Child Soldiers Fists Around Childhood s Neck - 1896 Words

Child Soldiers: Fists Around Childhood’s Neck The practice of recruiting child soldiers, i.e., people under the age of 18 to fight of serve support roles in the military, is frowned upon by many nations. Multiple military groups still either actively recruit or accept child soldiers into their ranks. This, sadly cannot be stopped from happening as militant and extremist groups have no sense of international law or moral conscious and will not adhere to international child laws so as to continually bolster their ranks. In a conflict the most important resource is fighters, people to hold the line and fight for a cause. Sadly for some regions many of these soldiers are much younger than you would think, boy and girls sometimes just a mere†¦show more content†¦Children who are inducted into the military 3 are treated as a normal soldier including being given a weapon that is often as large as they are. Children who are in these militant groups are usually put into many roles ranging from being human shields or spies and are sometimes even favored over adults as they are easy to intimidate and able to be molded into killing machines who are easily manipulated to follow orders, also, they do not demand a wage. Unfortunately there are advantages to using children for armed groups: Children are cheap fighters and easy to manipulate. They are often drugged and indoctrinated with propaganda and movies before they are sent out to fulfill their missions, (Charbonneau, 2013). Children are one of the many victims of conflicts especially in places like Syria and Sudan where there is a constant exchange of combat. Many children lose their families or are abducted by one side and are left with nothing. These children have no choice but to join with which ever side will accept them, â€Å"Bosco was six years old when he was handed a machete by Ugandan rebels led by Joseph Kony. They demanded he kill his little sister (Juli)... Juli was five. She had to die because she couldn t keep up with the rebels pace as they moved to the next location.† (Christina Ruta, 2013). The children that are pushed into military forces often are intimidated into following orders through means like