasted eleven years, leaving over 50,000 people dead. It started when the RUF (Revolutionary United Front) began taking over territories all over the country that were rich in diamonds. It is estimated that 11,000 child soldiers were recruited and, most often, forced into joining the RUF. They were forced to perform barbaric acts and murder their own people and sometimes their own families. The youngest RUF child soldier was only five years old. The psychological effects have been proven to be extremely detrimental and debilitating. …show more content…
More than 300,000 soldiers under the age of 18 are fighting in conflicts in 41 countries around the world. The problem has been particularly serious in Sierra Leone where thousands of children have participated directly in armed conflict or have been recruited for labor or sexual exploitation among armed groups. Despite international concern about children in armed conflict, minimal research has been dedicated to this problem.

My research paper will study the experiences and perspectives of former child soldiers in Sierra Leone and investigate the implications of their participation in armed conflict. This thesis will delve into and examine the child soldier phenomenon in Sierra Leone, particularly the rehabilitation and reintegration of former child soldiers into community life.

Hypothesis/Outcome: My hopes for this research paper are to get an analysis of the psychological effects on child soldiers and in what ways is the rehabilitation process working, or not working. I hope to have an answer as to why the reintegration process has been so unsuccessful and what has become of these children lost in society. How does society treat/view them? How do they treat/view society? And finally, what is the country of Sierra Leone doing to aid them in their recovery
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Annotated Bibliography On Child Soldiers In Sierra Leon
    • 362 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Annotated Bibliography On Child Soldiers In Sierra Leon

    This article was about four former child soldiers in the Sierra Leon civil war that were interviewed by Newsweek. They each relive the horrors of their prior lives during the war and give us a walkthrough of just how savage these young boys were living at the time. The interview topics range from before the war, being forced into service, drug factors, atrocities, life after and future goals. The now teenage boys reminisce on their crusades of murder, amputations, tortures and rape in their younger days. This article is filled with individual stories of unthinkable evils these boys committed in a corrupted…

    • 362 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Summary Of Armed And Underage By Jeffrey Gettleman
    • 550 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Summary Of Armed And Underage By Jeffrey Gettleman

    At first the author presents why and how children are used as soldiers. The problem is that parents often can’t support their children, so they have to give them away to the army. For the military children soldiers are perfect, because they are “easily manipulated, intensely loyal, fearless, and, most important, in endless supply”. They are often seen as ideal weapons and are used by rebels and terrorists as suicide bombers, combatants ,spies, and to plant mines.…

    • 550 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Ishmeal's Case Study
    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Ishmeal's Case Study

    An significant socio-cultural factor in this case is the history of civil war in Sierra Leone. The client mentions stories from his father's days about liberation of the country and unspoken atrocities regarding violence ensued by child soldiers in the past. This political instability leads to cultural fear, mistrust in government and confusion of safety (Betancourt et al., 2010). Additionally, the lack of communication about children and warfare to the children are all contributing factors to the clients transition to soldier of war (Shepler, 2005). All of these issues are seen in the clients experiences throughout. Thus…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Romeo Dallaire
    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Essay On Romeo Dallaire

    “The use of boys and girls for military purposes violates their human rights. Those who exploit children often try to hide their activities.” (Who Are Child Soldiers?). In 2007, Romeo Dallaire created The Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative. The goal of this organization is to find and eradicate any uses of child soldiers around the world. “The Dallaire Initiative wants to bring the perspective of the security sector to the issue of child soldiery, while equipping them with the training and tools to prevent the recruitment and use of child soldiers worldwide” (The Romeo Dallaire Child Soldier Initiative). Since the launch of this initiative, the organization has been able to track down and stop uses of child soldiers in countries like…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Gone By Ishmael Beah
    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Gone By Ishmael Beah

    Child soldiers often have a hard time returning to a normal life after war. Ishmael Beah, however, showed that he can do it and so can others. He lost his entire family in Sierra Leone’s civil war and the government recruited him as a soldier in his early teens and went on to write his memoir about it, A Long Way Gone. As hard as it was for him to go through and relive these memories to write his story, people still question the memoir’s validity. Despite what many articles say, Beah’s story is true.…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Should Child Soldiers Be Rehabilitated Essay
    • 621 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Should Child Soldiers Be Rehabilitated Essay

    Child soldiers have undergone trauma from being put in such situation. Many child soldiers were forced into their actions. They were subject to adult authority determining what they should do, a military commander from the african nation of chad said “They don't complain, they…

    • 621 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Should Child Soldiers Be Given Amnesty?
    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Should Child Soldiers Be Given Amnesty?

    (Blue and Woodward 2). What this makes clear is how child soldier’s past would prove a problem in attempting to fit into an average community. It is expected that there would be a large amount of tension, fear and hesitation towards the former soldiers. Moreover, the article written by Jeff Koinange also declares, “It’s as if all the child soldiers went to the same kindergarten. (Where children are forced to fight)”…

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Child Soldiers: wrong or justifiable?
    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Child Soldiers: wrong or justifiable?

    Nerissa Corazon Soon-Ruiz says, “involvement in acts of extreme violence and exposure to horrific situations may desensitize them (child soldiers) and make them more likely to commit violent acts and separate them from society”. I believe that governments of countries, that have just recently stopped the recruitment of children to their militaries, need to make rehabilitation programs available to child soldiers. Also, children of countries, who heavily participate in the recruitment of children, must live their lives in never-ending paranoia. Because of their paranoia, they are fearful of connecting with society. Some child veterans never get over this paranoia and are diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Due to child soldiers…

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Arguments Against Child Soldiers
    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Arguments Against Child Soldiers

    15 is the minimum age for recruiting soldiers. So it would be legal for a 15 year old to be fighting in an armed group. However, organizations and campaigners such as the International Committee of the Red Cross are seeking to increase the age to 18. Conscripting and recruiting children under the age of 15 is a war crime. Those accused of using under ages in fighting would be tried. Three militia leaders tried at the special court for Sierra Leone were the first to be convicted for recruiting child soldiers in June of 2007. It's unlikely that any under 18s would be tried before the Court it is required to prosecute people who bear the great responsibility. It is required to consider the child's age and their…

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Child Soldiers Argumentative Essay
    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Child Soldiers Argumentative Essay

    Imagine if you were forced to kill others for whole years of your life, seeing the people bleed out each and every time as they struggle to hold onto life.This is what child soldiers are put through almost every day. In some parts of the world, such as Sierra Leone. There is tremendous disputes over child soldiers. Everyday hundreds if not thousands of child soldiers are drugged, abused, and brainwashed to kill others in the battlefields of Sierra Leone and countries alike. Now after all this, these children are being captured by governments across the world and are being prosecuted for their crimes…

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Argumentative Essay On Child Soldiers
    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Argumentative Essay On Child Soldiers

    They have to change their mind and body, to go to reality of the real world, instead of life in war. In the article Should child soldiers be prosecuted for their crimes?, the report stated how children need to be held accountable for the crimes they commit by more sufficient and appropriate methods, other than incarceration, empowering them to acknowledge their past and the crimes the execute. (should, 14). Rather than putting children in jail for murder, they should be rehabilitated so they can recognize what they did in the past was wrong. Because just putting them in prison for something they wouldn’t recognize was wrong wouldn’t be helping anyone; it would just be putting a short term solution on a long term problem. In the article Child Soldiers, the author gives “Demobilization and Reconciliation program, often abbreviated TTR and DDR, are far better ways of helping children recover and reintegrate back into society and out of war. The problem with prosecution is that it poses far too many problems” (Child, 18). A child from war needs to be pointed in the right direction instead of them having to dwell on what they did. The adolescent can turn their life around and focus on good things, other than situations of…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Darfur Research Paper
    • 223 Words
    • 1 Page

    Darfur Research Paper

    The United Nations Organization (UN) has described Sudan's western Darfur region as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.[1] The conflict started in 2003 when rebels in Darfur took up arms, accusing the government of neglecting the region. Since then, Darfur civilians have come under attack from government troops, nomadic militia and rebel groups. The UN says that as many as 300,000 people may have died in the conflict.[2] The Government of Sudan denies accusations that it has used Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, to crush the revolt.[3]…

    • 223 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Child Soldiers In Sierra Leone
    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Child Soldiers In Sierra Leone

    “I still dream about the boy from my village who I killed. I see him in my dreams, and he is talking to me, saying I killed him for nothing, and I am crying” (Sierra Leone Rebels Forcefully Recruit Child Soldiers; 1). These are the words of a sixteen year old demobilized child soldier, forced to join an armed rebel group in Sierra Leone. Around the world there are over 250,000 youth being forced to become child soldiers; they are taught to be cruel and they believe what they are taught is right. This injustice is occurring on a large basis, in the African nation of Sierra Leone, where children are recruited incredibly young, lack education, become thieves and indulge in child prostitution.…

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Child Soldiers Prevention Act
    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Child Soldiers Prevention Act

    Thousands of children are serving as soldiers in armed conflicts around the world. Boys and girls serve in government forces and armed opposition groups. They may fight as front-line combatants, suicide bombers, mine sweepers, sex slaves, and spies.Many are abducted or recruited by force, while others join voluntarily, believing that armed groups offer their best chance for survival. We are working to prevent the use of child soldiers and to hold accountable the people who send children to fight. It threatens the core of the United Nations, and the heart of our world's future: Children. The US Child Soldiers Prevention Act prohibits the US government from providing…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Child Soldier Persuasive Essay
    • 1006 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Child Soldier Persuasive Essay

    “In the last ten years, two million child soldiers have been killed, more than one million orphaned, more than six million left injured or permanently disabled, and more than 10 million diagnosed with psychological trauma” (Invisible Children). But that is only the beginning of this problem and it could get worse. Many young children find themselves in the army for various reasons. They commit many acts that are deemed as crimes. Some people think that they should be pardoned and some think otherwise. Even if people think that child soldiers should not receive amnesty, the child soldiers must be given amnesty because they are not responsible for their actions, they do not always have a choice, and because they have suffered a lot of pain and need help.…

    • 1006 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics