AUGUST 28 Afternoon Session on Child Soldiers: A Dangerous Playground, “Addressing the issue on the rights of Child Soldiers”

During the afternoon session last august 28 our class had another talk, this time we tackled the issue on child soldiers. We were fortunate to have two speakers one from the local arena and the other from an international arena, Dickson Hermoso, a chief of staff, civil military officer, peace process officer, human rights officer and a former child soldier in Cotabato and Kevin Ras a former child Soldier in Iraq.

Col. Dickson Hermosa quoted Dr. Gracia in stating that “Child soldiering means any child, boy or girl, aged less than 18 years who is recruited compulsory by force or adheres with the intention of using him or her contracting armed forces or paramilitary forces of defense units.” Col. Dickson Hermoso stated that child soldiering is very much evident in Islamic societies for the reason of religious obligation in a form of Jihad, likewise children are recruited in the Bangsamoro region in order to accomplish Territorial Independence where in children are brainwashed in terms of tradition , culture and religion. Kevin Ras on the other hand shared his experience in encountering child soldiers who died in Iraq for the purpose of implanting explosives he also cited the measures his camp would do such as rehabilitation and reintegration programs whenever they were able to capture child soldiers from Iraq.

Sadly children as young as preschool students are being forcibly recruited, coerced and influenced to become fighters and act like beasts. They are conspired and panned by adults through teaching different ideologies, which they feed to these young minds. In effect children are drawn into violence that they cannot oppose because of the consequences they could face for refusing to comply. However these child soldiers are frequently subjected to extreme abuse and manipulation during combat and training and usually suffer more than the adults. In my judgment some of the reasons why child soldiers were forced to join and cater to terrorist and armed units are simply because of hunger, poverty and ideology. For this reason all states must do something to eradicate this inhumane practice. Simple peace treaties do not address the use of child soldiers thus this issue must immediately be addressed by crafting viable policies.