The methods used to train child soldiers turn them into killers through great manipulation; although rehabilitation programs are the only way to attempt to reintegrate these children into society, the people recruiting them must be stopped to end the vicious cycle. From the moment a child is chosen to fight in war, he/she is forced to face death with utter insensitivity. When a child is taken from their home to become a soldier, their families are often killed right in front of them; this is a way for the commanding officers to obtain total control. One of the first few steps in training a child to fight usually involves having the child kill someone; this person is often a civilian or someone from the child’s village. Killing someone from their village ensures that the child will not try to escape, for they will no longer be welcomed at home. It is common for the child to then have to consume the flesh or blood of the person they have killed, in an effort to diminish their emotional reaction to death.
Evidently, after this process the children are killers; they now see killing as a solution to most problems and have no emotional reaction to the crime they are committing. A child soldier, whos name was anonymously recorded as M, was quoted saying, "When I was fighting, I enjoyed it- killing and destroying. I killed human being, many; young, old, anyone. The first one, an old lady, I shot from far away. I was very angry, so I shot her. Their families killed my people" (Children At War). Although the children affected did not choose to be murderers, they are nonetheless a threat to society once returned to their normal lives. The rehabilitation programs and laws in place to protect children are not aggressive enough to put an end to this issue. Most of the rehabilitation programs in place by the United States in other countries require the children to want to willingly go through the rehabilitation process. Also, with the high possibility of children being sent back into war, they are only helped temporarily before being placed back into this vicious cycle.
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http://childsoldierrelief.org/laws_treaties/
http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=6684
Singer, P. W. Children at War. New York: Pantheon, 2005. Print.
