'Childhood Lost'

Child Soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo

By Sam Burley. Hello and welcome to CSITRC (Child Soldiers In the democratic Republic Of Congo). I am here to inform you

about a terrible tragedy that is going on in the DRC (Democratic Republic Of Congo). This tragedy is that in the DRC,

children from a very young age are forced into the dangerous life of war. While most kids are going to school and getting

an education, these kids are out on the battlefield killing people. This needs to be put to a stop. My hope for this

website is that it will raise awareness about this issue and help try to stop it. 

                                        Site navigation:

                                                  Warfare Waged by the Young

                                                  The Misery of a Child Soldier in the DRC

                                                  The Origins of African and DRC Child Soldiers

                                                  Why Child Soldiers

                                                  Bibliography

The Misery of a Child Soldier in the DRC                             

For children who live in the DRC, it is a very hard life. At a very young age, children are recruited by armed groups to become child

soldiers and have no choice but to go into war. To make it even worse, these armed groups hardly treat their child soldiers well.

These children are likely to experience psychological abuse because of the fact that they have to brutally murder people.

This could scar them for life. 

                                         

The Origins of African and DRC Child Soldiers

Now you’re probably wondering, "How did this terrible tragedy start?" Well basically when it intensified the most was after the

Rwanda civil war in 1994. What happened was that Rwanda Hutu rebels fled to the DRC, fearing that there would be retaliation

for their involvement in the mass killing of Rwanda Tutsis. Then in 1998, the Hutu rebels teamed up with Zairian army to launch

an offensive against the Congolese Tutsis. Millions of civilians have died, and almost half of those people are children under

the age of 5. 

Why Child Soldiers?

The reason that groups recruit children to fight is because the enemy can’t find it in them self to kill children. Therefore less child

soldiers are killed in battle than adult soldiers. There aren't only boys who are child soldiers. There are also girls, and the girls are

treated just as bad if not worse than the boys. The girls are commonly used as sexual slaves by the commander. Now you know

the basics about what goes on in the DRC and what living there as a child is like.

LINKS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_NdeU0gjIo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLEOhS0Kn9M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLTPk0VdtHs

http://www.warchild.org.uk