The Lasting Effects

Disclaimer: I know the assignment was to analyze different news sources on a certain event or issue, but I searched a great deal and came up with nothing! All media that I found agrees in saying child soldiering needs to end. Therefore, I'd like to focus on the effects that the act of child soldiery has on the rest of the world (which I referred to in my first article).

The word 'soldier' should never follow the word 'child'. Yet, our world has decided differently. The fact that 300,000 children in our upcoming generation are being used as weapons is repulsive.

This blog is about the lasting long term effects of having child soldiers in the world; whom it effects and how.

Firstly, the most obvious is the many effects it has on the child him/herself. These children are abused and/or exposed to things that hurt them physically, mentally, and emotionally.

The physical effects of warfare (on any soldier) are apparent. We can see them. Children are often used in immensely dangerous missions because they are often thought of as 'expendable' or 'inferior' to the older soldiers. An example of one of these missions is this:

A former Burmese rebel child combatant recalls that at age sixteen his job was to run into no man's land and "grab weapons, watches, wallets and any ammunition from the dead soldiers, and bring it back to the bunkers... This was a difficult job as you could see the enemy and they could easily `pick you off' as you ran out and back again." [The Defense Monitor]

After warfare many children are left with missing limbs, head injuries or lost eyesight or hearing. The terrible scars that are visible on the outside pale in comparison to the deep psychological and mental damage that is left for them to hold for the rest of their lives.

At such a young age, children are very malleable. Their minds are in a critical developing process and very susceptible to outside influences. Therefore, being surrounded by (and participating in) violence and the many horrors of war has lifelong lasting impressions.

"Perhaps the most severe long-term consequences of children serving as soldiers may be on their moral development. When the fighting ends and children return to society, it is very difficult to place them in the more sedate surroundings of schools or families. Their moral system is dominated by fear of violence from whomever is superior in the hierarchy. Child soldiers find it difficult to disengage from the idea that violence is a legitimate means of achieving one's aims, and find the transition to a non-violent lifestyle difficult." [The Defense Monitor]

Moving on to the greater circle which is effected by child soldiers.. The effect is rippled from the area in which children are/have been used as weapons in warfare to outer regions, lapping the far corners of the world. Because of the deep psychological damage that is done to the children, it creates a mindset centered around violence that is easily distributed and manipulated.

So, although usually found in desolate areas away from extreme media attention and much of the public eye, child soldiering effects much of the world by leading a terrible example for other countries and spreading sickly ideals around the globe.

Works Cited

"The Defense Monitor." CDI - Center for Defense Information - Security Policy Research Organization. Web. 30 Mar. 2010. .">.