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Colleen Grunert
UWRT 1102
EIP Rough Draft
November 5, 2014
Child Soldiers
A child soldier can be defined as any person below 18 years of age who is, or has been,
recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to
children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers, spies or for sexual
purposes (About the Issue). Child soldiers are still used today by different countries and are a
very relevant issue. One may not think that countries still use children soldiers, but they are used
on combat in varies countries. According to Fighting Child Soldiers, some 300,000 children
under the age of 18 (both boys and girls) are now combatants Although the use of c hild
soldiers in mostly common in underdeveloped countries, several first world countries and state
and non-state groups use them.
Child soldiers become soldiers for different reasons. Some join because of economic
problems or social pressures. Other reasons may be out of the childs control such as abduction
or threats. Many children believe that there will be a reward for fighting in a conflict such as
money, food, or safety, when, in fact, these children are risking their lives to go out and fight for
possibly no reward. It is disheartening that children are put in these situations and that there is
nothing done for them. There are several countries that have reported the use of child soldiers
such as Afghanistan, Colombia, Israel and many more. Child soldiers are not used for just
fighting. Girls and boys can both be child soldiers and some that get involved are under the age
of 10 years old! Children can be used as porters, spies, guards, or suicide bombers. They are also

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used for cooking and cleaning and may be used for sexual purposes. No matter what role the
child plays in the conflict, they are considered a child soldier.
Child soldiers are used by a wide range of groups and in different types of conflicts.
Conflicts may between political groups, different countries, or against different towns. Since
2010, child soldiers use by 20 states has been reported either directly in government forces or
indirectly in armed groups which they support or are allied to (About the Issue). Several
countries have child soldiers used in their national army such as Afghanistan, Colombia, and
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Israel, Libya, Myanmar, Philippines, Somalia, Sudan, South
Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Not all countries that use child soldiers use them for their national
army. Some child soldiers are used in state-allied armed groups or armed opposition groups.
State-allied armed groups refers to non-state armed groups that are back by or allied to
government forces but which are not officially part of them. (About the Issue). Countries that
use child soldiers in this group include Central African Republic, Cote dlvoire, Somalia, Sudan,
Syria and Yemen. Armed opposition groups refers to non-state or irregular armed groups which
use arms for political reasons (About the Issue). Child soldiers are used in these groups in
Afghanistan, Colombia, and Cote dlvoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Libya, Mali,
Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
There are some armed opposition groups that have spread into several countries. One of the most
recognized of these groups is the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), which started in Uganda.
Unfortunately, this group has spread to Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of
the Congo and South Sudan.
As stated above, the Lords Resistance Army is an armed opposition group that started in
Uganda and has moved into other countries. This group came into existence in 1986 in the north

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of Uganda when the current president, Yoweri Museveni, took power (Child Soldiers and the
Lords Resistance Army). Joseph Kony leads the group and they have no ideology behind their
actions other than periodic fuzzy statements about ruling the country by the Ten
Commandments (Child Soldiers and the Lords Resistance Army). This group dresses as
military personnel and attacks villages when people are gathered together. According The Lords
Resistance Army, the rebels capture those who can be useful to them including children strong
enough to carry weapons. There are several leaders in the LRA that include Okot Odhiamdo,
Dominic Ongwen and Raska Lukwiya. The LRA is no longer in Uganda because their national
army drove them out. This group has been known to kidnap children to fight in their conflicts.
When Kony started losing support to take over the government, he began abducting thousands
of children to swell its ranks, turning them into killers and unleashing them on villages. (The
Lords Resistance Army). Still to this day, Kony and his followers are abducting children and
this organization got public recognition in 2012 with the organization Invisible Children.
Invisible Children is a organization that is set out to end the Lords Resistance Army.
They raise awareness to the group and try to raise money to send people and supplies over to
help. According to Invisible children, there has been 1,634 attacks, 4,812 abductions, and 2,328
killings done by the LRA. In 2012, Invisible Children started a campaign to bring awareness to
the Lords Resistance Army and try to find Kony. Joseph Kony and the leaders stated above are
wanted for their criminal actions and have not yet been caught.
Although some children have voluntarily joined, others have not. There are legislation in
place to protect the rights of all the children. The Optional Protocol outlaws the involvement of
children under age 18 in hostilities, raising the previous standard of age. (Unicef) This means
that anyone under the age of 18 cannot be involved in armed conflict. A lot of child soldiers are

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under the age of 18, they tend to be 16 or 17, but can be as young as 10! In July 2002, the
Statute of the International Criminal Court entered into force, making the conscription,
enlistment or use of children under 15 in hostilities by national armed forces or armed groups a
war crime. (Unicef). Several national armies use child soldiers, but for the most part it is armed
opposition groups using them. It is hard to regulate these groups and most of the children start
training at a very young age.
Child Soldiers are not just used in random conflicts in poor or underdeveloped countries.
Saddam Hussein recruited child soldiers into Iraqs armed forces. In fact, since the mid-1900s,
thousands of Iraqi boys have attended military-style summer boot camps. (Fighting Child
Soldiers). US soldiers that were fighting in Iraq often encountered child soldiers and they had to
face the psychological effects that come with having to fight them. (Fighting Child Soldiers).
This demonstrates that child soldiers are used in major fights as well as small ones. Hussein has
several different groups of child soldiers that could be as young as 15 years old. The first childsoldier unit formed in the 1970s under the Futuwah movement. Child soldiers were mainly used
during the Iraq war with Iran between 1983 and 1985. They were also used in opposition groups
such as the Kurdish PKK, according to Fighting Child Soldiers.

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