Child Soldiers

All over the world, children are recruited or kidnapped and forced to become soldiers.  They face combat, they cook and clean, carry supplies and weapons, and they are forced to act as sexual partners to the adult soldiers.  Children lose their futures and often their lives.

Discussion:

• Not all children involved in armed conflict are kidnapped.  Some are recruited and some choose to seek out the military forces.  Why would they do this?  What choices do they have?
• What are the reasons for using children in armed conflict?
• What are the moral issues of using children in armed conflict?
• How does society suffer when children are used in armed conflict?
• Which articles from the UNCRC are meant to protect children from use in armed conflict?

In your homework you read about Omar Khadr who was a 15-year-old child soldier in Afghanistan.

How are child soldiers supposed to be treated when they are captured? 

We will now watch the CBC documentary, US vs. Omar Khadr.  Think about how Omar Khadr is treated and how this treatment fits into the Articles.  If you miss watching this movie in class, you can see it on YouTube.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Read the following stories: Globe and Mail  New York Post War and Peace.

What have NGOs and other organizations done to help child soldiers.  Watch this video by Witness (www.witness.org).

For homework you have two pieces of writing to do:

1. In your journal, write what you think about Omar Khadr.  What is your opinion as to his guilt or innocence and his treatment at Guantanamo Bay.
2. On your blog write about the differences in the three stories.  Why are they so different?  Can you see any flaws in their logic?  How would you answer each of these writers?

Want to read about child soldiers?  You can try these books in the library:

• 306.362 BAL - Disposable people: New slavery in the Global Economy by Kevin Bales
• 331.1 HER - Child Labor Today: A Human Rights Issue by Wendy Herumin
• 331.3 MOD - Modern Slavery and the Global Economy 
• 335.009 DAL - They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children by Romeo Dallaire
• 966.4 BEA - Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beal