The stark difference between childhoods in developed countries to the childhoods in developing countries is a crisis that affects millions of children everyday. To be born in a 3rd world country should not be a punishment, but unfortunately in many developing countries, to be born in a country that is infested by disease, feminine, drought and war, is a death sentence. The sharp contrast between the two worlds can be as different as walking from a Utopia into a battle zone for the thousands of children who are faced with immeasurable horrors on a daily basis in Uganda. For many children, to turn age 7, it means to turn the age of an ‘acceptable’ years to become a child soldier, while in developed countries, to turn 7 is celebrated with presents and birthday cake. This circumstance isn’t familiar, however it is what thousands of Ugandan children are forced to deal with everyday of their childhood, and millions more are affected by it.
We have reached a point in history that is characterized by internal conflict and violence. Atrocities are committed on a daily basis against innocent civilians in disturbingly violent and cruel manners. Since 1986, a civil war has been ongoing in the Republic of Uganda in Africa. For 20 years, Ugandan civilians were afraid to walk to the city markets, afraid to let their children walk to school, and afraid to sleep in their own homes. Hundreds of civilians have died because of a rebellious group that is trying to overthrow the government. The ‘Lords Resistance Army’ has ripped families apart, burned down homes, and caused unnecessary fear to civilians. However, the most unforgiving act that the LRA commits presently is the kidnapping of children for the purpose of forcing them to become child soldiers.
This civil war in Uganda is between the Government of Uganda’s (GOU) army, fighting against the Lord’s Resistance Army. The 20 year old conflict has forced 1.6 million people to relocate to safer locations. Those who stay in the villages are typically killed by the LRA, and in most cases, by the child soldiers who were abducted in the previous village.
The most alarming aspect of this humanitarian crisis is that child soldiers account for 90% of the LRA. The children are brutalized and forced to commit murder on fellow abductees and even siblings. Those who attempt to escape are killed. For those living in a state of constant fear, hostility is familiar. It becomes a common routine to kill daily, and the psychological suffering is immeasurable. The LRA targets children as their ‘main’ abductees, because of their proportional agility, small size, and the ease with which they can be physically and psychologically controlled, are regarded as advantages by military commanders.
Fearing abduction, large numbers of children, often with their family, leave their homes and make a long and tiring journey to a safer location. Walking at night, the safer location (usually a town square) can be miles away. They leave back to their homes at first light, hoping their house has not been burned down and raided. They are called the ‘night commuters’, and they sleep in church’s, schools, town squares, and hopefully with many other families to increase their security.
Since 1986 more then 30,000 children, between the ages of 7 and 16 have been abducted from their own homes and villages by the LRA in Uganda. Used as child soldiers, these children are faced with inescapable horrors that no child should ever witness. From the time they are abducted to the time they are released, the children are given a weapon and forced to obey the LRA’s commands, with the threat of being killed if they oppose.
Boys are forced to fight in the front lines of the war against the government, and they must slaughter any other children that refuse to fight. Girls, as well as being forced to fight, are subjected to the life as a sexual slave for an older soldier. Many girls become pregnant and must care for babies that they cannot provide for when they are 10-12. The risk of HIV and AIDs increases due to the carelessness of the male soldiers who force sexual intercourse upon the adolescent girls.
The convention on the Rights of the Child is a commonly agreed upon set of non-negotiable standards and obligations. It spells out the basic human rights of children everywhere without discrimination. Children have the right to survival, the right to develop to the fullest, the right to protection from harmful influence, the right from abuse and sexual exploitation, and the right to participate fully in social and economic life. These standards are not given to the children born in Uganda. They are forgotten in a bloody and vindictive war that rages through their towns. Children are no longer learning to read or write, but instead are taught how to kill without remorse.
How can one even imagine living in conditions that millions of children are forced to live in everyday? No longer can we live our lives to the fullest while boys and girls alike are subjected to horrific brutalization. Dolls and toys are replaced with machetes and rifles. The ‘wonders’ of growing up turn into the ‘hope’ of growing up, as life expectancy of child soldiers living in Uganda is an incredibly low twenty-one, as of 1990.
Child soldiers are often harassed with alcohol and drugs before going into battle. In addition, these children are treated as harshly as their adult counterparts. Many children are maimed or killed in battle due to their lack of maturity, training and education. The psychological consequences of the children’s forced participation in armed conflict ranges from aggression and revenge, to anxiety, fear, anguish and depression.
Despite the ‘success’ story that the Ugandan officials present, if humanitarian aid workers and the civilians in developed countries don’t act quickly, thousand of lives will be sacrificed by the LRA, and many more childhoods will be full of blood, death, and terror.
