Sending an Armed Child to Kill, Destroy their Humanity – Why?
My heart goes out to the children of the world and how through no fault of their own they are caught up in the anger of adults who deal with their problems through violence and detached indifference to the suffering of those they impact. They teach them to control, overpower, force, destroy and kill the so called ‘enemy’. There is no awareness of how when each child kills they are killing themselves slowly. For something dies within any soldier who destroys another. It is universal. Imagine the unborn children, imagine the stories that never continue, imagine the families who are devastated over the death of someone they love, imagine the mass disempowerment, imagine the suffering of imagined wars that continue for generations. The one who kills and supplies those who kill can never capture in their minds eye the true impact of their actions.
The children over their lives live their nightmares growing up tortured as the war of barbed wire and flashbacks never ends. This is how the father passes onto his son his own pain. It matters not if this is someone else’s child, it is the responsibility of all men to protect and nurture children. Yet men in these war zones and those supplying light weapons to them, can not see their lack of responsibility, truth, justice and love as it is obscured by the smoke of deep hatred, confusion and ignorance. So I sing for the spirit of all children in my deep moment of connection and love for them. It is for them I am truly living. Even whilst some men seek to destroy me. Yet I will never destroy anyone, I will only continue to advocate for love under all conditions. For this is the clarion call for peace on earth that will be heard.
Oh little child,
I wish to sing you a lull-a-bye,
To sooth your arching heart,
I hold your little hand in my hand,
I hold you close as if my inner child,
I am rocking,
Backward then forward,
My eyes closed as my heart opens to your pain,
How can I nurture your tortured past?
How can I heal and dress your wounds?
How can I show you the beauty of humanity in my tears?
How can I show you the sanity in a mother’s love devoted as seers,
For I am a mother and lover of all life,
I am the one who watches you from afar but feels close,
I am the teacher that is awaiting the door of peace to open,
For I can hear your desperate calls,
I hear your prayers at night,
I know you don’t want to fight,
I wish to be there for you,
To pick you up when you fall,
For you are my dearest child,
You are my inner child screaming to be heard.
For peace and justice is to be made manifest,
Not by defeated men but arising woman,
Who know that what you do to children you do to the world,
What darkness you teach them replicates like uncontrollable cancer,
We want to treat this not with radiation to destroy another enemy,
But with the love that heals the heart of humanity,
From cells of division to unity,
For there is no other way to say,
that peace is the way and the only real life,
I can offer,
as a testimony of my love for you,
For we are going home,
Now.
This is an excerpt out of the UN Report ‘Impact of Armed Conflict on Children’.
https://www.unicef.org/graca/a51-306_en.pdf
C. Patterns and characteristics of contemporary armed conflicts
22. Violent conflict has always made victims of non-combatants. The patterns and characteristics of contemporary armed conflicts, however, have increased the risks for children. Vestiges of colonialism and persistent economic, social and political crises have greatly contributed to the disintegration of public order. Undermined by internal dissent, countries caught up in conflict today are also under severe stress from a global world economy that pushes them ever further towards the margins. Rigorous programmes of structural adjustment promise long-term market-based economic growth, but demands for immediate cuts in budget deficits and public expenditure only weaken already fragile States, leaving them dependent on forces and relations over which they have little control. While many developing countries have made considerable economic progress in recent decades, the benefits have often been spread unevenly, leaving millions of people struggling for survival. The collapse of functional Governments in many countries torn by internal fighting and the erosion of essential service structures have fomented inequalities, grievances and strife. The personalization of power and leadership and the manipulation of ethnicity and religion to serve personal or narrow group interests have had similarly debilitating effects on countries in conflict.
23. All of these elements have contributed to conflicts, between Governments and rebels, between different opposition groups vying for supremacy and among populations at large, in struggles that take the form of widespread civil unrest. Many drag on for long periods with no clear beginning or end, subjecting successive generations to endless struggles for survival.
24. Distinctions between combatants and civilians disappear in battles fought from village to village or from street to street. In recent decades, the proportion of war victims who are civilians has leaped dramatically from 5 per cent to over 90 per cent. The struggles that claim more civilians than soldiers have been marked by horrific levels of violence and brutality. Any and all tactics are employed, from systematic rape, to scorched-earth tactics that destroy crops and poison wells, to ethnic cleansing and genocide. With all standards abandoned, human rights violations against children and women occur in unprecedented numbers. Increasingly, children have become the targets and even the perpetrators of violence and atrocities.
25. Children seek protection in networks of social support, but these have been undermined by new political and economic realities. Conflict and violent social change have affected social welfare networks between families and
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communities. Rapid urbanization and the spread of market-based values have also helped erode systems of support that were once based on the extended family.
26. Unbridled attacks on civilians and rural communities have provoked mass exoduses and the displacement of entire populations who flee conflict in search of elusive sanctuaries within and outside their national borders. Among these uprooted millions, it is estimated that 80 per cent are children and women.
27. Involving children as soldiers has been made easier by the proliferation of inexpensive light weapons. Previously, the more dangerous weapons were either heavy or complex, but these guns are so light that children can use them and so simple that they can be stripped and reassembled by a child of 10.
The international arms trade has made assault rifles cheap and widely available so the poorest communities now have access to deadly weapons capable of transforming any local conflict into a bloody slaughter. In Uganda, an AK-47 automatic machine gun can be purchased for the cost of a chicken and, in northern Kenya, it can be bought for the price of a goat.
28. Moreover, the rapid spread of information today has changed the character of modern warfare in important ways. While the world surely benefits from ready access to information, it will pay a price if it fails to recognize that information is never entirely neutral. International media are frequently influenced by one or another of the parties to a conflict, by commercial realities and by the public’s degree of interest in humanitarian action. The result of these influences are depictions that can be selective or uneven, or both. Whether a story is reported or not may depend less on its intrinsic importance than on subjective perceptions of the public’s appetite for information and on the expense of informing them. For example, while coverage of the conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Somalia was extensive, very little has been reported about the conflicts in Afghanistan and Angola. The media is capable of effectively galvanizing international public support for humanitarian action, as it did for Indo-Chinese refugees in the late 1970s and for Somalia in 1992. The threat of adverse international publicity may also be positive, holding the potential for keeping some gross violations of human rights in check. Ultimately, however, while reports of starving children or overcrowded camps for displaced persons may be dramatic, they do little to support efforts for long-term reconstruction and reconciliation.
II. MITIGATING THE IMPACT OF ARMED CONFLICT ON CHILDREN
29. Armed conflicts across and between communities result in massive levels of destruction; physical, human, moral and cultural. Not only are large numbers of children killed and injured, but countless others grow up deprived of their material and emotional needs, including the structures that give meaning to social and cultural life. The entire fabric of their societies – their homes, schools, health systems and religious institutions – are torn to pieces.
30. War violates every right of a child – the right to life, the right to be with family and community, the right to health, the right to the development of the personality and the right to be nurtured and protected. Many of today’s conflicts last the length of a “childhood”, meaning that from birth to early adulthood, children will experience multiple and accumulative assaults. Disrupting the social networks and primary relationships that support children’s physical, emotional, moral, cognitive and social development in this way, and for this duration, can have profound physical and psychological implications.
31. In countless cases, the impact of armed conflict on children’s lives remains invisible. The origin of the problems of many children who have been affected by conflicts is obscured. The children themselves may be removed from the public, living in institutions or, as is true of thousands of unaccompanied and orphaned children, exist as street children or become victims of prostitution. Children who have lost parents often experience humiliation, rejection and discrimination. For years, they may suffer in silence as their self-esteem crumbles away. Their insecurity and fear cannot be measured.
32. This section of the report documents some of the most grave impacts of armed conflict on children. The presentation is not intended to be exhaustive, but to signal major concerns and to suggest practical steps for improvement. It attempts to demonstrate that the impact of armed conflict on children cannot be fully understood without looking at the related effects on women, families and communities. It strives to illustrate how children’s well-being is best ensured through family and community-based solutions to armed conflict and its aftermath, and that those solutions work best when they are based on local cultures and drawn from an understanding of child development. This section also emphasizes the importance of considerations of age – in particular, that adolescents have special needs and special strengths. Young people should be seen in that light; as survivors and active participants in creating solutions, not just as victims or problems.
33. The discussion that follows necessarily includes specific examples. It is not an effort to single out specific groups, Governments, or non-state entities. Countries are named representatively and on the basis of what is widely known. In reality, the impact of armed conflict on children is an area in which everyone shares responsibility and a degree of blame.
A. Child soldiers
34. One of the most alarming trends in armed conflict is the participation of children as soldiers. Children serve armies in supporting roles, as cooks, porters, messengers and spies. Increasingly, however, adults are deliberately conscripting children as soldiers. Some commanders have even noted the desirability of child soldiers because they are “more obedient, do not question orders and are easier to manipulate than adult soldiers”. 3/
35. A series of 24 case studies on the use of children as soldiers prepared for the present report, covering conflicts over the past 30 years, indicate that government or rebel armies around the world have recruited tens of thousands of children. Most are adolescents, though many child soldiers are 10 years of age or younger. While the majority are boys, girls also are recruited. The children most likely to become soldiers are those from impoverished and marginalized backgrounds and those who have become separated from their families.
1. Recruitment
36. Child soldiers are recruited in many different ways. Some are conscripted, others are press-ganged or kidnapped and still others are forced to join armed groups to defend their families. Governments in a few countries legally conscript children under 18, but even where the legal minimum age is 18, the law is not necessarily a safeguard. In many countries, birth registration is inadequate or non-existent and children do not know how old they are. Recruiters can only guess at ages based on physical development and may enter the age of recruits as 18 to give the appearance of compliance with national laws.
37. Countries with weak administrative systems do not conscript systematically from a register. In many instances, recruits are arbitrarily
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seized from the streets or even from schools and orphanages. This form of press ganging, known in Ethiopia as “afesa”, was prevalent there in the 1980’s, when armed militia, police or army cadres would roam the streets picking up anyone they encountered. 4/ Children from poorer sectors of society are particularly vulnerable. Adolescent boys who work in the informal sector, selling cigarettes or gum or lottery tickets, are a particular target.
In Myanmar, whole groups of children from 15 to 17 years old have been surrounded in their schools and forcibly conscripted. 4/ Those who can subsequently prove they are under-age may be released, but not necessarily. In all conflicts, children from wealthier and more educated families are at less risk. Often they are left undisturbed or are released if their parents can buy them out. Some children whose parents have the means are even sent out of the country to avoid the possibility of forced conscription.
38. In addition to being forcibly recruited, youth also present themselves for service. It is misleading, however, to consider this voluntary. While young people may appear to choose military service, the choice is not exercised freely. They may be driven by any of several forces, including cultural, social, economic or political pressures.
39. One of the most basic reasons that children join armed groups is economic. Hunger and poverty may drive parents to offer their children for service. In some cases, armies pay a minor soldier’s wages directly to the family. 5/ Child participation may be difficult to distinguish as in some cases whole families move with armed groups. Children themselves may volunteer if they believe that this is the only way to guarantee regular meals, clothing or medical attention. Some case studies tell of parents who encourage their daughters to become soldiers if their marriage prospects are poor. 6/
40. As conflicts persist, economic and social conditions suffer and educational opportunities become more limited or even non-existent. Under these circumstances, recruits tend to get younger and younger. Armies begin to exhaust the supplies of adult manpower and children may have little option but to join. In Afghanistan, where approximately 90 per cent of children now have no access to schooling, the proportion of soldiers who are children is thought to have risen in recent years from roughly 30 to at least 45 per cent. 7/
41. Some children feel obliged to become soldiers for their own protection. Faced with violence and chaos all around, they decide they are safer with guns in their hands. Often such children join armed opposition groups after experiencing harassment from government forces. Many young people have joined the Kurdish rebel groups, for example, as a reaction to scorched earth policies and extensive human rights violations. In El Salvador, children whose parents had been killed by government soldiers joined opposition groups for protection. In other cases, armed forces will pick up unaccompanied children for humanitarian reasons, although this is no guarantee that the children will not end up fighting. This is particularly true of children who stay with a group for long periods of time and come to identify it as their protector or “new family”.
42. In some societies, military life may be the most attractive option. Young people often take up arms to gain power and power can act as a very strong motivator in situations where people feel powerless and are otherwise unable to acquire basic resources. In many situations, war activities are glorified. In Sierra Leone, the expert met with child soldiers who proudly defended the number of “enemies” they had killed.
43. The lure of ideology is particularly strong in early adolescence, when young people are developing personal identities and searching for a sense of social meaning. As the case of Rwanda shows, however, the ideological
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indoctrination of youth can have disastrous consequences. Children are very impressionable and may even be lured into cults of martyrdom. In Lebanon and Sri Lanka, for example, some adults have used young people’s immaturity to their own advantage, recruiting and training adolescents for suicide bombings. 8/ However, it is important to note that children may also identify with and fight for social causes, religious expression, self-determination or national liberation. As happened in South Africa or in occupied territories, they may join the struggle in pursuit of political freedom.
2. How child soldiers are used
44. Once recruited as soldiers, children generally receive much the same treatment as adults – including the often brutal induction ceremonies. Many start out in support functions which entail great risk and hardship. One of the common tasks assigned to children is to serve as porters, often carrying very heavy loads of up to 60 kilograms including ammunition or injured soldiers. Children who are too weak to carry their loads are liable to be savagely beaten or even shot. Children are also used for household and other routine duties. In Uganda, child soldiers have often done guard duty, worked in the gardens, hunted for wild fruits and vegetables and looted food from gardens and granaries. Children have also been used extensively in many countries as lookouts and messengers. While this last role may seem less life-threatening than others, in fact it puts all children under suspicion. In Latin America, reports tell of government forces that have deliberately killed even the youngest children in peasant communities on the grounds that they, too, were dangerous. 9/
45. Although the majority of child soldiers are boys, armed groups also recruit girls, many of whom perform the same functions as boys. In Guatemala, rebel groups use girls to prepare food, attend to the wounded and wash clothes. Girls may also be forced to provide sexual services. In Uganda, girls who are abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army are “married off” to rebel leaders. 10/ If the man dies, the girl is put aside for ritual cleansing and then married off to another rebel.
46. A case study from Honduras illustrates one child’s experience of joining an armed group:
“At the age of 13, I joined the student movement. I had a dream to contribute to make things change, so that children would not be hungry … later I joined the armed struggle. I had all the inexperience and the fears of a little girl. I found out that girls were obliged to have sexual relations ‘to alleviate the sadness of the combatants’. And who alleviated our sadness after going with someone we hardly knew? At my young age I experienced abortion. It was not my decision. There is a great pain in my being when I recall all these things … In spite of my commitment, they abused me, they trampled my human dignity. And above all, they did not understand that I was a child and that I had rights.” 11/
47. While children of both sexes might start out in indirect support functions, it does not take long before they are placed in the heat of battle.
Here, their inexperience and lack of training leave them particularly exposed.
The youngest children rarely appreciate the perils they face. A number of case studies report that when the shelling starts the children get over- excited and forget to take cover. Some commanders deliberately exploit such fearlessness in children, even plying them with alcohol or drugs. A soldier in Myanmar recalls: “There were a lot of boys rushing into the field, screaming like banshees. It seemed like they were immortal, or impervious, or something, because we shot at them but they just kept coming.” 12/
48. The progressive involvement of youth in acts of extreme violence desensitizes them to suffering. In a number of cases, young people have been deliberately exposed to horrific scenes. Such experience makes children more likely to commit violent acts themselves and may contribute to a break with society. In many countries, including Afghanistan, Mozambique, Colombia and Nicaragua, children have even been forced to commit atrocities against their own families or communities.