Math Lesson of the Day: The Value of Child Welfare < The Value of a Wii System

This article states why the country with the world's largest number of child soldiers, Burma, has been given a free pass to continue their crimes against humanity. The United Nations Secretary General has identified the Burman Military as one of the world's worst perpetrators of child recruitment, however, after a formal review of Burma's violations, the Security Council's recent report fails even to acknowledge that Burma's army recruits children. This seems odd, considering the Security Council's tough reputation. The Security Council threatened sanctions against the Tamil Tigers for the group's use of child soldiers. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, it referred information on violations to sanctions committees and urged the arrest and prosecution of commanders responsible for child recruitment. This group isn't soft, so why is it letting Burma off without anything? The answer is simple: China is a close ally with Burma and their military regime. China isn't exactly known for an impeccable human rights record, so its no surprise that they aren't too concerned with the country's use of child soldiers. It looks as though, because of the UN's dependence on China economically, they won't be doing anything to end the atrocities against the children of Burma. Maybe I'm just a big ole' softy about the Burman children, but I see something morally wrong with ignoring the fact that they are being used to fight a war. I don't understand how our Security Council can sleep at night knowing that they are allowing thousands of kids to die just so they don't risk damaging their relationship with China. I know particuliarly for the US, we trade a lot with China and China loaned us a lot of money recently. And, let's face it, they have a huge army with nuclear missles, but I think we are overestimating their reaction. I'm not saying China will be thrilled with the UN criticizing their ally, but I don't think they'll refuse to trade or go to war with the countries condemning Burma about it. If a bunch of countries banded together, China would lose too much money from not trading and they would have too many countries to go to war with. Even if they decided to do such a thing, they would at least give a warning and a chance for the offending countries to back off Burma. If we didn't want to look so cowardly by obeying China's commands, the UN could ask China beforehand if we put pressure on Burma to stop using child soldiers if they would stop trading with us. If they said yes, we could pretend that we had multiple reasons for not condemning Burma and back off for a little while. We have options. I guess the Security Council is afraid that if they recognize that Burma uses child soldiers and doesn't do anything about it, they would look bad. Not helping these kids is bad enough. Saying there isn't a problem is an even bigger slap in the face.

Invisible Children

Invisible Children is a global, social, and political movement created to bring attention to the use of child soldiers in Uganda. The Lord's Resistance Army, a group of militant rebels, have been snatching children from their homes and forcing them to fight their war for twenty-three years. Invisible Children brings global attention to this atrocity by their radical campaigns. For instance, on April 25 last year thousands of people traveled by foot to a location in a city they claimed as their ‘LRA’ base, where they refused to leave until a senator, politician or public figure ‘RESCUED’ them by making a public statement on behalf of child soldiers. Invisible Children also helps Ugandans in ways that get less global attention. They rebuild schools, help educate future leaders and provide jobs to civilians.
Invisible Children is a great program. As far as I know, they are the most effective NGO targeting this issue. However, this movement could stand to expand. The only kids they are reaching are Ugandan children. There are at least two dozen countries in the world using child soldiers in either their government's military or the rebel forces. I don't understand why this program is so focused on Uganda when there are countries like Burma who are currently using far more child soldiers. I don't know what the answer to this problem is. Maybe we need a separate program like Invisible Children in every offending country. Maybe one program can't handle it all and that's why Invisible Children only focuses on Uganda.

The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers

This website "works to prevent the recruitment and use of children as soldiers and to secure their demobilization." It does this by producing facts about child soldiers, giving updates on recent developments, and providing details of international standards on children and armed conflict. The idea is that if people knew what was going on with these children, they would work to stop it. The website gives information on how you can get involved by making donations to the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, sign up your organization to your national coalition, or work with the coalition itself as a paid staff member or volunteer.
I like to believe that this website is right in its assumption that people only need to be informed of an injustice in order to correct it. I think that the reason why not much is being done currently about this issue is because not enough people know the problem exists. Up until recently, I thought Uganda was the only country using child soldiers. A year ago I didn't even know countries were still using kids in battle. As soon as I found out, however, I donated some books to my friend's high school who sent the school supplies to a Ugandan schoolhouse. I don't tell you this to brag, I am telling you this because it illustrates my point. As soon as I was informed of the problem and given a chance to do something, I acted. I realize that some people will decide not to do anything, but others will go the extra mile to heavily impact the cause once they are informed. Some people will join the peace corps or adopt a kid in a war torn country that is known for using child soldiers. We need to give people the opportunity to make a difference.

interview with a former child soldier

This is an interview with a former child soldier of Sierra Leon. His name is Ishmael Beah, and since he left the army he has gone on to write a book called A Long Way Gone. I really like having a video on this blog. I don't think anyone can really wrap their head around something big like child soldiers unless they can put a face to a story. There's a difference between reading about something in you Current World Issues textbook and hearing a former child soldier tell you about his experiences.