Child Soldiers In Uganda Research Paper
Stolen Childhood of Ugandan Children.
If 1,500 kids in Canada are taken every year, it would be all over the news. But that’s not the case in Uganda. For over the past 20 years 30,000 boys and girls have been abducted and used as child soldiers by a rebel group called the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda ("Military use of children - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia", n.d.). Child soldiers are used as porters, slaves, fighters and worse for sexual purposes. Why is it that if children in Uganda are abducted it can go on for over 20 years but if it 's in Canada it is more likely to be immediately covered by the news ?
Uganda is located in Sub Saharan Africa. It has a population of 34.75 million people ("Uganda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia", …show more content…
n.d.). 48.9% of its population are kids younger than 14 years old ("CIA - The World Factbook", n.d.). Most of these children as young as 8 are used as child soldiers by both the government waged National Resistance Army and Lord’s Resistance Army. The Lord’s Resistance Army; also known as LRA, is a rebel group led by Joseph Kony, originated in Northern Uganda as a movement to fight for the interests of the Acholi people. Kony rapidly lost support, and for the last 24 years has led a terrifying regime targeting attacks on innocent civilians, kidnapping children and forcing them to fight in his rebel forces. Even with free education for upto four kids per family ("CIA - The World Factbook", n.d.) only 35% of the children go to post secondary education ("CIA - The World Factbook", n.d.) due to the increasing number of children abductions around smaller villages/town in Uganda. This leads to only 66.8% of literacy rate ("CIA - The World Factbook", n.d.) and a lack of lawyers, teachers and doctors in Uganda. “In 2008 the ratio was one doctor to every 15,000 inhabitants.” (Barlas & Yong, 2010). The political turmoil caused by the unending war against the Ugandan government and the LRA has hampered Uganda 's economic progress and prevented it from fulfilling its economic potential.
Child soldiers are any person below 18 years of age who is or has been recruited or used by an armed force, in any capacity including boys and girls used as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers, spies or for sexual purposes.("Child Soldiers International - About the Issues", n.d.).
It is estimated that a third of all child soldiers are girls ("Facts About Child Soldiers | Human Rights Watch", 2008). They are often used as 'wives ' (i.e. sex slaves) of the male combatants. The use of child soldiers is prohibited under many International laws such as International Human Rights Law, International Criminal Law, and International Humanitarian Law ("Child Soldiers International - International Standards", n.d.). Although these laws clearly state that the use of child soldiers is illegal, it hasn’t stopped the rebels and even some governments from using child soldiers. The use of child soldiers predominantly strikes Sub-Saharan Africa as well as parts of Asia and South America. “Today, there are more than 250,000 children who have been recruited to participate in armed conflicts worldwide” ("The issue - The Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative", n.d.). Why? because children are easier to condition and brainwash. They don 't eat much food, don 't need paying much and have an underdeveloped sense of danger so they are easier to send into the line of fire. As part of their recruitment, children are sometimes forced to commit atrocities to a family member - thus breaking …show more content…
the bonds with their community and making it difficult for them to return home. Most that has escaped has missed out on school - sometimes for many years. Without an education they have very little future prospects and sometimes return to the rebel groups as they have simply no other way of feeding themselves. The effects on children are felt long after their physical scars have healed and their drug dependencies overcome. Many child soldiers are desensitised to violence - often at a very formative time in their development and this can psychologically damage them for life.
Children in Uganda live in fear of being abducted.
This is unacceptable. Every child in the world should live in safety and protection from being harmed in any way. Every child should have a childhood not a nightmare that would follow them forever. I can’t even begin to imagine the things they have or had to in order to survive. It can range from killing innocent people to killing your very own family. What kind of person would use children to kill for them? They’re just cowards hiding behind children controlling them with fear. The use of child soldiers shouldn 't have started in the first place; some words just don 't belong together. But what’s done is done. Now it’s our responsibility to put a stop on the use of child soldiers. Canada should use it’s media to inform both the people in Canada and other people around the world about the LRA. With Canada’s and other countries resources, we can help the Ugandan government get rid of the Lords Resistance Army and step by step eliminate the use of child
soldiers.
Works Cited
Barlas, R., & Lin, Y. J. (2010). Uganda (p. 81). New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark.
Child Soldiers International - About the Issues. (n.d.). Retrieved 28, 2013, from http://www.child-soldiers.org/about_the_issues.php
Child Soldiers International - International Standards. (n.d.). Retrieved May 28, 2013, from http://www.child-soldiers.org/international_standards.php
CIA - The World Factbook. (n.d.). Retrieved May 23, 2013, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ug.html
Facts About Child Soldiers | Human Rights Watch. ( December 03, 2008). Retrieved June 3, 2013, from http://www.hrw.org/news/2008/12/03/facts-about-child-soldiers
The issue - The Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative. (n.d.). Retrieved May 28, 2013, from http://www.childsoldiers.org/the-issue/
Military use of children - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved May 27, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_use_of_children
Uganda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved May 27, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda
If 1,500 kids in Canada are taken every year, it would be all over the news. But that’s not the case in Uganda. For over the past 20 years 30,000 boys and girls have been abducted and used as child soldiers by a rebel group called the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda ("Military use of children - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia", n.d.). Child soldiers are used as porters, slaves, fighters and worse for sexual purposes. Why is it that if children in Uganda are abducted it can go on for over 20 years but if it 's in Canada it is more likely to be immediately covered by the news ?
Uganda is located in Sub Saharan Africa. It has a population of 34.75 million people ("Uganda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia", …show more content…
n.d.). 48.9% of its population are kids younger than 14 years old ("CIA - The World Factbook", n.d.). Most of these children as young as 8 are used as child soldiers by both the government waged National Resistance Army and Lord’s Resistance Army. The Lord’s Resistance Army; also known as LRA, is a rebel group led by Joseph Kony, originated in Northern Uganda as a movement to fight for the interests of the Acholi people. Kony rapidly lost support, and for the last 24 years has led a terrifying regime targeting attacks on innocent civilians, kidnapping children and forcing them to fight in his rebel forces. Even with free education for upto four kids per family ("CIA - The World Factbook", n.d.) only 35% of the children go to post secondary education ("CIA - The World Factbook", n.d.) due to the increasing number of children abductions around smaller villages/town in Uganda. This leads to only 66.8% of literacy rate ("CIA - The World Factbook", n.d.) and a lack of lawyers, teachers and doctors in Uganda. “In 2008 the ratio was one doctor to every 15,000 inhabitants.” (Barlas & Yong, 2010). The political turmoil caused by the unending war against the Ugandan government and the LRA has hampered Uganda 's economic progress and prevented it from fulfilling its economic potential.
Child soldiers are any person below 18 years of age who is or has been recruited or used by an armed force, in any capacity including boys and girls used as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers, spies or for sexual purposes.("Child Soldiers International - About the Issues", n.d.).
It is estimated that a third of all child soldiers are girls ("Facts About Child Soldiers | Human Rights Watch", 2008). They are often used as 'wives ' (i.e. sex slaves) of the male combatants. The use of child soldiers is prohibited under many International laws such as International Human Rights Law, International Criminal Law, and International Humanitarian Law ("Child Soldiers International - International Standards", n.d.). Although these laws clearly state that the use of child soldiers is illegal, it hasn’t stopped the rebels and even some governments from using child soldiers. The use of child soldiers predominantly strikes Sub-Saharan Africa as well as parts of Asia and South America. “Today, there are more than 250,000 children who have been recruited to participate in armed conflicts worldwide” ("The issue - The Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative", n.d.). Why? because children are easier to condition and brainwash. They don 't eat much food, don 't need paying much and have an underdeveloped sense of danger so they are easier to send into the line of fire. As part of their recruitment, children are sometimes forced to commit atrocities to a family member - thus breaking …show more content…
the bonds with their community and making it difficult for them to return home. Most that has escaped has missed out on school - sometimes for many years. Without an education they have very little future prospects and sometimes return to the rebel groups as they have simply no other way of feeding themselves. The effects on children are felt long after their physical scars have healed and their drug dependencies overcome. Many child soldiers are desensitised to violence - often at a very formative time in their development and this can psychologically damage them for life.
Children in Uganda live in fear of being abducted.
This is unacceptable. Every child in the world should live in safety and protection from being harmed in any way. Every child should have a childhood not a nightmare that would follow them forever. I can’t even begin to imagine the things they have or had to in order to survive. It can range from killing innocent people to killing your very own family. What kind of person would use children to kill for them? They’re just cowards hiding behind children controlling them with fear. The use of child soldiers shouldn 't have started in the first place; some words just don 't belong together. But what’s done is done. Now it’s our responsibility to put a stop on the use of child soldiers. Canada should use it’s media to inform both the people in Canada and other people around the world about the LRA. With Canada’s and other countries resources, we can help the Ugandan government get rid of the Lords Resistance Army and step by step eliminate the use of child
soldiers.
Works Cited
Barlas, R., & Lin, Y. J. (2010). Uganda (p. 81). New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark.
Child Soldiers International - About the Issues. (n.d.). Retrieved 28, 2013, from http://www.child-soldiers.org/about_the_issues.php
Child Soldiers International - International Standards. (n.d.). Retrieved May 28, 2013, from http://www.child-soldiers.org/international_standards.php
CIA - The World Factbook. (n.d.). Retrieved May 23, 2013, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ug.html
Facts About Child Soldiers | Human Rights Watch. ( December 03, 2008). Retrieved June 3, 2013, from http://www.hrw.org/news/2008/12/03/facts-about-child-soldiers
The issue - The Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative. (n.d.). Retrieved May 28, 2013, from http://www.childsoldiers.org/the-issue/
Military use of children - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved May 27, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_use_of_children
Uganda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved May 27, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda