...Compelled to become instruments of war, to kill and be killed, child soldiers are forced to give violent expression to the hatreds of adults -- Olara Otunnu In the country of Uganda lies terror in the minds of many children. Many people are unaware of the inhumane and wretched experiences that happen in Uganda. Families cannot sleep peacefully at night because of unwanted attacks from rebels who torture and abduct their children. These children are then forced to be placed into an army, comprised mostly of children in an environment that radically changes their soul. Like the quote from Olara Otunnu, children are used as objects to carry forth actions that certain adults feel towards their civilization. If one is fortunate enough to escape or rescued then they must deal with the cruel effects of reintegrating into society. Research confirms that it is immoral to have child soldiers in Uganda because war-related experiences inhibit a healthy growth as a one suffers from psychological and physical trauma. Known to be one of the worse humanitarian crises since World War II, the epidemic in Uganda began over twenty years ago. This came about due to a man name Joseph Kony and his ideology of establishing a government based on the Ten Commandments (Benter 1). He believed with a large enough army, he would be able to overthrow the current system residing in Uganda today. One usually associates the idea of an army with adults; men and women who voluntary commit to serve their country...
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...CHILD SOLDIERS IN UGANDA Name Institution Professor (Tutor) Course City/State Date Abstract More often than not, children have been abducted in the past and recruited to fight wars against their will. One vital question someone might ask is the true definition of a child. What is child? Is it ethical to recruit children in military? These are the core issues I would like to address. The universal definition of child is any person who is below the age of 18yrs, while a few states limit the age to 16yrs and below (UNICEF, 2016). Uganda as a country has been through dark ages, internal feuds that led to the abduction of children and forced into combat Introduction. Child soldering is detrimental as the victims, young and vulnerable experience trauma and societal stigma. The process completely ruins their wellbeing (Francia and Edling, 2016). What led to child soldering in Uganda was a serious conflict between National Resistance Army (NRA) led by the current president of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and the Lord Resistance Army (LRA) composed of rebels. The latter won a bush war and assumed leadership and what happened next was identity politics characterized by hate and violence between the northerners and the southerners. A cabinet minister, who hailed from the South and who was affiliated to NRA once perpetuated hate speech by saying that they (the government) don’t care about the North. The Lord Resistance Army, being northerners, were sidelined by Yoweri Museveni, the...
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...Compelled to become instruments of war, to kill and be killed, child soldiers are forced to give violent expression to the hatreds of adults -- Olara Otunnu In the country of Uganda lies terror in the minds of many children. Many people are unaware of the inhumane and wretched experiences that happen in Uganda. Families cannot sleep peacefully at night because of unwanted attacks from rebels who torture and abduct their children. These children are then forced to be placed into an army, comprised mostly of children in an environment that radically changes their soul. Like the quote from Olara Otunnu, children are used as objects to carry forth actions that certain adults feel towards their civilization. If one is fortunate enough to escape or rescued then they must deal with the cruel effects of reintegrating into society. Research confirms that it is immoral to have child soldiers in Uganda because war-related experiences inhibit a healthy growth as a one suffers from psychological and physical trauma. Known to be one of the worse humanitarian crises since World War II, the epidemic in Uganda began over twenty years ago. This came about due to a man name Joseph Kony and his ideology of establishing a government based on the Ten Commandments (Benter 1). He believed with a large enough army, he would be able to overthrow the current system residing in Uganda today. One usually associates the idea of an army with adults; men and women who voluntary commit to serve their country...
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...Child Soldiers in Africa Starting around the 1980s, a horrible new source of warfare was introduced to Africa. This method is using children for warfare, or in other words, children soldiers. A child soldier is any boy or girl, under the age of 18, who is forced to join and operate within an armed force or armed group in any capacity. It does not only refer to a child who is carrying, or has carried, weapons. The method of using children in combat was first introduced in Africa in the lowlands of Mozambique, where rebel commanders used children for war. Almost half of the numbers of child soldiers in the world come from Africa. They thought that this was a great method because they were easily manipulated, very loyal, and there was an abundance of them. Also the rebel forces found it difficult to convince adults to join them, which initially drove them to the idea of using children instead. Do not be mistaken though, for Africa did not create the child soldier. In fact it was the Nazis who drafted children after they got desperate. Other countries also used children soldiers such as Iran, Iraq, and countries in religion-driven or nationalistic wars such as in Afghanistan, Kosovo, and the Palestinian territories. But in Africa the situation is at the lowest level. The children were used for the sole reason of greed and power and with no recognition of them whatsoever. The children were fooled by using many different schemes. The way they will try to keep the children was...
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...“I would like to give you a message. Please do your best to tell the world what is happening to us, the children. So that other children don’t have to pass through this violence.”-Mary, Age 13. Children, like Mary, from Northern Uganda, have fough tin wars for centuries.They are forced to become soldiers in a war that they rarely understand, let alone believe in. These children are labeled as criminals because murder is murder, but the effect of war causes people, and especially children to do unspeakable crimes. That is why is is important for readers to understand what happened how children are forced to be soldiers and why their story’s need to be told. First off, it is important to know how children are manipulated into picking up a gun....
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...SCREENING FOR TRAUMATIC EXPOSURE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AMONG WAR-AFFECTED ADOLESCENTS IN POST-CONFLICT NORTHERN UGANDA Introduction This research journal conducted by John D. McMullen, Paul S. O’Callaghan, Justin A. Richard, John G. Eakin and Harry Rafferty is to measure the effect after 4 years end of war in northern Uganda on the prevalence and consider of mental health of children and adolescent. During the war against insurgent (Lord’s resistance army), a large number of children and adolescent are been a victims on extreme war violent and they are reach for traumatic experience same affected by adult. The psychological distress is the serious impact for them and almost of which directly involved in war found for Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) dispute for longer duration after war when they recall back the bad memories on their horrific moments on the war. Some of them been abducted and recruited as soldiers and some of girls forced to involved in non-combat role and being subjected to sexual violent. They are continuously exposed to atrocities which influence them to suffering with psychology disorder. Summary The conflict in northern Uganda is most tragic conflict with the death victims reach a numbers of 1000 per weeks. A children and adolescent is affected group which up to 60000 of them recruited as soldiers and some being sexual violent with almost of them suffer with post-traumatic stress symptom. Significantly, most of them effected due exposed...
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...news and lifestyle magazine from Participant Media, the company behind such acclaimed documentaries as CITIZENFOUR, An Inconvenient Truth and Food, Inc. and feature films including Lincoln and Spotlight. FOLLOW US Takepart Share Facebook Twitter Email App Google +1 Tumblr Your Reach Take Action A U.S. Special Forces service member and a soldier with the Uganda People's Defence Force search the area near Pambayamba, in the Central African Republic, for indicted war criminal Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, on March 30, 2016. (Photo: Andrew Craft) takepart #longform Hunting Joseph Kony U.S. Special Forces searching for a rebel leader indicted for war crimes discover a different mission could prove even more important. May 6, 2016 Kevin Maurer is a journalist and coauthor of No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That...
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...African Slavery has existed for many years and continues to exist throughout the country today. Uganda is a country in Africa and is one of the poorest countries in the world. In Uganda, men and women of all ages are used for forced labor and sex trafficking. They are forced to work in fishing, agricultural, and home services. They are also trafficked to East Africa and other European countries to do the same. Torture in Uganda is some of the worst in the whole entire world. It is the first thing that members of parliament turn to when someone does something wrong. Their torture methods are extremely violent and cause serious violations. In 2012, a film makers traveled to East Africa, to film a documentary of Uganda when they found more then...
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...Invisible Children is an organization started in 2004 with the purpose of raising awareness of the ongoing war in Uganda. Specifically they raise awareness of what Joseph Kony, the Lords Resistance Army’s leader, was doing to the people of his country. The battle to show the world the truth began in 2003 when three college students Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey, and Laren Poole traveled to Africa to film a documentary about the war going on in Sudan. While going through Uganda though they noticed that war was tearing the country apart as well. It wasn’t until they talked to a boy named Jacob though that they realized they must do something. In 2003 Jacob was a young boy who had escaped the clutches of the Lords Resistance Army, a group dedicated to mayhem and war. He told Russell, Bailey, and Poole of how he escaped and how the LRA was committing egregious acts against their own people. Jacob explained that he escaped the LRA so he wouldn’t be forced to join as a child soldier. His brother was not so lucky as to escape. Jacob’s pain over what was happening in his country was palpable, and it was his story that made it clear we cannot sit back and allow this to happen. The LRA began as a rebellious uprising against President Yoweri, the Ugandan president. When first started the group called themselves, “the Holy Spirit Movement”. It...
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...draft Rescuing Children, Whose Responsibility? Children are one of the most important public priorities because they are the future of any society. If a government wants to improve its country, it should care more for its children. “The quality of our shared economic and democratic future relies on providing all children the opportunity to reach their full potential (All Children Should Be given the Opportunity to Succeed). Many children in many places over the world suffer from various problems. Child labor, poverty, military use of children, internet child pornography, child prostitution, lack of access to education, lack of health care, in addition to many other problems, are the most serious problems that face many children all over the world ("Top 10 Terrible Issues). “It is the responsibility of the government to keep them safe from criminal like Joseph Kony, a man in Uganda who steals children from their homes, and forces girls to become sex slaves, and the boys to become soldiers in his army” (Philipp). Children in Egypt suffer a lot from many problems like being homeless. Rescuing them is not only the responsibility of governments, but it is the responsibility of every adult. Street children issue has become a very serious problem that faces Egypt nowadays. Street children are children who call the streets their home (A New Approach). The number of street children in Egypt is estimated to be between 150,000 and 2,000,000, which is a very huge number (Ammar). “A UNICEF...
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... |B.A (SS)HONS Sociology and social administration –Makerere University) | |DATE OF BIRTH: 7th Oct, 1973 |Diploma Secondary Education | |SEX: Male |PMD pro stage 1 | |HOME DISTRICT: Kisoro |Anti-corruption course carried out by TCDC-Arusha Tanzania | |HOME ADDRESS: P.o.Box 5319 |Governance accountability training carried out by TCDC- Arusha Tanzania | |CONTACT ADDRESS: World Vision International-Uganda |Security management and Protection training part 1 and 2 | | |Training of Trainers (TOT) MA Peace and conflict studies department and peace civil | |CONTACT PHONE:+256772473324/+256712363416 |service Project. Makerere University | | |Training of effective procurement and disposal practices, Proact international Inc | |E-MAIL ADDRESS: |Participatory Project planning and management, ms computer...
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...Child Soldiers Scott Birkbeck Distinguished members of the United Nations, I am here today as an advocate for exploited children. Imagine that you are an eleven year old child, when suddenly soldiers break into your home, capture you and kill your entire family. They bring you blindfolded to their army base deep in the jungle. When you get there you witness a sea of other children just like you but walking around with rifles and machetes. If you try to escape they will beat you mercilessly and may even kill you. Now, what if I told you that the soldiers that kidnapped you and brought you to this place are children. They are following orders out of fear in the hope that they will receive food and water for another day. These abducted child soldiers are mostly younger than you and I. Most of them are just seven or eight years old, orphaned and without a loving hand to guide them in their life. They are given weapons and forced to commit atrocious acts of violence and cruelty. If the children fail to obey their commanders, they are often drugged to make it easier for them to follow orders. Their entire childhood has been stolen from them. They have no idea what they are fighting for and their commanders tell them to think of war as a game so they will become fearless. Who could possibly do this to innocent children? One of the most notorious warlords is Joseph Kony and his Ugandan Lords Resistance Army otherwise known as the L.R.A. To increase his military power, he...
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...Congo River basin. Following the country’s post-independence the former Belgian Congo was changed to The Democratic Republic of Congo on August 1, 1964 to distinguish it from the Republic of Congo. In 1960 General Joseph Motubu came into power, changed his name to Motubu Sese Seko, and changed the country’s name to the Republic of Zaire. 1997 was the year rebel forces (backed by Laurent Kabila) changed the country’s name back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and this change cased a new rebellion between him and former allies in 1998, and so began “Africa’s World War”. Conflicts that contributed to this crisis Laurent Kabila had accused some of his former allies, such as Rwanda and Uganda as having ulterior motives. In 1996 Rwanda and Uganda combined with rebel groups to invade Congo to vanquish Hutu militia, known as the Interhambwe, who were responsible for the Rwanda...
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...State can be defined as a sovereign political institution which governs over a society which is made put of individuals The brief history about president of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni,is that he was elected or came into power in 1986 under the party called “National Movement Resistance” as the president of the party and till now he is the president of Uganda. Therefore,the main steps/strategies that the state in particular Museven`s regime has used in reorganizing Uganda in the last 3 decades are as follow; Restoration of peace in Uganda,this strategy was to bring an end to the Lords Resistance Army[LRA] threat in northern Uganda and the surrounding regions like Eastern Uganda ,the peace strategy must shift from one that develop leverage through military planning,tries to press Kony to make a choice about his future and pushes forward a development and security strategy that enables northern Ugandans to return voluntarily,where he tried to sign a peace talk with Joseph Kony but failed which made him to chase Kony outside Uganda hence one of the strategy. Political liberalization, generally liberalization can be referred to as the relaxation of previous government restriction usually in such areas of political liberalization can be defined defined as increasing citizen rights and liberties. Under Museveni`s regime ,Uganda has been implementing simultaneous political reforms since 1986,where the citizens have the rights and liberties in doing things especially in political issues...
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...predominantly associated with one word, death. Even though there have been at least 12 countries with a documented history of child soldiers this paper will focus on one country in Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo. The research will describe how and why children are becoming soldiers, what life is like for child soldiers, how some children avoid becoming soldiers, and what happens to the soldiers when they become free. Since 1997 the Democratic Republic of Congo has become something like a never-ending nightmare, one of the bloodiest conflicts since World War II, causing more than five million deaths. It seems inconceivable that the biggest country in sub-Saharan Africa and on paper one of the richest, packed with copper, diamonds and gold, as well as immense farmlands of great fertility and enough hydropower to light up the continent, is now one of the poorest, and most hopeless nations on earth. Unfortunately, there are no promising solutions within grasp, or even within sight. One of the gloomiest parts about this nightmarish conflict is the use of child soldiers. The overwhelming majority of child soldiers in the Congo have been kidnapped from their families by rebel groups. It has been estimated that one in ten child soldiers or 30,000 children are found in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The United Nations believes that 15-30% of all newly recruited soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo army are less than 18 years old. One...
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