Psychological Effects Of Child Soldiers Essay
The major conflict that caused the use of child soldiers was the Rwandan civil war in 1994. Rwanda is the country located right next to the Congo. Rwandan Hutu rebels known as Interahamwe fled to the Dominican Republic of the Congo (DRC) after fearing their reprisals for their part in the mass killing of Rwandan Tutsis and joined forces with the Zairian army in 1998 to launch an offensive against the Congolese Tutsis in eastern Zaire. This erupted after the Belgian rule rewarded Tutsis with a Western education, and denied political and economic power to the Hutus. After Rwanadan gained Independence, they discriminated against the Tutsis commencing the bloody battle which ended in a ceasefire signed by the Hutu president named President Habyarimana
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Over ten million child soldiers have been left with serious psychological trauma. As a result of being uprooted from their homes and communities, children feel displaced or like refugees internally. Being orphaned or separated from their parents and families, subjected to sexual abuse and exploitation, child soldiers also become victims of trauma after the exposure to violence, and being deprived of education and recreation. Children soldiers dedicate their time forcefully to fighting in wars but proper education is not administered and is misused. Psychological trauma is due to suffering in the process of becoming a child soldier. One of the main mental changes a child soldier undergoes is that of violence and the loss of regret for those lives one has to hurt. Even those who return from the war still have trouble learning the meaning of what is right and wrong and that this violence is not the solution. Child soldiers do not have the chance to be children becauses as a soldier they undergo a series of brutal and vicious circumstances and do not focus on what it means to be a child. They are robbed of their childhood and forced into the world of war and brutality. Therefore, child soldiers suffer the reality both physically and
Over ten million child soldiers have been left with serious psychological trauma. As a result of being uprooted from their homes and communities, children feel displaced or like refugees internally. Being orphaned or separated from their parents and families, subjected to sexual abuse and exploitation, child soldiers also become victims of trauma after the exposure to violence, and being deprived of education and recreation. Children soldiers dedicate their time forcefully to fighting in wars but proper education is not administered and is misused. Psychological trauma is due to suffering in the process of becoming a child soldier. One of the main mental changes a child soldier undergoes is that of violence and the loss of regret for those lives one has to hurt. Even those who return from the war still have trouble learning the meaning of what is right and wrong and that this violence is not the solution. Child soldiers do not have the chance to be children becauses as a soldier they undergo a series of brutal and vicious circumstances and do not focus on what it means to be a child. They are robbed of their childhood and forced into the world of war and brutality. Therefore, child soldiers suffer the reality both physically and