Organizations such as the United Nations and UNICEF have not
until recently entered the controversial topic of the child soldier epidemic.
In a recent analysis, reports state that over 300,000 children seventeen and under
are used as soldiers in more than seventy-five percent of the conflicts
worldwide. According to the article, “Children at War” by P.W. Singer, almost
eighty percent of the conflicts being currently fought which children participate
in use children ages fourteen and under. Eighteen percent of these conflicts also
use children ages twelve and under. Most of these 300,000 child soldier victims
are forcefully recruited, abused and are subjected to the use of drugs.
At the age
of thirteen, Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier in the war driven country of
Sierra Leone, was attacked in his village and was separated from his family
members when they were killed. Ishmael along with several other children who
survived the rebel attack on their village went to a military base for
protection but instead they were “forcefully recruited.” Ishmael later said in
the CBS interview that the soldiers at the military base threatened him with
death if he didn’t join. In many third world countries particularly in parts of
Asia and Africa, child soldiers are ideal for war because according to a
military commander from Chad they, “Don’t complain, they don’t expect to be
paid- and if you tell them to kill, they kill.” Some children are even sold
into war by their parents for money while others are separated from their
family and by last resort join a side in the war.
Not only are
boys recruited to fight but also girls. Unfortunately, many are subjected to
all kinds of abuse including sexual abuse. Out of the armed forces that use
child soldiers, thirty percent use girls as well as boys. Many girls are given the duty of cooks or messengers.
Often, these girls are the victims of sexual abuse such as rape by their own
military commanders. Another kind of abuse inflicted upon child soldiers is
emotional abuse. Like the military commander from Chad said, child soldiers
will do anything you tell them to do. If they don’t then they’re faced with the
consequence of death. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo child soldiers
are forced to, “Burn down huts,” and “Pound newborn babies to death.” In the
Palestinian area and in Israel children as young as eleven are used to smuggle
explosives into different countries. Children being used as suicide bombers has
become so frequent that some people have began to manufacture and sell children
sized denim jackets used to conceal explosives.
Killing was not easy for Ishmael
Beah when he was first recruited. In order to cope with the enormous amount of
trauma as a result of the war, Ishmael’s military commanders gave him drugs
ranging from marijuana to brown-brown, a mixture of heroin and gunpowder or
cocaine and gunpowder in order to “numb” himself. However, after the initial
use of drugs and once addicted, military commanders would stop giving child
soldiers drugs. Ishmael said in the interview, “You had to find them to take
them yourself.” Child soldiers like Ishmael were forced to take drugs and then
became addicted and would do anything to gain possession of the drugs.
Although
child soldiers have committed countless atrocious acts ranging from smuggling
explosives to killing an innocent person in cold blood, one must remember that
if they didn’t do these horrible things they would be killed. Ranging anywhere
from ages five to seventeen, you can’t expect them to say no for an answer.
These children are forcefully recruited, sold into the war, abused and are
forced to use drugs. Therefore, child soldiers are victims and not
perpetrators.
In the past few books I've read such as the Life of Pi by Yann Martel, hope has become a reoccurring theme. For Pi, the main character in the book, hope came in the form of a Bengal Tiger, a whistle and a buoy. However, for Amir in The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini hope comes in a very different form. 
