Child Soldiers
A•What is the impact of conflict and/or war on Children? What are some of the conflict resolution initiatives to be suggested to societies with high number of young delinquents and/ or child soldiers?
Notes:
• Follow the pattern of the outline: your essay should include an introduction and conclusion and the body of the work should at least include two sections
•Only use class notes, text book and your personal reflection, analysis
•As per your syllabus it is mandatory to take the final exam in order to pass the class
SO please read carefully:
Final: May 15 before 3:15pm
LENGTH: 500-550 words, typed (font Times New Roman, Size 12, 1.5 line spacing). As an attachment in WORD Document (not PDF or JPG or other formats). In the subject line please write FINAL- PAX100-12:30
Email : negin@csufresno.edu
TOPIC DESCRIPTION: only choose one of the topics above
Your final will be evaluated as per below rubric:
• The general and thesis statement is specific and arguable and located in the first few sentences.
• The INTRODUCTION mentions 2-3 topics to be used in support of the argument in the BODY.
• The specific evidence includes relevant details from the course proceedings.
• The specific evidence is the most relevant and authoritative available.
• How the evidence supports the argument is explicitly stated.
• The organization is logical and there are transitions between ideas.
• The CONCLUSION includes an attempt to place the paper topic within the context of an important theme from the course overall, or an issue that could be addressed.
• Spelling and grammar mistakes, especially in the first few sentences, are not so glaring that the reader loses the ability to continue reading objectively.
HERE ARE THE NOTES TO USE FOR INFORMATION AS THIS PAPER WILL HAVE NO REFERENCES ONLY THE CLASS NOTES!!!
-Children
-300,000 child soldiers
-Hylas – Greek mythology child soldier.
Why children voluntarily join the military?
-They see themselves fighting for social justice
-They grow up around violence and see it as a way of life
-Frightened, bored, and frustrated, they will often finally choose to fight
-“Those with guns could survive”
-Seeking revenge for the death of their parents, friends etc.
Facts
-There are an estimated 300000 child soldiers
-Children as young as 8 are forced into these paths
-It is estimated that 40% of child soldiers are girls
-Mainly rebel groups use child soldiers to fight the government, but some governments also use child soldiers in armed conflict
-Not all children tae part in active combat. Some are also used as porters, cooks and spies
-As part of their recruitment, children are sometimes forced to kill or maim a family member.
Definition:
Any child – boy or girl – under 18 years of age, who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed force in any capacity, including, but not limited to: cooks, porters, messengers, and anyone accompanying such groups other than family members. It includes girls and boys recruited for sexual purposes and/or forced marriage.
Impacts of war on child soldiers
During last decade:
-60% killed
-80% disabled
-90% left homeless
-More than 40% orphaned or separated from parents
-Some 70% psychologically traumatized
Individual Level: Aggression – by nature and nurture
Use tree of conflict to determine how to reintroduce child soldiers into society.
-On the individual: death, injuries, lack of skills
-Intervention: Medical services, non-profits, rehabilitation, counseling, support groups
-On the community: Division
-Intervention: Community based reconciliation programs, raising awareness, security/safety.
-Root causes: Lack of parental guidance, social justice, corrupted government, religion, long-lasting violence, fear, displacement and revenge.
-Boils down to Lack of education, Lack of resources, Discrimination
Rehabilitation: Used to make the transition back to normal life as easy and painless as possible for the victims.
1. First model relies on disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR model).
2. Second model is called “Rebuilding Hope” focuses on the collaboration of the entire community ensuring each victim readapts effectively to normal life.
There are several branches of international law that forbid the recruitment of child soldiers
-CRC: Convention of the Rights of the Child: International convention.
-CEDAW: Convention on the Elimination of the all sorts of Discrimination Against Women.
-1977, protocols of the Geneva Convention set 15 as the minimum age for recruitment or use in armed conflicts.
CRC November 1989
-Governments, lawyers, social workers, educators, child development experts, and religious leaders negotiated standards.
-Only 2 countries have not ratified this, Somalia and United States
-Almost all countries have ratified CEDAW: 6 have not, Iran, two small Pacific islands, Sudan, Somalia and US
US and Iran Arguments against
-Forced to pay men and women same for equal work of equal value, goes against our free market system
-Ensure access to abortion services and contraception
Obstacles
-Political intentions
40% of child soldiers are female: Life for girls particularly hard because of the shame attached to what happens to them. They often find it difficult if they do return to their communities because they are less visible they often get ignored after the conflict.
Physical impacts: Tortured/raped/injured, forced marriage (minors)/sexual abuse
-Regardless of individual participants, war remains fundamentally a group activity.
-Single person may be able to incite or catalyze international or domestic conflict.
-BUT an individual cannot make war, since it is by definition a group endeavor
-War often entails some socially desirable elements as courage, initiative, coordination’s, self-restraint, and self-sacrifice.
-Winning group would presumably be one that cooperated well… at least internally
Two Groups
-Dysfunctional perspective emphasis the disruptive and retrogressive aspects of war: How it prevents growth, development, and material and social progress
-Eufunctional point of view that claims that war can serve an overall positive role for its participants by providing social solidarity within each competing unit, by yielding access to resources, etc.
Nontechnological war is concerned with:
-Competition
-Struggles to obtain individual prestige, rather than with large-scale conflicts between social groups
-In premodern war, involvement and motivation tend to be at the personal level
-Modern war is mainly directed toward conquest or the advancement of state interests
Factors to maintain peace among groups
-Shared ancestry between different groups tend to inhibit violence between them
-Terms such as motherland, brothers and sisters, tend to foster greater interal solidarity
-Establishing kinship through marriage
Child marriage in Afghanistan
-53% of women were married before age 18, and 21% before age 15.
Conflict Sensitive Assessment
-Traditional monitoring focus on assessing the intended and actual outputs of a given project,
-Conflict-sensitive monitoring and evaluation also requires:
1. An understanding of the context as it changes over time
2. Measuring of the interaction between the project and context
Answer preview
The convention of the rights of the child was established in 1989 by the UN to provide for the civil, political, cultural, and social rights for children. The treaty has been adopted by all the member States of the UN with an exception of the United States and Somalia…
(560 words)