2008 Fall Critical Thinking Research Topic: Child Soldiers

Please add findings below following the template on the Fall 2008 Critical Thinking Research Topics page.

Group members should also work to keep the page well organized. -Alfino

Background Information about Child Soldiers

Young Blood: Children of War

"http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/01032/causes.html"

In this website you need to look around at the different parts that it has. It has only a couple sentences for each piece but they have a lot of information that. It has information on the causes, impacts, solutions, media, and the countries that child soldiers are in. This is a good starting.

Allison White

The Facts About Child Soldiers

""The Facts about Child Soldiers." US Department of State. http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/fs/2005/50941.htm"'

This is a really good website about what the United States is doing for child soldiers. It does not go really deep into the things the United States is doing but it gives some kind of idea. It is a start to looking into what the United States are doing to change child soldiers.

Allison White

The Effects of Being a Child Soldier

Yina, Martin N. "CHILD SOLDIERS IN AFRICA: THE ROLE OF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATIONS." Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies 20.1/2 (Sep. 2008): 120-134. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 5 Nov. 2008 <http://proxy.foley.gonzaga.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=34634310&site=ehost-live>.

This essay seemed to be mainly made up of research. The essay focuses on what the effects of being a child soldiers are on those who are forced or recruited. It mainly talks about the child soldiers in Sierra Leone and Uganda. A main argument is that war compromises children's rights and also their health. It cites examples of the different results you can expect to see in children such as stress reactions, and psychiatric symptoms following trauma. The essay also describes the wars in the Sierra Leone and Uganda, showing what the children had to go through when they were in the process of becoming soldiers, and after they had been recruited into the army.

Samantha Cobb

What Constitutes Children's Rights and Are They Protected Enough?

Breen, Claire. "When Is a Child Not a Child? Child Soldiers in International Law." Human Rights Review 8.2 (Jan. 2007): 71-103. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 5 Nov. 2008 <http://proxy.foley.gonzaga.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=24097141&site=ehost-live>.

First of all, this is a pretty long document, so I would recommend focusing on pages: bottom or pg. 2 (72)-top of pg. 6 (76), you could skim through the bottom pg. 12 (82)-pg. 17 (87). It is mostly about rights based on the age of the person, so it doesn't necessarily talk much about the issue of what is going on or the treatment of the child soldiers/children when they are recruited. Not one of the better articles I've found in regards to the conditions/treatment, but if we decide to look at the age factor it is very in-depth about that.

Samantha Cobb

Human Rights Watch: Child Soldiers

"Child Soldiers." Human Rights Watch. http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/crp/index.htm"

I really think this website is useful. They have put a lot of time into finding different ideas of child soldiers. They give facts about child soldiers and where it happens. It says "in approximately 17 countries around the world, children are direct participants in war. Denied a childhood and often subjected to horrific violence, many thousands of children are serving as soldiers for both rebel groups and government forces in current armed conflicts. These young combatants participate in all aspects of contemporary warfare." Take a look at this website it is worth your time!

Allison White

---

Most Recent Article

Jeffrey Gettleman (2008, November 5). Congo: Child Soldiers Mobilized :[Brief]. New York Times (Late Edition (east Coast)), p. A.20. Retrieved November 6, 2008, from ProQuest National Newspapers Core database. (Document ID: 1589067601). http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1589067601&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=10553&RQT=309&VName=PQD

This article is from the New York Times. It talks about the most recent happening with the Child Soldiers in Congo.

Lindsay Bogan

---

Children's Right

"' Early to War: Child Soldier in the Chad Conclict (2007 July). http:www.hrw.org/campaigns/crp/index.htm

This article focusses on the child soldiers in Chad.

Demetri Goodson

The Use of Children as Soldiers

"" The Use of Children as Soldiers in Africa. http://www.reliefweb.int/library/documents/chilsold.htm""

This article talks about the child soldiers in Africa. It addresses why child soldiers are at a high disadvantage in Battle.

Jake Davis

Child Soldiers

"" AFRICA: Too small to be fighting in anyone's war. http://www.irinnews.org/IndepthMain.aspx?IndepthID=24&ReportID=66280""

This article goes over things such as the nature of the problem, effects on children, girls, and why society pays a high price.

Jake Davis

---

The Situation in Uganda

"Uganda." Child Soldiers Global Report 2008. 31 July 2008. 11 Dec. 2008 <http://www.childsoldiersglobalreport.org/content/uganda>

If someone/multiple people decide to focus on Uganda, this website is really useful. It talks about the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army), the situation in regards to the government, and developments that have been happening. Also, if you go back a link (click on the 'Africa' link at the top of the page right above 'Uganda' it will take you to a main page about child soldiers in Africa and from there you can go to any country/area in Africa through an alphabetized list on the left side of the page.

Samantha Cobb

---

Reasons for Abducting Children and Using Them as Soldiers

"Recruiting or Using Child Soldiers." Children and Armed Conflict (a UN site). 17 Oct. 2008. 11 Dec. 2008 <http://www.un.org/children/conflict/english/childsoldiers.html>.

I got this article off of the UN's website. There is a TON of useful information on the site, you just have to do a little bit of digging. This specific article gives some of the reasons for why children are recruited as opposed to adults. It also briefly mentions why it is difficult to rehabilitate children who have been kidnapped and used as soldiers.

Samantha Cobb

---

Child Soldier Relief

"Latest Reports and Possible Solutions. http://childsoldierrelief.com/

I found this website particularly interesting and helpful. It is constantly updated with incoming reports from various news magazines. It also lists a number of research papers that we could use to back up our papers. Use them as research. It also lists various organizations that people can get involved in to help child soldiers. It lists treatment centers in different countries.

Lindsay Bogan

UN Helping Prevent Child Soldiers

Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child

http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/6/protocolchild.htm

The UN General Assembly adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflit. This is the article broken down.

Allison White

Child Soldiers Banned by UN Law

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/1815223.stm

This is a recent article in BBC news about the UN banning child soldiers. It talks about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Allison White

---

MONUC

Children in Armed Forces. MONUC - UN Mission in DR Congo. 2006 <http://www.monuc.org/news.aspx?newsID=817>.

MONUC is the United Nation's group that works on what is happening in the Congo. This is a fairly good article on how the situation in countries where they are using armed children is attempting to be improved, yet at the same time acknowledging that there are definitely problems that are still going on despite these attempts. It also has two paragraphs right before the small section on "Foreign Armed Groups" that talk specifically about what MONUC is trying to do and how they do it.

Samantha Cobb

Others Helping Child Soldiers

ICRC: Helping child soldiers

http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/congo-kinshasa-feature-040208

http://www.parentalrights.org/blog/uncrc/whats-wrong-with-the-un-convention-on-the-rights-of-the-child

http://www.hrw.org/legacy/wr2k1/children/child2.html

This is a group helping the child soldiers in Congo. The group is ICRC. It talks about the red cross also.

Allison White

Legislation/Laws Against Child Soldiering

'Paper Protection Mechanisms'

Francis, David J. "'Paper protection' mechanisms: child soldiers and the international protection of children in Africa's conflict zones. " The Journal of Modern African Studies 45.2 (2007): 207-231. Research Library. ProQuest. Foley Library, Spokane, WA. 5 Nov. 2008 <http://www.proquest.com/>.

This article is a little bit longer, though the last 5 or so pages are notes/works cited, and there is a summary at the beginning. It was particularly helpful with giving some past and semi-current information on acts that have been created regarding child soldiers in Africa, this information starts on page 13. It also talks a little bit about the reasons as to why the laws created so far have not been very successful.

Samantha Cobb

---

There are some good articles about reintegration of child solciers in both Academic Search Premier and Lexis/Nexis. Lexis/Nexis is particularly good for current articles from Africa.

Linda Pierce, Librarian

Work Cited

This is my work cited for my reasearch paper.

Afghanistan Human Rights. Amnesty International. http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/afghanistan.

"Chad: Child soldiers forcibly mobilised not demobilised." Child Soldier. ReliefWeb.26 Dec. 2007 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/khii7aa34fopendocument&rss20=18-p.

Child Soldiers. Coalition to stop the use of Child Soldiers. http://www.childsoldiers.org/childsoldiers/

Child Soldiers 1379 Report. Coalition to stop the use of Child Soldiers. Nov. 2002 http://child_soldiers_1379_report_to_the_security_council.pdf.

Child Soldiers in Afghanistan. June 2007. IPCS Report. http://www.ipcs.org/ipcsspecial-report-44.pdf

Convention on the Rights of a Child. United Nations. 21 Dec. 1995 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm.

CRC. Convention on the Rights of a Child. http://childrightscampaign.org/crcindex.php.

Developments in Afghanistan. Children and Armed Conflict. 21 Dec. 2007 http://www.un.org/children/conflict/english/afghanistan.html.

Developments in Chad. Children and Armed Conflict. 21 Dec. 2007 http://www.un.org/children/conflict/english/chad.html.

Early to War: Chad Conflict. Human Rights Watch. http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/chad0707webwcover_0.pdf.

Human Rights Watch. 2008 http://www.hrw.org/legacy/campaigns/crp/index.htm-.

World Map of Child Soldiers. UN Coalition to stop the use of Child Soldiers. http://www.un.org/works/goingon/soldiers/childsoldiermap.html.

Assessment

It's great to see that you found the UN's initiative on this issue. I wonder, though, what scholarly and professional opinion of it is? Are there dissenters? Supporters outside the UN? Also, you need a wiki-page organizer to sharply distinguish background, news, opinion, etc. -Alfino 11/13

I will be looking over the wiki and periodically offering comments, suggestions,etc from a librarians point of view. Overall the sources look really good but there probably could be more a representation from academic and journal based sources. In addition to Academic Search Premier and Lexis/Nexis you might want to check out Opposing Viewpoints, I found a very nice overview articles entitled Children Do Not Have the Right to Join an Army with a very nice bibliography. http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010406212&source=gale&srcprod=OVRC&userGroupName=gonzagaufoley&version=1.0 Linda Pierce, Librarian 11/17