Child+Soldiers

A common atrocity within these bloody gang wars in Africa (and seen elsewhere) is the use of children as young as seven years old for soldiers. Starting in the 1980s, Mozambique rebels used child soldiers for various reasons: they are easy to manipulate, they are unsuspecting, they are innocent, they show extreme loyalty, and there are countless children. Since then, the use of child soldiers has spread immensely to 300,000 in 41 countries with around 120,000 of them fighting in Africa alone and there are around 500,000 child soldiers possibly involved in paramilitary groups. In order to keep the young soldiers in order, the leaders use (besides brainwashing and outright violence) a unique weapon: magic. Magic gives the leaders a sense of respect while it gives the children a shield of protection against enemies carried in such things as amulets. Though Human Rights groups have run successful campaigns against the use of child soldiers, this unfortunate weapon is still used today as rebels and governments within Africa are ruthless once certain political boundaries are broken down. Furthermore, the state of the countries are still unstable which leads the children to becoming soldiers for the rebels and governments as the alternative is unjust. Besides facing violence from the other side (government or rebel), the children face intense poverty so if they aren't forced into becoming a soldier, they unfortunately choose it for survival.

Gettleman, J. (2007). The Perfect Weapon for the Meanest Wars. //The New York Times.// []

U.N. (2001). The Road From Soldier Back To Child. //Africa Recovery, 15// (3), pg 10. Retrieved from [].