Child soldiers around the world

Child soldiers around the world

  • Submitted By: jose11756
  • Date Submitted: 04/26/2014 10:32 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 2250
  • Page: 9

Child Soldiers across the World
Children all over the world are being abused by being made into child soldiers. Being forced to become child soldiers has caused devastation for thousands of children worldwide, like the one in Sierra Leone and Colombia. Sierra Leone and Colombia are just a few countries where war has caused devastation of children. Rebel groups, called the RUF have begun attacking the Sierra Leonean government for reasons it doesn’t understand. The Colombian government is involved in multiple conflicts, the main two rebel factions being the FARC and the ELN.
Children in Colombia are recruited for a number of reasons. Perhaps the most known use for children in warring countries is to fight. The reason the most rebel factions recruit children is because they are easy to manipulate. A boy interviewed about the war told his story. He ran away from his home and the rebels took advantage of this. They told him that if he joined, it would be fun and he would have a place to sleep. One he joined, he was told that if he didn’t fight in the war, they would kill him on the spot (“One Child Soldier’s Story”). In addition to fighting, children are also recruited to be informants. The rebels normally recruited girls or young boys to gather the information. Some children are paid $5 USD for giving information, other children are threatened to give information (“Child Soldiers Global”). Children also are recruited to lay explosives and smuggle weapons to rebels. As Yineth Trujillo said, “The FARC really wanted to recruit [girls] for this reason, because no one suspects a little girl. A little girl can transport money, weapons, and drugs much more easily (“The Child Soldiers”).” The rebel groups used little children to obtain weapons from people who don’t expect it so that they can fight their war.
While trying to outrun the war in Sierra Leone, Ismael made himself an easy target for the RUF. Ishmael Beah and his friends didn’t find much food or water and...

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