Child soldiers
Causes Of child soldiers
• There are a lot of causes for child use in the military,
private militias, and other organizations that require the
use of soldiers for protection.
• A primary cause for child soldiers is that children can be
easily manipulated, or that they have been orphaned or
forced to join the military, seeking protection and food.
• The actual military can hold onto child soldiers longer, a
child soldier could be fighting for over 20 years before
they’re released. Meaning that they are a very efficient
type of soldiers that some militaries might want to use for
their own gain.
• There are tonnes of reasons for the use of children in the
military. Some more issues can include poverty, an
inadequate school system, or even to escape abuse or
other kinds of domestic issues.
• Most child soldiers today serve in third world countries, reported in
Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire,
Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Mali,
Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan,
Syria, Yemen
• Child soldiers today are recruited as very young children, can even
be under the age of 10
• They are so widely used, almost every armed conflict (wars)
include child soldiers fighting
• Girls are estimated to be 10-30% of the child soldier population,
usually used for sexual violence.
• Some children are not forced to become child soldiers, but they do
so anyways because they feel obligated to from social pressure and
thinking they’d get a source of income
• Government interaction to stop child soldiers is near nonexistent,
and when they do intervene almost nothing changes
Child Soldiers Today
Child Labour in the
Industrial Revolution
• Child workers were in any country that was having an industrial revolution (or
even just any time)
• Child workers were forced to work at as early as six years old
• They got little to no pay or rewards for their work (usually 3-4 pence a day, around
2£ in today’s UK economy, 1750-2013)
• No safety precautions were taken by anybody in the industry to protect the children
(or anyone)
• Orphans were most commonly the child workers
• 15% of workers in 1760 were under the age of 14
• Children in factories were treated very cruelly, their safety neglected, and abused.
• Children that were late or not working up to the quota were punished by being
“weighed”, a heavy weight would be tied to their neck and they would have to
walk up and down aisles to show the other children an example of what happens
when you’re late.
Similarities
• They are both treated very cruelly with no safety or
consideration of their life before becoming a child
worker/soldier
• They both usually become what they are because of low
income, no parents/guardians, and other social and
economic means.
• Both child soldiers and child workers in the 18th century
had little to no income, and had to live off of the little
support their “masters” supplied them with
• Both started work VERY young, as young as 6 years old
• Cruel punishments for their “wrongdoings”
• Forced to serve or work in the army or a job
Ishmael Beah
About Ishmael Beah
• At the age of twelve, Ishmael fled attacking rebels and
wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By
thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army,
and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable
of truly terrible acts. Eventually released by the army and
sent to a UNICEF rehabilitation center, he struggled to
regain his humanity and to reenter the world of civilians,
who viewed him with fear and suspicion.
Ishmael
Beah as a
child
soldier
1994: The First Battle
• We began to move swiftly among the bushes until we came to
the edge of a swamp, where we formed an ambush, aiming our
guns into the bog. We lay flat on our stomachs and waited. I
was lying next to my friend Josiah. At 11, he was even younger
than I was. Musa, a friend my age, 13, was also nearby. I
looked around to see if I could catch their eyes, but they were
concentrating on the invisible target in the swamp. The tops of
my eyes began to ache, and the pain slowly rose up to my
head. My ears became warm, and tears were running down my
cheeks, even though I wasn’t crying. The veins on my arms
stood out, and I could feel them pulsating as if they had begun
to breathe of their own accord. We waited in the quiet, as
hunters do. The silence tormented me.
• Young kids are targets to become child soldiers because
they don’t understand the concept of death. Lots of
children are abducted and beaten into submission and
turned into child soldiers so one solution to this problem
is guarding towns and guarding places where kids work.
Family’s give up their kids to be child soldiers. In most
countries where child soldiers are used they have bad
roads so it’s hard for the military to reach parts of the
country. It easy for militants to recruit child soldiers.
Building roads would help stop recruitment of child
soldiers.
Child soldiers solutions
Citations
• "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by
Ishmael Beah Official Site." A Long Way Gone:
Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah Official
Site. 15 Feb. 2007. Web. 21 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.alongwaygone.com/>.
• A Long Way Gone: Memories of a Child Soldier.
By John Madere
• "Child Soldiers." War Child. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.thefundraisingfunnel.com.au/wpcontent/uploads/2014/02/picture-2.png>.
• OSUN DEFENDER | People First: The Most
Optimized Political News Platform From Nigeria,
Set Up To Wrest Political Power From Voterobbers." OSUN DEFENDER | People First: The
Most Optimized Political News Platform From
Nigeria, Set Up To Wrest Political Power From
Vote-robbers. Web. 21 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.osundefender.org/>.
• "End the Use of Child Soldiers." Cultures of Resistance. 1 Jan. 2013.
Web. 21 Nov. 2014. <http://www.culturesofresistance.org/end-childsoldiers>. "About the Issues:." Child Soldiers International. Web. 26
Nov. 2014. <http://www.child-soldiers.org/about_the_issues.php>.
• "About the Issues:." Child Soldiers International. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.child-soldiers.org/faq.php>.
• "11 Facts About Child Soldiers." DoSomething.org. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.
<https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-child-soldiers>.
• "Child Labor in Factories During the Industrial Revolution." Child Labor
in Factories During the Industrial Revolution. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.
<http://www2.needham.k12.ma.us/nhs/cur/Baker_00/2002_p7/ak_p7/chi
ldlabor.html>.
• "Measuring Worth - Purchasing Power of the Pound." Measuring Worth Purchasing Power of the Pound. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/>.
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