Preview

Childhood Inequalities In The Military

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1869 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Childhood Inequalities In The Military
Social Justice SSJ – 20010 Childhood Inequality

Stephen Fitzpatrick – 12253799

12/12/2014

“Write an essay presenting a strategy which the international community should adopt in order to offer greater protection to children from the dangers associated with militarised conflict situations”.

Many children around the world today are suffering from and being exposed to violence, forced to participate in armed conflict and deprived of education within a number of unstable, war torn countries. This is one of the most shocking examples of childhood inequality which faces the world today as quite often these children are being targeted and deliberately recruited into armed groups and organisations in conflict situations either as military
…show more content…
There are also similar trends and commonalties which most other war torn countries share. Firstly, the recruitment of any child under the age of 18 into military forces, whether it is due to opposition groups targeting young men and enticing them to become child soldiers or young children choosing that option, the main aim is to stop the recruitment of children full stop. ‘Louder than Words’ (2012) strategy aims to combat this problem by issuing a global ban on the military recruitment of any person below the age of 18 years and implementing enforcement measures and state sanctions if any national or non-state army fail to comply with this policy. The strategy includes a “10-point Checklist” which is aimed to assist and encourage all states by assessing risk factors and identifying legal and practical measures needed to end the use of child soldiers in military forces and armies. (Louder than Words, 2012) All armed groups should therefore, immediately demobilize these children from fighting, publicly promise that they will not use children therefore be held accountable for their actions and institute procedures to monitor the ages of children to ensure they don’t enlist

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The story told by Ishmael Beah in A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is an amazing recollection of the effects that the extreme violence of war can have on a person, including physical, psychological, and social trauma, in which a boy tries to survive and escape his past as a child soldier. Civil war brings along not only violence, sadness, poverty, death etc. but also horrible conditions in which the victims that suffer the consequences are the children. Kids in third world countries, like in Sierra Leone, that are going through civil wars are forced to join the fight in order to survive; it’s the only option they have. War impacts their lives long-term in unimaginable ways that leaves them bruised for life.…

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Every year, Every month, week and day, children are kidnapped and forced into there militia. Their families are slaughtered orphaning them and making them homeless, they are taken in and are made to fight in their battles. Poor gamin on the streets are swept up off the street, Many rebel organizations say that “Kids are the perfect weapon, they don’t…

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Romeo Dallaire

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “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
  • Good Essays

    unit 1 2.2 level 3 nvq

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages

    There are many ways in which war affects children and young people. It affects every aspect of their being from physical to psychological. Many children die or become very ill as a result of the physical effects of war. This is due to hospitals and health centres being destroyed and doctors and medical staff being killed or fleeing. Children are most vulnerable to diseases like diarrhoea, malaria and cholera. War has a huge impact on children’s education as war destroys industries and jobs. Parents may be forced to keep their children at home to look after their siblings whilst they go out to work forcing the children out of the education system. An education is the best way out of poverty and therefore is imperative for the development of children and young people. Children and young people suffer psychologically from war as they don’t really have an understanding of what is happening and why. It can affect their ability to establish healthy relationships with their peers or adults. Many children or young people turn to alcohol or drug misuse as a coping mechanism for the way they are feeling. They may have lost a family member or…

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Long Way Gone Themes

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages

    First-world children spend summer days playing with friends or vacationing with their families. But only an ocean away, children as young as ten are forced to kill each other as brainwashed soldiers in morally reprehensible political conflicts. “A Long Way Gone” is Ishmael Beah’s account of his life as a child soldier in the ongoing Somali Civil War. In it, he uses simple language and graphic details to provoke strong emotions in the reader, and hopefully move them to action. His story is one fraught with pain, trauma, death and, eventually, hope for a world without child combatants. It is best to make the last sentence of the intro the THESIS…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kid Soldiers In Iraq

    • 988 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the United States you probably see kids playing in the park or walking around the street but in Iraq that is only a dream. Kids in Iraq are being affected negatively by the war that is happening right now in Iraq. Besides being affected in their homes or physically, they are being affected mentally. They are learning from what they see, they become what is called kid soldiers. I am writing this essay so when people think of the war in Iraq they don’t just think of the soldiers that are fighting but are thinking of the kids that are being impacted by all this. This essay will explain how kids are being affected because of the war in Iraq; by losing their homes, by not getting the nutrients everyday, and by becoming kid soldiers.…

    • 988 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the military, we have our own sets of norms, values, and laws (Uniform Code of Military Justice or UCMJ). Sociology will give me the tools to analyze and evaluate why change occurs and if that change will be beneficial to the unit’s mission.…

    • 92 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Currently, there are many children around the world who are being forced to join the army to…

    • 386 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Child soldiering is a global problem. Worldwide, there are about 300,000 child soldiers, most of them taken from their homes, forced to take drugs, and then told to shoot people for their superior’s amusement. Not only this but they are tortured, and treated like slaves for the rest of their lives. Even if they try to escape they will most likely be shot, but if they do end up escaping they will just end up being taken by someone else.…

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    throughout the world. It is estimated that there are as many if not more than 300,000 child soldiers around the world. Since 2001 and as of 2008, child soldiers have participated in 21 on-going or recent armed conflicts in almost every region of the world. Ranging from ages of 8 to 15, child soldiers are raped, abused, and sometimes even sent on suicide missions if they haven't died from the hardship put on a child in the military. 40% of child soldiers are recruited by force and many times forced to kill their family so that they don't have anything to come back to if they escape from the military. Although many countries still practice the recruiting of children, I believe stopping this practice will cause benefits to society, child soldiers lives, and quality of the protection of the country that stops this practice.…

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Young children play an active part in conflicts around the world. The children face injury and death many are sexually abused. Those who do survive are seriously scarred emotionally from their experience.…

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    First, in the article “Syria: Armed Groups Send Children Into Battle” Khalil Ashawi said, “But armed groups fighting the government have also committed many serious abuses-- including recruiting and using children under 18 in combat and in direct support roles”("Child Soldiers- Summative Essay"). Commanders are using children to do their killing job and that is not right. Second, in the article “Summative Essay” the author stated, “ child soldiers are generally considered children under the age of 18, however, despite this child soldiers younger than 18 are often prosecuted” ("Child Soldiers- Summative Essay"). I do not think that kids under the age of 18 should even be allowed to fight because it is bad to have that stuff in your mind while their brains are still developing. Lastly, in the story “Summative Essay” the author said, “ Children at this age should not know have to succumb to such pain. Not only this, they were only 15 when they were prosecuted which means, the word of the law, they were still too young for prosecution” ("Child Soldiers- Summative Essay"). If adults try a kid first of all they are still protecting their country and because they are still under age. Overall, many people believe that child soldiers should be forgiven for what they were forced to…

    • 876 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “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
  • Good Essays

    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
  • Better Essays

    References: Camacho, A. Z. (2003, June) Prevention and Reintegration of Child Involved in Armed Conflict:…

    • 945 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays