Child Soldiers In Uganda Essay

INTRODUCTION: THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
This paper purports to discuss the child soldiers forcibly produced and abused by the armed conflict between the National Army and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda. Despite the fact that horrifying violence perpetrated against children in Africa has gained growing concern, most people assume childhood exploitation is an ‘inevitable tragedy’ inflicted by armed conflicts. Moreover, the children are approached in a holistic manner although each country with an armed conflict suffers unique problems with different contexts. Through a situated analysis of child combatants in Uganda, this paper will demonstrate that the issue of child soldiers is a national, political, and social crisis manifested in a systemic exploitation of childhood. Therefore, it will be argued that action plans should be country-specific and tailored to the unique contexts of Uganda in order to rehabilitate the victimized children effectively.

SUBSECTIONS: First section of the paper will start with depicting the general circumstances of child soldier problems across the world. Even though the paper argues for community-based rehabilitation systems, it is worth understanding the dynamic of the big issues in comparison with the situation in Uganda. In this
section, various reasons and context behind the abuse of child soldiers receives scrutiny. Coupled with the international conditions of child soldiers, the paper will refer to the specific situations in Uganda, which is represented by Human Rights Watch in the article called Stolen Children: Abduction and Recruitment in Northern Uganda.
In the second part of subsections, various causes of using child soldiers will be systemically approached.
It will be emphasized that the issue of child combatants should be examined in the context of national, political and social problems faced by the government of Uganda. Cheney’s article, Our Children Have Only Known War: Children’s Experiences and the Uses of Childhood in Northern Uganda, offers critical perspectives on childhood exploitation as state-inspired violence. It will be also discussed that the state’s ability to secure and cater to its people has been undermined while opposing factions, often politically and ethnically aligned, exploit children in an opportunistic
manner.
Finally, the paper recommends strategic action plans which reconcile with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and international protection standards. Inspired by Berry’s article “Child Soldiers and the Convention on the Rights of the Child”, potential recommendations may reflect the contextual analysis of the armed conflicts in Uganda and community resources available to them. The accountability of several protocols and international mechanisms will receive critical examinations in order evaluate their effectiveness.

CONCLUSION: The successful implementation of remedy mechanisms for children exploited in armed conflicts should anticipate a variety of national issues rather than being considered as an international phenomenon. In order to produce country-specific solutions to such issues, this paper examines the internal concerns of Uganda which threaten the basic rights of children of it. The research may not be applicable to other countries confronting similar problems caused by civil conflicts, yet, the process of analysis can be also employed in understanding the nature of child combatants within a certain culture and nation. In that way, different priorities and needs will meet the most appropriate resources and supports resulting in a feasible progress.