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    Child Soldiers

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    The document discusses the harmful effects of war on children. It notes that children are frequently used as child soldiers, especially in places like Congo, where over half of combatants are estimated to be children. As soldiers, children witness death and injury, which often causes lasting trauma like nightmares and PTSD. The document also discusses the physical risks to children in war like malnutrition and injury from large weapons. Overall, it argues that recruiting and using children as soldiers constitutes a form of abuse and can severely impact their mental and physical health long-term.

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    Child Soldiers

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    api-280519712
    76 views3 pages
    The document discusses the harmful effects of war on children. It notes that children are frequently used as child soldiers, especially in places like Congo, where over half of combatants are estimated to be children. As soldiers, children witness death and injury, which often causes lasting trauma like nightmares and PTSD. The document also discusses the physical risks to children in war like malnutrition and injury from large weapons. Overall, it argues that recruiting and using children as soldiers constitutes a form of abuse and can severely impact their mental and physical health long-term.

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    The document discusses the harmful effects of war on children. It notes that children are frequently used as child soldiers, especially in places like Congo, where over half of combatants are estimated to be children. As soldiers, children witness death and injury, which often causes lasting trauma like nightmares and PTSD. The document also discusses the physical risks to children in war like malnutrition and injury from large weapons. Overall, it argues that recruiting and using children as soldiers constitutes a form of abuse and can severely impact their mental and physical health long-term.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    76 views3 pages

    Child Soldiers

    Uploaded by

    api-280519712
    The document discusses the harmful effects of war on children. It notes that children are frequently used as child soldiers, especially in places like Congo, where over half of combatants are estimated to be children. As soldiers, children witness death and injury, which often causes lasting trauma like nightmares and PTSD. The document also discusses the physical risks to children in war like malnutrition and injury from large weapons. Overall, it argues that recruiting and using children as soldiers constitutes a form of abuse and can severely impact their mental and physical health long-term.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    Children, the Victims of War

    War is doing more harm than many


    people think to children. Children shouldnt
    be soldiers because of the effects and results
    of battle. Battle is harmful because it can
    cause trauma to children and nightmares.
    Battle can also cause people to be severely
    damaged or cause them
    to lose a limb.

    Location and
    Deaths:
    According to
    Samantha Nutt, Congo is
    one of the many where
    they use children as
    soldiers. More than 3
    million people are at battle and half of them
    are children. Why would parents want their
    child to die? Most of the kids are either
    taken without knowing or forced into it.
    Usually most of the people that battle have
    some sort of damage from the range of head
    to toe. Some of the kids have bad memories
    often and cant get over it. Most of the kids
    have seen deaths and it usually scares them,
    causing nightmares.
    Children in war are affecting the kids
    more than it does for adults. Children in the
    war see gun shots zooming past them and
    sometimes hit them losing a limb or two.
    Adults can go through therapy to help them
    and not make them so terrified when they
    sleep and not to have nightmares. On the
    other hand children might remember the war
    for their whole lifetime; even though they go
    through therapy it still might not help them
    the way they expected.

    Conditions:
    Victims describe acts of cannibalism,
    torture (including genital amputation), rape,
    summary executions and sexual slavery at
    the hands of Congolese armed militias
    (Nutt). Kids and other
    people in war are
    getting tortured in
    many different ways
    than one can imagine,
    from assault to
    kidnappings.
    Climate change can
    cause the battle to be
    harder and children
    arent usually
    prepared for different weather that adults
    are. Childrens immune system isnt as
    strong as adults are. Also children might not
    have the right layers on or clothes to be
    prepared for weather like snow which needs
    heavy clothes on.
    When children are in war they usually use
    weapons that are bigger than them. Children
    in battle use AK-47s, RPGs, and other heavy
    artilleries. It is sad that children as tall as 4
    foot are carrying guns as big as 5 feet.

    Effects of War:
    Some effects of war can be a loss of
    a limb, loss of a loved one, and to be injured
    physically and mentally.
    Child soldiers have experienced
    more severe exposure to war events, and
    explore how war might affect youths

    differently, depending on the co-occurrence


    of these events Former child soldiers had
    significantly greater experience of war
    events than their non-recruited counterparts
    (Vindevogel). The effect of war to children
    is: traumas, damage to body or brain, have
    severe nightmares and can be possible
    suicide or the can go psycho and kill others.
    Another effect of kids being soldiers
    is their age. Children that are soldiers are in
    the range of 9 to 19 and that is not right.
    People need to stop using children as
    soldiers and kids dont need to see battle and
    it is not right for them at that age. Armed
    combat in childhood is a form of child
    abuse. It may lead to serious consequences,
    including post-traumatic stress disorder. The
    emotional abuse and acts or omissions by
    caregivers may cause behavioral, cognitive,
    emotional or mental disorder in the child
    (Silva). Children thought of war is different
    from when they enter. It is different because
    after, children still think that they are in war
    but actually it is reality.

    Reasons for recruitment included:


    volunteered (18), hatred of enemy (revenge)
    (5), virtue of being a freedom fighter
    (martyrdom) (9), as a mean of supporting
    their family (economic) (3). One child was
    abducted, 7 joined for fear of the enemy
    abducting them, and in 5 a family member
    was killed by enemy or own group (Silva
    et all). Children shouldnt be recruited no
    matter what. Children dont know what to
    do or to think about when they are in the
    battlefield. Children shouldnt also witness
    the action of war and shouldnt see what
    happens and can mentally damage them.
    Overall children shouldnt have the
    option to fight in wars because of the effects
    and can damage them emotionally,
    physically and mentally.

    Written by:
    Dylan Horrall

    Works Cited:
    "A Fairer World :: Youth :: Child Soldiers." A Fairer World :: Youth :: Child Soldiers.
    Clarence High School, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2015.

    de Silva, Harenda, Chris Hobbs, and Helga Hanks. Conscription Of Children In Armed
    ConflictA Form Of Child Abuse. A Study Of 19 Former Child Soldiers. Child Abuse Review
    10.2 (2001): 125-134. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Jan. 2015

    Nutt, Samantha. Arms and The Child. Macleans 117.6 (2004): 34-36. Academic
    Search Premier. Web. 28 Jan. 2015.

    Spencer, Michael. "When Children Are Pawns in the Game of War." Internetmonkcom.
    Mike Bell, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2015.

    Vindevogel, Sofie, et al War-Related Experiences of Former Child Soldiers in Northern


    Uganda: Comparison With Non-Recruited Youths. Paediatrics & International Child Health
    33.4 (2013): 281-291. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Jan. 2015.

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