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Children at War

Carter Center USA.
According to the Carter Center in Atlanta, USA, there were 112 wars being fought in our world in 1990. Thirty-two of these wars were major wars, which the Center defined as a conflict that causes 1,000 or more casualties. Most of these conflicts were within national boundaries. This is a picture of the world we live in and of the conflict and wounded ness within that world.¹

Child soldiers

As eight-year-old Junior chased the birds from his family's rice field, he felt carefree and happy. He was receiving high marks in school. His parents loved and cared for him; he had lots of friends to play with. But all too soon this would change. One day soldiers rushed into the village and killed his father. Before his death he told Junior, "You are now the man of the house. Look after your mother and your brothers and sister." Junior took his responsibility seriously. He even quit the village school to help his mother more.

On yet another fateful day, Junior heard the army trucks roar into his village. He stood wide-eyed with fright. He couldn't move. Then a heavily armed guard jumped from the truck and snatched him and quickly shoved him into a big truck. As the truck sped out of the village, Junior felt pangs of pain at being parted from his mother, his village, and all that was familiar.

Dozens of boys huddled together in the truck, quiet as mice, too frightened to voice their fears. They bumped along for countless miles. Finally, the driver turned the truck into an odd assortment of buildings. "Boys, this is your new home." Glancing around, Junior quickly surmised this was the rebel's main training base.

As the awesome reality of becoming a soldier in the army crept into his thinking, Junior could not keep back the tears. This was an adult-sized responsibility. He wept quietly throughout that first night. He longed to be back home with his mother and siblings. The next morning Junior joined other children in learning to shoot guns. Killing a dog was his first task in demonstrating bravery. Junior shut his eyes tight as he pulled the trigger. The dog's terrified cries sent shivers down his back. "Be brave," shouted the captain. "Act like a man. Be loyal and fight for your country."

Before his real battles, Junior was given drugs for bravery. In the evenings he was given alcohol to help him forget. But Junior's mind and soul were flooded with the horrors of the atrocities he had committed. As a three-year veteran of the war, Junior, aged 11, was promoted to captain. He won his coveted promotion by killing a top general.

After relating his story, Junior, fingering his AK47 and swaggering around to display his power and authority, stated, "Now when I am on drugs, I am so brave I could kill my mother." Junior, once so loving and tender, so close to his family, now stood proud, defiant, and lusting for more power.

Searching for a scrap of lost childhood and hope, Junior lifted the window to his soul for a brief second as he quietly confided, " The drugs and alcohol don't dull the pain. The memories keep flooding. I have nothing more to live for; I wish I could be killed by a commando."²

Statistics:

• Number of major armed conflicts from 1990 to 2003 - 59.³
• Estimated number of children killed in conflicts since 1990 - 1.6 million.⁴
• During the Iran/Iraq war 50,000 Iranian children between 12 and 15 years were killed as child soldiers on the battle field.⁵

Voluntarily or forced?

Alone, orphaned, frightened, bored and frustrated, children will often choose to fight. When schools are closed and families fragmented, few influences can compete with a warrior's life. Children may also see themselves fighting for social justice or religious beliefs or cultural identity. In more personal terms, they may also be seeking revenge for the deaths of their parents, brothers or sisters. Others, like Junior in the above story, are kidnapped from their villages and forced to fight. Some children are forced to witness or take part in the torture and execution of their own relatives. After such a terrifying experience they are so shocked and traumatized they can be persuaded to do anything. That's why children often are led to neighboring villages where they have to repeat the exercise.

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Duties of the child soldiers

Duties cover the whole range of military activities. At relatively quiet times they may not have to do much more than cooking or carrying water. Being small and inconspicuous, children also have particular value as messengers or as spies. Some adult soldiers claim that the act of killing causes less damage to children than it does to adults. Consequently, children often are made not only to shoot and kill, but also to engage in such activities as disposing of the dead bodies--dragging them into pits or throwing them into rivers. And while children might be thought to be the people deserving greatest protection, as soldiers they are often considered the most expendable. During the Iran/Iraq war, child soldiers, for example, were sent out ahead in waves over minefields.⁶

War victims

In Angola, 9-year-old Domingos, his 14-year-old brother Manuel, his older sister Donzela and her 1-year-old daughter Marlene were fleeing from the rebels that had taken over control in their home town Ndalatando. Together with other refugees they wanted to try to reach Dondo, which was still in the hands of the government. The journey would take several days by foot and lead them straight through the bush.

Domingos was exhausted, but the hope of a better life kept him going. On the third day of the trek, Domingos and his friends were suddenly surrounded by 14 UNITA soldiers, armed with rifles. The rebels singled out the men and older boys and bound their hands behind their backs. Domingos saw that Manuel was in this group. Fourteen years was old enough for Manuel to be considered a threat in the soldiers' eyes--old enough to take up a gun and use it. Then the killing began. The men were killed first, shot one by one.

Domingos saw a soldier put a bullet in his brother, then fled for cover in some high grass nearby. After they killed the men, the soldiers bound the women and began stabbing them with bayonets. Domingos watched as his sister died at the end of a bayonet. Donzela's baby was secured to her mother's back in the traditional African manner by a broad sash of colorful cloth. A soldier clubbed the infant to death with his rifle butt.

Domingos and a few others eluded the carnage. They hid under grass and debris for hours, listening to the screams of the soldiers' victims. Quiet finally came at sunset, and the small group cautiously emerged from their hiding place. Six adults and a handful of children were all who survived. The small, weary band walked another three days, each night digging shallow holes and huddling under grass and branches. Six days after they had left Ndalatando, they met a band of government soldiers who welcomed them and gave them food.

Finally, in the safety of Dondo, Domingos stayed with a member of his extended family. For the first week he cried every night, keeping others awake. He had nightmares about the killing he witnessed. He was afraid that the rebels would come for him. Today in Luanda, the country's capital city, Domingos says he is no longer plagued by nightmares. He has plenty of good food and has made some new friends. However, according to members of his family, he still is not at ease. They doubt he will ever be able to forget the past and worry about his chances of ever recovering completely.⁷

Statistics:

• At any given time, over 300,000 child soldiers, some as young as eight, are expoited in armed conflicts in more than 30 countries around the world. More than 2 million children are estimated to have died as a direct result of armed conflict over the last decade. At least 6 million children have been seriously injured or permanently disabled. Meanwhile, betweeen 8,000 and 10,000 children continue to be killed or maimed by landmines each year. ⁸
• Over 50 countries currently recruit children under age 18 into their armed forces . ⁹
• The youngest child soldiers are about 7 years old.¹⁰

What do children lose in war?

• Their families and homes, their friends and other important attachment figures, their childhoods, physical safety, moral development, their innocence and beliefs, schooling, basic necessities, their identity, status, and self-worth.
• Trust¹¹

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What effect can war have upon children

• They are burdened with knowledge of hardship and violence. They are worried and insecure. They are unwilling to trust people, even those who want to help them. They have poor health and low spirits. They are uninterested and slow to learn.
• They are angry, restless, hyperactive or behave in surprising ways.¹²

"A child growing up in a war zone may find death commonplace, and not a secret. The loss of mother or father, however, is never commonplace. These unattached children, who may grow up without supportive homes and in the chaotic atmosphere of war, can eventually become tomorrow's sociopaths. These children grow up surrounded by war, never knowing peace. Guns and tanks are their playthings. When your model is a terrorist, what possible outcome can there be?"--Phyllis Kilbourn in Healing the Children of War.

Sexual violence in war

Sexual violence is particularly common in ethnic conflicts. Girls are especially vulnerable to sexual violence, abuse, exploitation and stigmatization during and after conflict situations. 80% of war deaths have been women and children.¹³

The escalation from ethnic superiority to ethnic cleansing to genocide can become an irresistible process. Killing adults is then not enough; future generations of the enemy--their children--must also be eliminated.

Land-mines

Children in at least 68 countries are today threatened by what may be the most toxic pollution facing mankind - the contamination by mines of the land they live on. Over 110 million land-mines of various types, plus millions more unexploded bombs, shells and grenades, remain hidden around the world, waiting to be triggered by the innocent and unsuspecting, the report says.

Of all the weapons that have accumulated over years of war, few are more persistent and more lethal to children than land-mines. Hundreds of thousands of children, herding animals, planting crops or just playing, have been killed or maimed by these deadly devices.¹⁴

References:

¹ Healing the Children of War, by Phyllis Kilbourn, MARC Publications, 1995
² Crisis Care Curriculum , by Phyllis Kilbourn
³ State of the World's Children, UNICEF, 2005
⁴ ibid.
⁵ Healing the Children of War, by Phyllis Kilbourn, MARC Publications, 1995
⁶ ibid.
⁷ UNICEF
⁸ The Millenium, United Nations Cyber School Bus
⁹ ibid.
¹⁰ Healing the Children of War, by Phyllis Kilbourn, MARC Publications, 1995
¹¹ ibid.
¹² State of the World's Children, UNICEF, 2005
¹³ ibid.
¹⁴ Mine Action Strategy: 2002-2005, UNICEF