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In: Psychology

There is a long history of the use of child soldiers. Discuss how the use of...

There is a long history of the use of child soldiers. Discuss how the use of child soldiers has changed in modern times.

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Expert Solution

  • In combat, children are easier to train; they can be daring and tenacious, particularly when under the influence of drugs – a common practice. Children are used as combatants, scouts, messengers, minesweepers, bomb-makers and suicide bombers. Girls, furthermore, might be forced to be the armed groups’ sex slaves, or ‘wives’ as they call them. They often serve as cooks and porters. Girls are said to make up an estimated 40% of all child soldiers (War Child). In countries such as Colombia, illegal armed groups insert IUDs and offer mandatory injections to prevent girls from getting pregnant.
  • The United Nations Office for Children and Armed Conflict’s last annual report presented information about grave violations committed against children in 23 conflict situations, where at least 49 armed groups are said to have been responsible for these violations. These violations include recruitment and use of children, sexual violence against children, killing and maiming of children, attacks on schools and/or hospitals and attacks.
  • Maoist “Naxalite” rebels in Chhattisgarh use children as soldiers. The Maoists induct children as young as six into children’s associations and use children as young as 12 in armed squads that receive weapons training and may participate in armed encounters with government security forces.
  • The South Sudan government has pledged to end its use of child soldiers, but continues to recruit children and has not yet demobilized all children from its forces.
  • Government forces have recruited children as young as 14. Prior to the Arab Spring, the government used children in its armed forces to fight Huthi rebels in the north, who also used children. In 2011, rebel forces in Taizz deployed children to patrol roads and operate checkpoints.
  • Estimates suggest that as many as 300,000 child soldiers are active in conflicts around the world. 40% of armed forces (including national armies, militias, gangs, terrorist organizations and resistance forces) in the world use children.
  • The good news is that most states and some non-state armed groups now recognise the harm that recruiting children causes.
  • Between 2001 and 2016, the number of countries restricting their military to adults has grown from 83 to 126, which is 71 per cent of states with armed forces. At least 60 non-state armed groups have also committed to stop or reduce their recruitment of children. Thanks to this progress, combined with some strengthening of international law, the so-called ‘Straight 18’ standard is slowly becoming the norm: no recruitment of anyone under the age of 18.

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