Some facts about the reality of child soldiers around the world

Although there are no exact figures, hundreds of thousands of children under the age of 18 serve in government forces or armed rebel groups. Some are as young as eight years old.

Since 2001, the participation of child soldiers has been reported in 21 on-going or recent armed conflicts in almost every region of the world.

Children are uniquely vulnerable to military recruitment because of their emotional and physical immaturity. They are easily manipulated and can be drawn into violence that they are too young to resist or understand.

Technological advances in weaponry and the proliferation of small arms have contributed to the increased use of child soldiers. Lightweight automatic weapons are simple to operate, often easily accessible, and can be used by children as easily as adults.

Children are most likely to become child soldiers if they are poor, separated from their families, displaced from their homes, living in a combat zone or have limited access to education.

Many children join armed groups because of economic or social pressure, or because children believe that the group will offer food or security. Others are forcibly recruited, “press-ganged” or abducted by armed groups.

Both girls and boys are used as child soldiers. In some countries, like Nepal, Sri Lanka and Uganda, a third or more of the child soldiers were reported to be girls. In some conflicts, girls may be raped, or given to military commanders as “wives.”

Once recruited, child soldiers may serve as porters or cooks, guards, messengers or spies. Many are pressed into combat, where they may be forced to the front lines or sent into minefields ahead of older troops. Some children have been used for suicide missions.

Children are sometimes forced to commit atrocities against their own family or neighbors. Such practices help ensure that the child is “stigmatized” and unable to return to his or her home community.

In some countries, former child soldiers have access to rehabilitation programs to help them locate their families, get back into school, receive vocational training, and re-enter civilian life. However, many children have no access to such programs. They may have no way to support themselves and are at risk of re-recruitment.

In 2000, the United Nations adopted an Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. The protocol prohibits the forced recruitment of children under the age of 18 or their use in hostilities. To date, it has been ratified by more than 110 countries.

The ILO Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labor prohibits the forced or compulsory recruitment of children under the age of 18 for use in armed conflict. It has been ratified by over 150 countries.

Source

http://hrw.org/campaigns/crp/fact_sheet.html

you can also go to this site and help some of the groups doing something about it;

http://www.dosomething.org/taxonomy/term/2143

You can ping this site to get the word spread further.

Send me your comments so that we can begin to create greater awareness of this plight.

Other Useful Resources

http://web.amnesty.org/pages/childsoldiers-index-eng

http://hrw.org/campaigns/crp/child_soldiers/index.htm

An LSD user tells his story:

“I started hanging out at strip clubs, casinos and became very promiscuous, visiting brothel after brothel and soon to be introduced to other drugs.

I had now lost all my inheritance and had to move into a crack-house where I stayed for a year watching people die, losing my business and becoming a thief.

I was arrested in November 2003 for attempted hijacking and went to prison.

I had hurt and lost everyone that loved me and I was disowned.

I ended up homeless and on the streets living and sleeping in a cardboard box by the [train] station, begging and struggling to find ways to get my next meal.” – Frederick

The real solution: Don’t begin using drugs in the first place. Say NO too drugs and YES to life.

What does Ccocaine do to you?

Short term effects:

- loss of appetite

- increased heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature

- constricted peripheral blood vessels

- increased rate of breathing

- dilated pupils

- disturbed sleep patterns

- nausea

- hyper-stimulation

- Bizarre, erratic, sometimes violent behaviour

- hallucinations, hyper-excitability, irritability

- tactile hallucination that creates the illusion

What is Ecstasy?

Ecstasy was originally developed by Merck pharmaceutical company in 1912. In its original form, Ecstasy was made up of Methyldioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), a psychoactive drug that possessed the same stimulant properties as methamphetamine. MDMA was used in 1953 by the U.S. Army in psychological warfare tests, and then resurfaced in the 1960s as a psychotherapy medication to “lower inhibitions.” It wasn’t until the 1970s that MDMA emerged as a party drug.

By the early 1980s, MDMA was being promoted as “the hottest thing in the continuing search for happiness through chemistry,” and the “in-drug” for many weekend parties. Still legal in 1984, MDMA was being sold under the brand name “Ecstasy,” but by 1985, the drug had been banned over safety concerns.

Since the late 1980s, Ecstasy has become an embracive “marketing” term for drug dealers selling “Ecstasy-type” drugs that may, in fact, contain very little or no MDMA at all. And while MDMA itself can produce detrimental adverse effects, what is called Ecstasy today can contain a wide mixture of substances – from MDA, MDE, LSD, Cocaine heroin, amphetamine and methamphetamine, to rat poison, caffeine, dog deworming substances, etc. [MDA and MDE are amphetamine-derivative drugs]

Despite the cute logos dealers put on the pills, that is what makes Ecstasy particularly dangerous, accounting for many first-time user fatalities; a user never really knows what he is taking. The dangers are increased when users increase the dose seeking a previous high, not knowing that may be taking an entirely different combination of drugs.

Ecstasy most commonly comes in pill form but can also be injected and taken in other ways. Liquid Ecstasy is actually GHB (Gamma Hydroxybutyrate), a nervous system depressant – a substance that can also be found in drain cleaner, floor stripper or degreasing solvents.

It isn’t worth it at all. Say no to drugs and YES to life.

Today, at a conservative estimate, over 300,000 children in about 30 different areas of international conflict are being forced into war.

The youngest child soldier reported was 7 years old.

According to UNICEF, Sierra Leone used 4,500 child soldiers in its 8 years of civil war. During the past 10 years 2 million children have died in war.

Four to five million have become physically disabled. 

Child soldiers are children under the age of 18 who directly or indirectly participate in a military or political armed conflict. These include children recruited to the country’s armed forces or to non-governmental military organisations, even if the country in question is in a state of peace. 

Many ask why children become soldiers. Simply, many are in hopeless situations. Many have had families devastated by war and simply take up arms to survive. Millions are kidnapped and ‘brainwashed’ into soldering. Some are sold by parents, shocking as it may seem. There are many other factors too, political reasons, peer and parental pressure, psychological factors, forced recruitment and so on.

Many live in a constant state of terror – living with extended violence and war as well as pressure from their ‘commanders’ to toe the line or be killed or tortured. Such mechanisms are through force, authority and obedience, psychological manipulation and the use and abuse of mind-altering substances. The children thus become totally dependent on their ‘commanders’ or leaders for all aspects of survival.

When a child soldier is rescued, escapes or is caught, often one is dealing with an individual who has lost all sense of emotional feeling, severed all connections with the past – including blocked off memory of past family, and has little to no regard for life.  

Such is the tremendous job of volunteers who bring these lost souls back to their communities and attempt to help rehabilitate them back into society. For these volunteers this is a tough job and they are commended.

Effects of Cocaine.

Cocaine causes a short-lived, intense high that is immediately followed by the opposite – intense depression, edginess and a craving for more of the drug.

People who use it often don’t eat or sleep properly. They can experience greatly increased heart rate, muscle spasms and convulsions. The drug can make people feel paranoid, angry, hostile and anxious – even when they aren’t high.

Regardless of how much of the drug is used or how frequently, cocaine increases the likelihood that the user will experience a heart attack, stroke, seizure or respiratory failure, any of which can result in sudden death.

The phrase “dope fiend” was originally coined many years ago to describe the negative side effects of constant cocaine use. As tolerance to the drug increases, it becomes necessary to take greater and greater quantities to get the same high.

Prolonged daily use causes sleep deprivation and loss of appetite. A person can become psychotic and begin to experience hallucinations.

As cocaine interferes with the way the brain processes chemicals, one needs more and more of the drug just to feel normal. People who become addicted to cocaine (as with most other drugs) lose interest in other areas of life.

Coming down from the drug causes depression so severe that a person will do almost anything to get the drug – even commit murder.

And if he or she can’t get cocaine, the depression can get so intense it can drive the addict to suicide.

“Don’t touch cocaine. I spent two years in jail because of this drug. And when I got out, life was so hard I started taking the drug again. I know 10 girls who became prostitutes because of coke. It’s much more extreme and degrading than we believe. At the time we don’t realize to what degree it destroys us.” Shawne

Taking drugs is not the answer. Say NO to drugs and YES to life.