Tae Wheeler

Bimonte
CP English 91
3, January 2015

HELP US!
What age would you consider for a
soldier to be appropriate, is eight ok? Many
children are forced and recruited as child
soldiers at a very young age. There are over
300,000 child soldiers in the world. In
southern Sudan, 30% of the army are
children. 5-7% are combatants. All over the
world children are being recruited as child
soldiers without even having an education.

Who are the victims?

school. They had guns, and the teachers

couldnt stop them. They took us into the
bush. Many boys died of hunger and thirst.
One day, a boy tried to escape, but they
caught him. They ordered us to stand around
him in a circle and beat him. The next time a
boy escape we have to run him through with
a bayonet (Not Childs Play). Most of
the children were from seven through
eighteen.

Life as a soldier

Photo. Returning Sudanese Child Soldiers

In Africa there are 120,000 children

are serving as child soldiers. Some are
forced to join and dont even have an
education. They are forced to beat or kill
friends and families, even their own. They
have to burn down places too.
According to the article, one child
soldier story is, The soldiers took me from

Photo. Children in DRC forced to be soldiers in the

rebel armies. Another example of modern day slavery

The Manitoba capital recruited over

1,200 refugees in the year 2003. During
training as a soldier the children are forced
to lean to defend their selves and other items
thats theirs. From the article Children of
war, A 12-year-old boy from Sierra

Leone, moved him nearer to her desk. That

put the boy in a high traffic area; when his
classmates walked by, he lashed out at them.
The teacher eventually discovered the boy
had spent time in a refugee camp, where he
had to protect his food from thieves
(Reynolds).
Being in a child soldier or in a
refugee camp also impacts the rest of your
life after your done fighting if you are still
alive. In article Children of war, Keita is
from Guinea, a small country bordering on
both Sierra Leone and Liberia, two of
Africas more notorious war zones. In 2000,
rebels from both countries began targeting
its villages (Keitas home was also
attacked), stealing food, burning houses and
murdering (Reynolds).

According to the article AID

AGENCIES HELP TO RID CHILD
SOLDIERS OF WARS SCARS, Last
month, IMC launched a six month pilot
program to remove some of these brandings.
With funding from USAID and UNICEF,
and a budget of $150,000, IMC brought in a
plastic surgeon to perform operations in
Lungi hospital, near Freetown (Harman).
There are many things organizations
are developing to help the child soldiers and
refugees, which is a great idea because
children thats really young should not be
fighting, especially when they havent
experienced life and have no education.
Many of us people dont pay anything like
this attention, but we really should.

Helping Organizations

Photo. Operation Iraqi Children: OIC Progress.

There are many organizations are

either helping or trying to help by donating
items, trying to come up with a law or nurse
and heal the children. From the article
Reports about Grafton Camp, a facility
with demobilized child soldiers ranging
from nine to 16 years of age operated by
United Nations International Childrens
Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and local
partners in Sierra Leone, Angola Scope of
violations and security risks of child
soldiering; Manner of child recruitments
into the camp; Role of traditional healing to
child soldiering (Wessells).

Photo. Up to half of the worlds child soldiers are from

Africa. Most are forced into the lifestyle, and face the
consequence of death if they do not comply.

Work Cited Page

"Not Child's Play." UNESCO Sources 120 (2000): 22. Academic Search Premier. 3 Jan. 2015.
Quart, Alissa. "The Child Soldiers of Staten Island." Mother Jones 32.4 (2007): 22-25.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Feb. 2015.
Angucia, Margaret. "Children and War in Africa: The Crisis Continues
In Northern Uganda." International Journal on World Peace 26.3 (2009): 77-95. Academic
Search Premier. Web. 6 Feb. 2015.
Reynolds, Cynthia. "Children of War." Maclean's 118.1 (2004): 78-1. Academic Search Premier.
Web. 6 Feb. 2015.
UNICEF Evacuates 2,500 Child Soldiers from Combat Zones in Southern Sudan." AP Video
Archive 2001. Student Resources in Context. Web. 27 Jan. 2015
Returning Sudanese Child Soldiers Their Childhood. 2012. Afronline the Voice of Africa RSS.
Web. 10 Feb. 2015.
Orr, Francis. Child Soldiers: A timeless struggle. 2012. Google Images Online. Web.11
Feb.2015.
Fournier, Suzanne. "Operation Iraqi Children: OIC Progress." Operation Iraqi Children: OIC
Progress. Operation International Children, 6 Apr. 2006. Web. 10 Feb. 2015.
Mitchem, Richelle. Child Soldiers in Africa. pashionista.org.uk.11 Feb. 2013. Web. 11 Feb
2015.