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  • Essay / The effects of war on child soldiers in Sierra Leone

    History and prevalence of child soldiers in Sierra LeoneIn the early 1990s, Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front (RUF), led by former military agents, invaded Sierra Leone from Liberia. The RUF initially declared that it was leading a political movement. Their main goals were to promote liberation, democracy and freedom. They said they wanted justice and equality for all civilians living in Sierra Leone. Despite what the RUF claimed to do, they showed strength and left a trail of killing in their wake. With civilians lacking support for the "political revolution", the RUF started a decade-long war that ravaged the country as a whole. The RUF developed a sense of structured and militarized violence. This created a climate of opportunity for average civilians to obtain cheap weapons. With greater access to weapons for civilians and the RUF, politics also became more militarized. As the war continued, poverty increased and people began to plunder the national resources. The laws declined and appeared to lack any force in the face of the brutal force of the RUF and its civilian supporters (Denov, 2010). These conditions, caused by structural violence and weakened social systems, have had serious consequences for everyone, but especially for children. of Sierra Leone. Children make up the vast majority of Sierra Leone's population. Because of the war, children had even less access to standardized education, suffered greatly from parental unemployment, and thousands of children had to struggle to survive on the streets (Zack-Williams, 2001). Children were preyed upon by “thugs”. Soon, children were unknowingly recruited as “child soldiers.” (It should be noted that the term child soldier ...... middle of paper ......rs in post-conflict Sierra Leone. Interantional Social Work, 53 (6), 791-806.Drumbl, MB ( 2007). American Society of International Law, 101 (4), 841-848. The battle continues: fighting for a more sensitive approach to international law. , 21, 286-355. Kimmel, CR (2007). Institutionalized Child Abuse: The Use of Child Soldiers, 50 (6), 740-754. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 23 (5), 573-581. Laird, S. (2004). (2001). Child Soldiers in the Sierra Leone Civil War, African Political Economy Review.., 28 (87), 73–82.