Over the past 20 years, children—both boys and girls—as young as six years old have become involved in many violent conflicts around the world. The reasons why they become involved are complex. Sometimes, despair and a lack of hope for the future—because of limited opportunities for jobs, education, housing, or health care—cause some young people to join groups that use violence, such as gangs, criminal groups, or militant organizations. At times, youths are persuaded that violence—sometimes going as far as suicide bombing—is their only chance for political, social, and economic change. Many young people are involuntarily recruited into or forced to join armed groups. There are more than 300,000 child soldiers (soldiers under the age of 18 according to the UN Protocol on Child Soldiers) participating in current conflicts.
Many governments, international organizations, and private groups work to provide young people with alternatives to joining militias or other groups prone to violence. The focus of some of these programs is to prevent young people from engaging in violence. For instance, the organization Search for Common Ground holds soccer camps and peace camps for children from different ethnic groups in Burundi. These camps help build solidarity across ethnic divides and offer alternatives to violence by providing leadership training and education. Other programs integrate those who have fought in violent conflicts back into civil society. As an example, the organization Save the Children is working in Sri Lanka to reintegrate child soldiers into their communities by giving them job skills and hope for the future. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is doing the same with child soldiers in Uganda.
In this exercise, you are the leader of a United Nations task force on youth and conflict. The Secretary-General of the United Nations has asked you to develop programs that (1) prevent young people from turning to violence, or (2) help them to rejoin their community after a conflict. Base your program on an analysis of two foreign conflicts—at least one case should be post-Cold War— in which young people were involved in the fighting. At least one case should include efforts to prevent young people from fighting or help them rejoin society after conflict comes to an end. In 1500 words, your essay should: