Child Soldiers

Children and teens, as is well known, don’t have the same respect for their own vulnerability that a more seasoned adult does.  They are more likely to be trusted by their target, and their innocence makes them a more volatile media focus when their target uses deadly force against them.

Adults, with ambitions for power, wealth, and control over others, are exploiting the innocence and media sensitivity of children to further their aims.  They don’t care about the harm they are doing.  It is a human rights issue that modern armies, celebrities and international organizations  struggle to find a solution for.

This is one of the reasons I wrote the science fiction story Another Man’s Terrorist, to draw more attention to this aspect of terrorism and how it robs a child of their childhood, their future, and often their lives.  Children are used as targets, human shields, soldiers, and propaganda tools the world over, to perpetuate the political issues and aspirations of adults.  I hoped that by writing a fiction story about it, and getting it published, could help people get to know more about this terrible tragedy.

Other fiction stories about child soldiers:

Guarding Antoine -- written and narrated by Roger Haller (.wav file, download may take several minutes)

 

From the pages of Satirica -- The Babies at Nae-Long -- by John Parke Davis

 

The Silent Army -- Written and directed by Jean van de Velde

 

Backpacker Fiction -- by Matthew R. Loney

 

Online Articles, Groups and Blogs:

War Child

The Child Soldiers

Think Again: Child Soldiers

Child Soldiers — Alarming Global Situation 

Child Soldier Relief

Statistics on Child Soldiers

Fact and Fiction About Child Soldiers

A Long Way Gone: The True Story of a Child Soldier by Ishmael Beah

Child Soldiers

International Organizations:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/children

Related Articles

• Taliban Using Child Soldiers (newser.com)
• South Sudan to end child soldiers (bbc.co.uk)
• 95 Countries Have Signed Child Soldier Principles, Why Won’t the U.S.? (humantrafficking.change.org)
• Southern Sudan to purge thousands of child soldiers from army ranks ahead of independence vote (foxnews.com)
• Rope Enough: Just “Child Soldiers” Playing, Right? Double-Plus Bloody Wrong. (themoderatevoice.com)
• Southern Sudan: Free All Child Soldiers (humantrafficking.change.org)
• Child soldier from Uganda tells of great escape from LRA (guardian.co.uk)
• Southern Sudan to purge child soldiers from army (thegrio.com)
• Child asylum-seekers targeted in Home Office budget cuts (independent.co.uk)
• Southern Sudan to purge thousands of child soldiers from army ranks (theglobeandmail.com)

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~ by Bill Housley on June 8, 2009.