Stolen Childhood- Child Soldiers - 1434 Words

Children in America may spend their evenings doing homework or watching television, or some adolescents may have jobs. This is normal for persons under the age of 18 in America. However right now, in other parts of the world, children are being bought, sold, and recruited into armies, where their fates and evenings are left in the hands of their leaders. Many people wonder why children are so often recruited into armies, and what happens to them once they are enlisted. Many different variables, including what are called push and pull factors, can play a role in the process of turning a child into a soldier. The term â€Å"push factor† is used to describe any external source of pressure to enlist or be recruited. These factors can include†¦show more content†¦This loophole has allowed many tyrants to enslave children and escape punishment. These are just a few of one group of factors that can play a role in becoming child soldiers. While â€Å"push factors† are external forces of pressure, â€Å"pull factors† refer to more internal struggles. Some factors could include desire for acceptance and religious honor. Some militant groups had â€Å"voluntary† recruitment because the men were too old to fight. Also, in some countries, the boys saw fighting as a personal honor. In Sri Lanka during their civil war, the Tamil Tigers, a military group, had banned joining any other military groups. This group was one of the major separatist groups during this time. The Tamil Tigers had an estimated 7,000-10,000 soldiers, and about 20-40% of these were estimated to be children, despite the fact that they claimed to never use child soldiers (Somasundaram). This trend of using children as cheap labor is one of the reasons why the up and coming generation is already hindered with setbacks. While the older group of people in the world are simply power hungry, the children are taught from a young age to seek acceptance and approval from authority. In many countries, the children may go as far as to be easily swayed into military service. This is demonstrated in Liberia, where the mistreatment and discrimination against women instills an inferiority complex in females across the country. This also makes it easy for men to enslave young girls in sexShow MoreRelatedChild Soldiers901 Words   |  4 Pagesdiscuss the contentious issue of child soldiers and inform you of the implications this issue has for our modern society. Despite popular opinion, this issue is prevalent in our post-modern world and is far too widespread to ignore. The contentious t heme of child soldiers is represented as atrocious and an infringement of human rights in a diverse range of literary and non- literary texts such as the movie Blood Diamond, the poem Child Soldier Diary and the article Stolen kids turned into terrifying killersRead MoreChild Soldiers Essay907 Words   |  4 PagesPaper 4: Synthesis Worldwide the use of child soldiers is a serious issue. Today there are about 300,000 children as young as nine years old involved in armed conflicts all around the globe. These children are living under constant fears of being trapped in an ambush, landmines or gunfire. Girls are used as well in fact approximately one third of child soldiers are girls, they are given the same job as the boys but are used as a sex slaves and forced to be the â€Å"wives† of their commanders. Girls areRead MoreA Long Way Gone Argument Essay examples990 Words   |  4 PagesEddie Salcedo Mr. Stone December 5, 2012 7th period A Long Way Until The End of This Essay The author of A Long Way Gone argues against boy soldiers but also against the loss of innocence. Beah’s parents are burned alive by the rebels; this is the first step towards his animosity towards them. In his story he talks about snorting brown brown, shooting men and how he was slowly corrupted by the men around him, turning him into a machine. It tells the story of a world as horrendous as anyRead MoreThe Affect of War on Ones Innocence1099 Words   |  5 Pagesin the eyes of naive children or experienced soldiers. Whether one is a young boy or a soldier, war is never as easy to understand as the definition. comprehend. There will inevitably be an event or circumstance where one is befuddled by the horror of war. For a young boy, it may occur when war first breaks out in his country, such as in â€Å"Song of Becoming.† Yet, in â€Å"Dulce et Decorum Est† it took a man dying in front of a soldiers face for the soldier to realize how awful war truly is. Both â€Å"SongRead MoreEssay about The Hunger Games and Child Soldiers: the Sad Truth1441 Words   |  6 PagesHunger Games and Child Soldiers: The Sad Truth The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins,(Collins) and Child Soldiers are intertwined together because they are both children fighting for their lives. The children are alike because they got executed into being prisoners, that fight to their deaths and kill savagely. The children live similarly because they both have organizations or sponsors helping them get out of their situation. Lastly, the children experience the same emotions because The Hunger Games(Collins)Read MoreLord of The Rings/Kite Runner Compare and Contrast Essay1556 Words   |  7 PagesKite Runner and Lord of the Flies: Compare and Contrast What objects do you associate innocence with? Marriage, virginity, a childhood toy? When we think of dominance we think of war; we think of negativity. When the phrase ‘parental influence’ comes to mind, we go to our mothers tucking us into bed and watching the game with our fathers—at least that is what us lucky ones think of. 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As Franklin said, â€Å"Society constructs the children it needs. Instead of policies to protect children in the community, the government and media have preferred to promote polices to protect the community from children† (5). This is exactly what the Feed has done to us, Titus. It has stolen our rightRead MoreEssay about Anne Frank1484 Words   |  6 Pagespatrolled frequently. Anne Frank’s family was one of these Jews and took up residence in the hidden rooms above her father’s former office. As the end of the war neared, Nazi soldiers began to get worried and cared less about apprehending Jews than they did about killing the ones they already had taken as prisoner. Since the Nazi soldiers were male, they treated men and women prisoners in their camps with a significant amount of difference. Prisoners were forced to do pointless yet challenging labour forRead MoreThe Childrens Crusade: Innocence, Masculinity, and Humanity1440 Words   |  6 Pagesbook is how innocent the soldiers are that are fighting in WWII. Towards the beginning of the book, Vonnegut visits his friend O’Hare when O’Hare’s wife, Mary, confronts Vonnegut on him writing his book, stating that they were just babies in the war. After her statement, he acknowledges that they were indeed just virgins in the war, right at the end of childhood(Vonnegut, 11). When going to war, he and others were unprepared both mentally and physically. The soldiers were naive and did not know