Child soldiers - whose responsibility?
Aoife Singh
Intercalating Medical Student International Health BSc, Centre for Child & Adolescent Health, University of Bristol, Bristol BS6 6JL, UK
Throughout history, war has taken an unacceptable toll on children. They have been killed, injured, orphaned and employed as part of a country’s armed forces. However in today’s world a new and horrific phenomenon is the widespread use of child soldiers.
Child soldiers exist in countries throughout the world and the reasons why they fight and the effects of fighting vary from child to child. However one common factor for all child soldiers is the gross violation of their human rights. All children have the right to play, to be educated, fed and loved, and eventually become the adults of the future, who will protect the children of the future. Instead in some parts of the world, these most vulnerable members of society are forced to commit atrocities and are themselves being subjected to physical, mental and sexual abuse.
It is easy to put the blame for this situation on the countries where child soldiers are a problem, and of course these countries do have to take responsibility for what is occurring on their soil. However this perspective conveniently ignores the contributory role that other countries play; countries which uphold the rights of the child within their own national boundaries, but fuel the use of children as soldiers in other parts of the world through the sale of lightweight weapons. Countries such as the UK.
This perspective, that sovereign states are solely accountable for child soldiers, also ignores the responsibility that each and everyone of us has to these children. We have to accept that human rights are universal and therefore ensuring that they are upheld, is a universal responsibility.
The scale of the problem, the experiences that child soldiers have to endure and the complexity of the factors that underlie why children are used as soldiers, mean it is easy to become disheartened about the whole subject, but it is wrong to believe the situation is hopeless. By not doing anything we are in effect condoning this terrible practice, and no matter how small the steps we take, each is a step nearer towards ridding the world of child soldiers.
Bookmark on delicious | Digg
August 11th, 2007 at 10:54 am
Every action has a reaction.. the UK and other countries should be more responsible in its sale of arms in all cases, regardless of whether child soldiers are involved. The fact that child soldiers stir up more emotion and there is more stark opposition to fighting by children means that we can highlight the use of child soldiers to discourage the sale of arms to warring states.
Should strategies to address the problem of child soldiers be aiming just to remove child soldiers from these situations, or should they be more holistic, aiming more at the root of the problem? Maybe Aoife is suggesting that we have to accept that many conflicts won’t be solved for many years/ever, so we have to deal as best we can with the situation?
November 6th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Hi Aoife,
This article is moving the mankind, showing the people to which magnitude children are used. Solving the regional problems can solve the problems for humans as a whole but as far as atrocities on children is concerned this article can emotionally move the mankind and help in minimizing the onslaughts on children.
‘Child soldiers’ is the most pathetic way to use children and is the worst form of child labor.
As far as I know children are recruited even by the government in Nepal, Srilanka, Chad etc. LTTE in Srilanka, Angola, Colombia and in many African countries children are used.
Great to see this article written by you.
Thanks
Animesh
animesh.singh@yahoo.com