CHILDREN AT WAR

CHILD SOLDIERS

By Javier Ballesteros

In a world where millions of children “play war games” with toy guns or video games, other boys and girls are pushed into real war, becoming young fighters. 

For them WAR is not a game, but real life. They learn to solve conflicts with weapons, kill others and very often become addicted to certain drugs, which are provided by their captors. 

Afghanistan, Colombia, India, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Mali, Pakistan, Thailand, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen are using child soldiers. They sometimes take part in suicide missions.

Soldier kids haven’t got any rights,  just victims, whose  future has been truncated. 

Some of them have been kidnapped, others recruited by force, bribed or deceived, other times their desire to take revenge because their family have been killed or suffered violence. 

We should try to change this situation, but for many of them coming back to normal life will be very difficult, if not impossible!

I strongly believe this is one of the most important problems in the world. 
How could we help to solve it? If you are interested, you can find more information in this link

http://www.rescue.org/child-soldiers

CHILDREN HAVE THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION

VIOLENCE AND WAR   BLOCK  THE WAY TO EDUCATION

"One child in three is out of school in countries affected by conflict"

By Raúl Ramos Afonso

Children’s right to a decent education is as basic as their right to food and water – for many, it’s their route out of poverty. It gives them the knowledge and skills to improve their own chances in life and, ultimately, the lives of their own children. Yet, one child in three is out of school in countries affected by conflict. 

Getting children into school and delivering good-quality education in war-torn countries is a huge challenge. Teachers may not have been trained and schools are increasingly being targeted for attack.

Education funding is shockingly inadequate – in 2008, $1 billion education aid was pledged to countries affected by conflict – just one-tenth of what was needed. Only $113 actually reached them.

It is estimated that there are almost 40 million children out of school in conflict-affected countries, that means that more than half of the children out of school live in conflict-affected countries. Given all this, many people think it is just too complicated to improve the situation in countries affected by conflict.

This situation needs to be changed really fast, as war is growing in many countries in the world and the number of children that can’t go to school gets bigger and bigger.

Here are two projects that can help these kids:

http://www.warchild.org.uk/issues/access-education

http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/education/rewrite-the-future

COLTAN WAR

TANTALUM  IS SO VALUABLE THAT COUNTRIES ARE FIGHTING FOR IT

By Marcos Siverio and Amanhuy Duque

WHAT IS COLTAN?

Columbite-tantalite — coltan for short — is a dull metallic ore found in major quantities in the eastern areas of Congo. When refined, coltan becomes metallic tantalum, a heat-resistant powder that can hold a high electrical charge. These properties make it a vital element in creating capacitors, the electronic elements that control current flow inside miniature circuit boards. Tantalum capacitors are used in almost all cell phones, laptops, pagers and many other electronics. The recent technology boom has caused the price of coltan to skyrocket to as much as $400 a kilogram, as companies such as Nokia and Sony have struggled to meet demand.

HOW IS COLTAN MINED?

Coltan is mined through a fairly primitive process similar to how gold was mined in California during the 1800s. Dozens of men work together digging large craters in streambeds, scraping away dirt from the surface in order to get to the coltan underground. The workers then slosh water and mud around in large washtubs, allowing the coltan to settle to the bottom due to its heavy weight. A good worker can produce one kilogram of coltan a day.

Coltan mining is very well paid in Congo terms. The average Congolese worker makes $10 a month, while a coltan miner can make anywhere from $10 to $50 a week.

FINANCING THE CONFLICT

A highly controversial U.N. Security Council report recently outlined the alleged exploitation of natural resources, including coltan, from Congo by other countries involved in the current war. There are reports that forces from neighboring Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi are involved in smuggling coltan from Congo, using the revenues generated from the high price of coltan to sustain their efforts in the war. By one estimate, the Rwandan army made at least $250 million over a period of 18 months through the sale of coltan, even though no coltan is mined in Rwanda. All countries involved in the war deny exploiting Congo's natural resources.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

• We can try not to buy a new phone every year, we  know that the Iphone 6 will be better tan Iphone 5 but if we wait one year, there is going to be a new phone anyway.

• We can recycle our old phone  or give it to charity

SPREAD THE WORD!  SPREAD THE WORD!

CHILD SOLDIERS: REACHING OUR COMMUNITY

RAISING AWARENESS IN OUR SCHOOL AND SPREADING THE MESSAGE TO OUR COMMUNITY 

By Irene Cáceres, Raquel García, Romina La Paz and Thalía Peña.

WHAT HAVE WE DONE?

This was an activity that was done during the last week of March by our team members. We searched for information about children who are involved in conflicts in different countries. 

We found out that children can be recruited when they are about 10 years old, and form part of an armed group, or they can also work as cooks, spies, messengers, bodyguards, etc. 

Nowadays there are between 250.000 and 300.000 children fighting in the world.

After our research was done,  we designed  a big poster where we put some information about  child  soldiers and after that, we decided to make it more visible and took it to the town centre. 
We showed it to people who were walking in the street, we asked them their opinion about this issue and we shared our views with people from China, Germany, Great Britain, Italy,...

WHERE DID WE GO?

We went to The Concepción Church, near a popular pedestrian street located in La Laguna and we put the poster on the floor to show people the suffering of these children. There are some cafeterias  around  and it is a busy area with a lot of tourists, and local people.

WHY HAVE WE DONE IT?

We did this project because we are worried about this problem and we want people to  reflect about what is happening in other countries: many children are being used as suicide bombers, as sex slaves, or trained as killers from very young. 

They are not enjoying their infancy, and this is not fair. We wanted to make this visible to the people in our surroundings.

HOW DID WE PREPARE IT?

We used our “ATU” classes to work in it. Our teacher, Dácil Melián Huguet  helped us, and also we used some of our free time.

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM THIS EXPERIENCE?

We learned a lot from this project. We  were impressed to find out that many countries are using children as soldiers. Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Mali, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen. 

They are used in many different ways, not always holding guns, but their human rights are constantly being violated. 
Furthermore, we got people to know about child soldiers and some of them gave us their impressions. They wrote their opinions in our poster.

We met people from  our islands and also from different countries that were visiting our city. 

Now, we have put our poster in our High School entrance hall, so that all the students and visitors can see it!

Here is the video we recorded of our experience!

HOW SOS CHILDREN WORKS

SOS CHILDREN IS TRYING TO HELP WAR CHILDREN

By Oscar Sola Real

Over the last ten years, two million children have been killed in conflict. Over one million have been orphaned, over six million have been seriously injured or permanently disabled and over ten million have been left with serious psychological trauma.

War affects every aspect of a child's development. Children affected by armed conflict can be injured or killed, uprooted from their homes and communities, internally displaced or refugees, orphaned or separated from their parents and families, subjected to sexual abuse and exploitation, victims of trauma as a result of being exposed to violence, deprived of education and recreation, at risk of becoming child soldiers. 

It is highly probable that children living in conflict areas will be deprived of basic needs such as shelter, food and medical attention. In addition, relief for children tends to be the last priority in war, resulting in insufficient or no protection for minors. Besides, children are, due to their physical constitution and growth, most vulnerable to being deprived of food, medical assistance and education, which has a severe and lasting impact on their development.

Since 1998 there have been armed conflicts involving child soldiers in at least 36 countries.

However, the terrible scars that children have is one of the most difficult problems to solve: refugees, food shortages and mourning for lost relatives. 

Former Child Soldiers will have at best their needs forgotten and at worst they will be blamed by their communities for what happened. 

Children from poor families who are seeking physical support, revenge for their losses or the sense of belonging are particularly vulnerable to exploitation during conflict. Other children are kidnapped and force to become fighters. 

It is estimated that over the last 15 years 10,000 children have been abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) around Gulu in northern Uganda, alone. 

Children are deliberately targeted as they are manipulated more easily than adults and can be indoctrinated to perform crimes and atrocities without asking questions.


SOS works in many countries to help Child Soldiers and other children scarred by conflict, whose lives will never be the same.
Current focus are  on  Ugandan Child Soldiers and children in Palestine ,but projects are aso being developed to include rehabilitation of child soldiers in Sudan

Other current child soldier  projects include rehabilitation where counseling, family-tracing, education and support for former child soldiers is provided.

Looking back, ten years after the massacre in Rwanda, children are now starting to rebuild their lives. Nine members of the community were murdered in the genocide there.

Another, was forced to become a child soldier and join the conflict, only to lose a leg to a land-mine.



"War violates every right of a child- the right to live, the right to be with family and nurtured and respected", (Grace Machel, UN, 1996)

HOW CHILD SOLDIERS ARE RECRUITED

GIRL SOLDIERS LIKE NATALIA HAVE SUFFERED A TERRIBLE ORDEAL

By Andrea Marcos

Natalia lived in her small village in the Democratic Republic of Congo with  her mother and sisters. 

A quiet and naive 12 year old girl saw the rape in addition to the murders of her family. 

Out of fear, like many other children, she enlisted in the army of RCD-Goma. 

Children like Natalia enlisted "voluntarily", taken from their homes, schools and refugee camps are instructed in the art of war and used in the firing line. 

They are forced to witness and commit murder, rapes and abuse of both civilians and soldiers, including the murder of members of their own families. The worst part happens to girls, raped since the first day, they are force into marriages with their aggressors and they become sex slaves. 

Over time, they form families with babies caused by violations. 

They can't escape because no community accepts them, pregnant women, mothers of children of rebel or sick with AIDS or other disease. 

Many families take away the right to learn from their daughters, in an attempt to avoid them being caught in school or on the way to their homes. 

Today there are 300,000 child soldiers in the world. Their recruitment starts at the age of 10 and they are used as war machines. 

"Children, dear brother, are the best fighters of the century. Have more energy than most people and resist without feeling physical pain" 
Lucien, 12, a former child soldier from the Democratic Republic of Congo.


"At our age it is more difficult for the rebels, so they use stronger stuff, like drugs or money, to provoke us and force us to go. 

I remember the  attack on the city of Nyola-Kombouya, in souther Sierra Leone. We were woken up at 1 AM and walk until 7AM. the came a doctor. 

He had a small bowl with cold water and every two injections, the needle washed in water. It was always an ampoule with red liquid. 

At first I always felt weak and then felt an overwhelming force. I felt capable of anything... 
I was angry, hate, wanted to destroy everything. It is impossible to understand, we were put in such a state  that we laughed despite all this violence, we found it dfascinating, had no limits"
Moussa, 15, a former child soldier from Sierra Leone.