Photos above taken from Time MagazineUN of child soldier RESCUE mission in DRCGO TO REFERENCES |
How are child soldiers recruited?
There are 7,000 child soldiers currently in the Congo military. The children are vulnerable in this country as most of them live in poverty, are not educated and many have become disconnected from their family. Joining the army seems like a more stable and secure option for them. According to a U.N. report, 1,000 child soldiers have been recruited by rebel groups this year. What are child soldiers used for? The 7,000 child soldiers have to preform a number horrible tasks such as fighting, killing and torturing people. Female child soldiers are often used as sex slaves by their commanders. Child soldiers are sometimes even asked to kill their own family. Child Soldiers are exploited by the army as they have benefits over regular adult soldiers. The enemy does not expect a five year old child to be armed with a weapon. Also, they are less likely to be killed as many cannot bring themselves to kill small children in war. Military leaders take advantage of their relatively immunity by sending the children on spying and scouting missions. Child soldiers are also more compliant to manage and are easily replaceable. What is being done to stop use of child soldiers? The United Nations (UN) agreed to help organize an agreement to end the rebellion in the Eastern DRC. Hopefully, this will lessen the need to use child soldiers. More specifically, in 1998 the UN has passed four laws that aim to reduce the use of child soldiers. The laws include raising the recruitment age to 15, gaining better rights for female child soldiers and to limit the amount of light weaponry being produced (child soldiers would be the ones predominantly using light weaponry as it is more cost effective and light). In 2002, the UN passed a law making it illegal for children under 18 to be in armed conflicts. Going forward, the only way to significantly reduce the use of child soldiers is to eliminate the conflict. We should work towards solving the conflict in DRC rather trying to reduce the use of child soldiers. If there is less conflict there is less need for child soldiers. |