Child Soldier Essay

In the world today, there exist many crimes. Out of those, the one most disturbing and discriminating crime that a man can ever commit is human trafficking. No one would deny the fact that the number of crimes relating to human trafficking is increasing, and it is finally the time to face the truth and deal with it, no more observing, no more spectating, people must do something about it. Even though there have been many reports regarding on human trafficking, I personally consider an issue which children is dragged into armed forces without there will is the most disturbing fact and it is total abomination to a man-kind. As children are vulnerable to adults, it needs to be our jobs to protect them and ensure them the freedom of will instead of take them and use for our own sakes. Kaplan (2005) stated, The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) defines child soldiers as "any child—boy or girl—under eighteen years of age, who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity." But prior to 2002, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Additional Protocols set fifteen as the minimum age for participation in armed conflict. While some debate exists over varying cultural standards of maturity, nearly 80 percent of conflicts involving child soldiers include combatants below the age of fifteen, with some as young as seven or eight( para 1). Child soldier is almost invisible to most of the people in the society, however child soldiers are legion in the world. It is to be noted that the child soldier either sold or exchanged as cheap merchandise, many children cannot escape from this web. Child soldier suffer and may barely survive, the long hours of work, the heavy boarders, the dangerous tools, and the poisonous chemicals etc. The strongest will go on forever bearing the physical and emotional scars of premature soldier. At a time when the children should be at school and preparing for a productive adulthood, young boys and girls are losing their childhood and with the child soldier-ship they are also losing the promises of a better future. It is a well-known fact that child soldiers are much active these days and Renteln (1999) has noted there are approximately 200,000 – 300,000 children are involved in armed conflict. They are victimized in ways that are almost incomprehensible; they are said to be drugged, socialized not to distinguish right from wrong, and sent on suicide missions (page 1). This truly is devastating phenomenon to happen and must be prevented in priority but what makes it hard to do so is that Renteln (1999) remarked “because the vast majority of conflicts are internal to states, this has made the application of international standards more difficult.”(page 1) The real problem rises within the issue of a child soldier is that many regions in the world, numerous countries are involved in using child soldiers, specifically countries that have rebel movements among the citizens. According to Human Rights Watch, and its article Child Soldiers World Wide (2012) noted the recruitment and usage of children as soldiers have been witnessed in, at least 14 countries. It is surprising to see the, even though it is an approximate figure, numbers of horrible and discriminating countries which are abusing the rights and abilities of unlimited potentials children have, and use their innocent and vulnerable characteristics for the means of armed forces, militia, or rebellions.
Mozambique, a country which armed conflict lasted almost for 30 years, is one of the notorious country known for its usage of children as combatants in war. Boothby, N., Crawford, J., & Halperin, J. have recorded in

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