Why do some cultures see their children as expendable? In over twenty countries around the world, over 250,000 children are part of the fighting machine. The difference between the war in Uganda and the Iraq war is that the crisis in Uganda is being fought with innocent children. Children, even as young as five, make up 80 percent of the LRA army. This rebel group is responsible for kidnapping, enslaving, raping, tormenting, and assassinating their children. Not only is the concept of forcing innocent children to kill others outrageous, but the idea is also alien to us when we live in a country where the age to enter the army is 18. We also have institutions for people who want to volunteer their serves like the army reserves. Child soldiers usually are not given the option to refuse fight. They are recruited, abducted, or forced into armies by fear of death unto themselves or their families. While many children find themselves following orders to fight under the threat of death, many other children join the army because it appears to be the only chance for survival. Because war separated families and often displaces groups from their homes, children can be left without parents and living on the streets. Thus, joining these rebel groups appears to offer children a group that they can be apart of when they have lost every other support and security system. The emotional and physical effects of living in a war zone and being subjected to violence and hate make children more vulnerable and easier to influence and control. Jan Egeland runs the United Nations disaster relief. He has experienced every violation of civil rights but what he saw what was happening to children in Uganda, it concerned him the most. He describes the effects of Kony’s violent methods for abducting children into his army, “He knows how to instill utter fear, but he also knows how to make them believe that he has some kind of a mission.” Patrick is an escapee of the army and also a night commuter. The lesson instilled in him, as a child soldier was “kill or be killed.” He states that many children kill “for fear, you must kill. If you refuse, you are going to be killed.” It is difficult to imagine the tragedy that these children endure and, unfortunately, create onto others. But, because of the forceful tactics used to bring these children into the army and their innocent and vulnerable state, the killing of others becomes an everyday practice for these children that they must become desensitized to.
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/sudan98/testim/house-07.htm#TopOfPage
http://www.worldvision.org/worldvision/wvususfo.nsf/stable/globalissues_childprotection_conflict?open&lid=childsoldiers&lpos=day:txt:soldiers_feature_title
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9006024/
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I thought that you brought up a lot of good points in your entry. Children should not be pushed and tricked into these rebel armies. I believe the rebels and other forms of military groups choose children to fight is because children are the future of their worlds. Like you said it is easy to entice them into because they do not know any better. This is one of the problems with this situation, parents should teach their children to withstand the pressure of the rebels if they are not threatening them with their lives. These children have no idea what they are doing but they should have the common sense from their parents or others to know that they are just children and will not survive in warfare.
You brought up the notion that the best chance for survival is with these rebel groups in armies. I do not agree with you on this statement. If anyone is determined enough they will find a way to hide, flee, or even fight back. These children see death and warfare everyday, they are not little innocent children who have been waited on hand and foot everyday of their lives. These children are not American children where they have everything handed to them. Children of Uganda must work in order for their family to survive. They help their parents with gathering food, hunting, and other chores around the house, this helps these children learn how to fend for themselves and to learn how to survive. I am sure many of these children that you wrote about lost their parents in rebel fire but if they did not lose parents then why not go to a refugee camp instead of joining the army? There are many refugee camps all across the continent of Africa and I am sure there are some in Uganda since there is so much corruption. This is a better way of life and I am sure a much safer path then in the army where you have the potential to be in gun fire on a daily basis.
One more thing that I did not quite agree with you on was when you wrote "The difference between the war in Uganda and the Iraq war is that the crisis in Uganda is being fought with innocent children." I believe that this statement is not true at all. A reason that our troops are having such a hard time in Iraq is because they do not know who is a helpful and thankful Iraqi or if they are a suicide bomber just getting close to blow them up. Many of these people are children coming up to the soldiers but they can not trust them because they do not know if they have a gun or another weapon. Iraqi children are in the military and rebel groups and very much do have a part in the war. This is not just hard on the children of these places but also the people that they are fighting against. An American soldier does not want to kill a child but they may have no choice. A marine from my home town was a humphee driver in Iraq for a year. He came back and told stories to his family about how he has nightmares about having to run over children in the road when the convoy was going. His commanding officer told him to continue and called them "speed bumps". They did not know if they were innocent children or if in fact they where a threat to their lives and their mission.
I thought your entry was very good and did bring up good points but I just a problem with those few topics. Children in armies are just a horrible image and reality and it needs to stop.
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