Child Soldiers

So Child Soldiers...
There is so much to say about children in Africa and their role in the fighting that occurs there. We read about Johnny Mad Dog this past week which was a sad story about a young man who was persuaded into a rebel army and fought with fierceness and no compassion. The speaker we had on Tuesday pointed out that most child soldiers were between the ages of 9 and 13, which was a little different from the book because Johnny was 16. The most crazy thing the speaker said was about how the rebels after brainwashing and abusing the kids, just throw them out to the curb. This showed me just how unorganized and insincere these rebel groups are. The speaker also said that in the governmental military a child must be 16-18 to fight. A couple of websites I visited were pleading for help and money to support these children who were brainwashed by these rebel groups. INRI is an organization that coordinates human affairs in African countries. This website gives a little background as to why children are targeted by these groups. They claim that children are cheap and obedient fighters and are easy to manipulate because of their youth and inexperience. There is a shortage of "eligible men", which causes them to turn to boys and girls and arm them with weapons. One important point they also pointed out was that there is no enforcement of taking children for soldiers. There are regulations and laws, but little action is taken to prevent the abduction of children.

Another website I found really useful and is taking action against child soldiers is www.child-soldier.org. This website claims that at one time more than 300,000 children are fighting in Africa.
Child soldiers are often abducted from their homes, schools or communities and forced into combat, usually by rebel groups or paramilitary militias. Sometimes they are accepted as 'volunteers', although UNICEF makes the point that few children who join armies are really 'volunteers': minors who are forced to fight are often poor, illiterate and from rural or otherwise marginalised communities. In such circumstances, signing up with fighting groups may seem more attractive than the dismal alternatives.