For most of us, our childhood was pretty good. We didn’t really have any big worries. Sadly, however, this is not the case for all of today’s children. About 300,000 children are primary combatants in more than 75 percent of the world's conflicts. Globally, children are singled out for recruitment by both armed forces and armed opposition groups, and exploited as combatants. These kids are coerced through physical force or manipulation to commit horrifying crimes such as rape and murder. Some are forced to injure or kill members of their own families or other kids who have been recruited. Others serve as cooks, guards, and sex slaves. Still others are assigned jobs as spies and messengers because people don’t suspect kids as being part of the enemy’s army. Below is a map of all the countries that use child soldiers.
As horrifying a life as these kids lead, not all child soldiers are forced by the military to join. Some kids voluntarily join because they have no family or they don’t have any other way of receiving food, water, or shelter. Some families offer up their children, especially for suicide missions where they will be martyred because it is seen as honorable for them to fight or die for a certain cause or because their religion glorifies martyrdom.
When thinking about child soldiers, images of kids like Ishmael Beah from the above video are the ones that most readily come to mind. We think of little boys running around with machine guns, but what most people don’t know is that forty percent of child soldiers are girls. Granted, these girls generally hold different positions then their male comrades, but these girls are child soldiers nonetheless.
While some female child soldiers hold commanding positions, most don’t participate in combat. Instead, the girls serve as cooks and sex slaves. Like boys, some girls join these forces because their parents offer them up or they have run out of options. Most girls are lied to and told they will only have to serve as a cook when they voluntarily join the army. These girls are raped multiple times a day by adult soldiers without any kind of contraceptive or protection. What’s even more revolting is that the adult men are kidnapping and recruiting more and more young girls because they are more likely to be virgins and less likely to have STDs.
While this would seem to be an issue constantly on the news and getting lots of media coverage in magazines and newspapers, not many people know very much about child soldiers or talk about the problem. I didn’t even know that such an atrocity was taking place until last year when a friend was telling me about a fundraiser at her school where they were collecting books for the children of Uganda. The idea of the program was that with an education, these kids would have hope and not be as easily manipulated to join fighting forces. After the books were collected, I didn’t hear about the subject for a full year until my college professor, Dr. Kirsten Taylor, spent a small section of her lecture talking about the issue in my current world issues class. I learned that this atrocity wasn’t just taking place in Uganda, it was happening in over a dozen other countries around the world. I was ashamed that I didn’t know this before and angry that no one had made the issue public enough to where it would have been common knowledge.
As the class continued, Dr. Taylor informed us that the International Labor Organization (ILO) declared child soldiering as one of the “worst forms” of child labor. Article One of the ILO’s Convention Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Worst Forms of Child Labor states that, “each member which ratifies this Convention shall take immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor as a matter of urgency.” This means that countries should work to end child soldiering inside and outside of their countries. Unfortunately, the U.S. hasn’t signed onto this treaty. Dr. Taylor also discussed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which outlawed physical and mental violence, mal-treatment, and exploitation, and the use of child soldiers under the age of 15. The U.S. and Somalia are the only countries in the UN who haven’t ratified this.
I sat in this class, waiting for Dr. Taylor to give me some treaty that the U.S. signed, some law that it passed prohibiting the use of child soldiers worldwide. The best thing that she could give me was that the U.S. doesn’t allow kids in their own army. I couldn’t help thinking to myself, “am I supposed to be impressed by this?” We may not be contributing our own kids to the number of child soldiers, but we are letting the practice go on in other countries. That’s almost as bad.
I thought about America’s lack of involvement in this issue as I walked back to my dorm room. I decided to do some research online just in case there was something the U.S. had done about this crime against humanity that Dr. Taylor forgot to mention. As soon as I logged in, the newsreel on AOL was telling me about Tiger Woods’ extramarital affairs. Seeing that there was more media coverage over Tiger Woods than hundreds of thousands of kids forced or manipulated into fighting in the armed forces annoyed me to no end. Then it hit me; this is why the U.S. isn’t doing anything about child soldiers. Newspapers, magazines, and t.v. stations are recording silly stories about celebrities instead of big, current world issues. People aren’t being informed about this problem. If the media informed more Americans what was going on then they would pressure the government to get involved in abolishing the use of child soldiers worldwide. The government wouldn’t be able to ignore the problem anymore.
Obviously this issue isn’t going to get tons of media coverage overnight. Magazines and television executives generally produce what they think people are going to want to hear about. That’s why Tiger Woods’ story is getting so much attention. He ends up on the front page of a magazine, sales spike, then the magazine finds more juicy gossip, and more people buy the magazine. It’s a cycle, and the media is right to assume that people want to be up-to-date on the latest news or gossip. The juicier the story, the more money the people reporting the news gets. I don’t think this means that people aren’t interested in serious current world issues, however. Right now, people aren’t getting a lot of news outside of the United States, and especially outside of the developed world. A lot of news about outside countries isn’t that interesting to people unless they can put a face to the story. People look for scandalous celebrity gossip because they can put a face to the gossip they are hearing or reading about. I mean, really, think about it. What have you heard more about this month, laws being passed in Namibia or Tiger Woods?
Things don’t have to stay this way, however. I believe if journalists and news reporters started addressing bigger issues that need global recognition, like child soldiers, people would pay attention. People are interested in people. That’s why they read gossip magazines; they want to know what’s going on in other people’s lives. If everyone is so concerned with Tiger Woods, how much more should they be interested in the child soldiers? Some may argue that people haven’t cared so far, and hearing more about the topic won’t make them care any more. I’m sure that some people really won’t care. I’m counting on it. But there are some people who will be horrified at this atrocity and will do something about it. There are some people who will donate to nongovernmental organizations or join the Peace Corps or adopt children from warring nations that use child soldiers. There are some people who will pressure politicians, and there are some politicians who will act to help these kids because they want to stay popular with the public and be re-elected. Call me naïve, but I have faith that people can work together to improve the world.
I am aware that my outlook may appear a little rosy, but I am also aware, as I previously stated, that things won’t change overnight. Newspapers, magazines, and television aren’t going to research and report on this topic until the public gives them a reason to and the public won’t give them a reason to if they don’t know about it. One simple solution to end this cycle would be to teach people about this topic, along with several other current world problems, in our public education system. We could make a mandatory global issues class in high school and public state universities. More students would spread the word and join clubs to bring recognition to these problems if this information was given to them. Eventually, today’s youth will get older and more kids will rise up to take their place in schools. Problems like child soldiers will be common knowledge, and with the doubtless pressure from the informed population, American politicians won’t be able to ignore the problem anymore.
Again, I know my outlook is idealistic as I am assuming that people are fundamentally good and only need to be informed of an injustice in order to correct it, but I strongly believe that most people have a moral sense that won’t let them ignore wrong-doing for very long. Right now, educating U.S. citizens about the problem and having them pressure the government into action appears to be best way of making our country’s politicians do something.
