Humanitarianism: “an altruistic desire to provide life-saving relief; to honor the principals of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence; and to do more good than harm.”
Overview
There is no better way to destroy a person's childhood and future than to commit them to a life of military servitude at an early age. Forcing a young person to become a child soldier leads them into a life of violence and fear. Occurring primarily in Africa, children are often recruited as soon as they are big enough to hold a firearm. No thought is given to the psychological effects that this life may have on the young individual, the only thought is that this will be one more rifle for their cause and that it will be harder for their enemy to shoot a child rather than a man. Children are not only recruited to fight on the front lines but also as spies, messengers, lookouts and participants in suicide missions. Young girls may be forced into sexual slavery. A particularly discouraging idea is that not only do armed opposition groups and rebel forces use such immoral recruitment tactics, but government forces often participate in the recruitment of children to their cause. Children's involvement in the military has been going on as long as military forces have been in operation, not necessarily as troops but as chefs, couriers, assistants etc. However despite this, the use of children in the military has never been so widespread as it is now, children are being used as combatants in countries all over the world, a couple examples being Columbia, Burundi, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Iraq. The problem lies in several different areas, more often than not it comes back to the fact that the armed groups are rarely held accountable for its actions and that's just for the government forces, there is no conceivable way to hold rebel troops and other factions that operate entirely outside the law responsible for any child recruitment or any other of the immoral acts they commit for that matter. With the military often holding considerable power and influence in less developed countries, it is hard for the government to challenge them when the military's response to such action could easily be a coup d' etat. Due to such things it is crucial for the international community to take action to ensure that action can actually be taken to combat these issues. Other possible causes for such wanton recruitment of children into armed groups include factors like the lack of proper age verification. Throughout a good portion of the developing world there is a serious lack of adequate measures in place to verify ones age; a good number of individuals lack even a birth certificate and truly don't know their own age. Another issue that remains is that while most child service in the military is forced, there remains a percentage of those who actively enlist prior to being 18 years of age. The military offers security, power and a sense of purpose, all desirable things to a child growing up in less than fortunate conditions. They enlist without thinking it through thoroughly and then are stuck in a life of hardship and violent acts that could forever damage their psyche. All in all, children's involvement in the military is not something that benefits anyone. Should a person choose to join the military once they are of age then that is entirely their decision to make, but children under 18 should be protected and guaranteed a childhood of their choosing.
There is no better way to destroy a person's childhood and future than to commit them to a life of military servitude at an early age. Forcing a young person to become a child soldier leads them into a life of violence and fear. Occurring primarily in Africa, children are often recruited as soon as they are big enough to hold a firearm. No thought is given to the psychological effects that this life may have on the young individual, the only thought is that this will be one more rifle for their cause and that it will be harder for their enemy to shoot a child rather than a man. Children are not only recruited to fight on the front lines but also as spies, messengers, lookouts and participants in suicide missions. Young girls may be forced into sexual slavery. A particularly discouraging idea is that not only do armed opposition groups and rebel forces use such immoral recruitment tactics, but government forces often participate in the recruitment of children to their cause. Children's involvement in the military has been going on as long as military forces have been in operation, not necessarily as troops but as chefs, couriers, assistants etc. However despite this, the use of children in the military has never been so widespread as it is now, children are being used as combatants in countries all over the world, a couple examples being Columbia, Burundi, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Iraq. The problem lies in several different areas, more often than not it comes back to the fact that the armed groups are rarely held accountable for its actions and that's just for the government forces, there is no conceivable way to hold rebel troops and other factions that operate entirely outside the law responsible for any child recruitment or any other of the immoral acts they commit for that matter. With the military often holding considerable power and influence in less developed countries, it is hard for the government to challenge them when the military's response to such action could easily be a coup d' etat. Due to such things it is crucial for the international community to take action to ensure that action can actually be taken to combat these issues. Other possible causes for such wanton recruitment of children into armed groups include factors like the lack of proper age verification. Throughout a good portion of the developing world there is a serious lack of adequate measures in place to verify ones age; a good number of individuals lack even a birth certificate and truly don't know their own age. Another issue that remains is that while most child service in the military is forced, there remains a percentage of those who actively enlist prior to being 18 years of age. The military offers security, power and a sense of purpose, all desirable things to a child growing up in less than fortunate conditions. They enlist without thinking it through thoroughly and then are stuck in a life of hardship and violent acts that could forever damage their psyche. All in all, children's involvement in the military is not something that benefits anyone. Should a person choose to join the military once they are of age then that is entirely their decision to make, but children under 18 should be protected and guaranteed a childhood of their choosing.