Child Soldiers - The Worst Form of Labor

When one thinks of war, they think of battle-weary, experienced soldiers in their mid-30s. Or maybe 20s. But certainly not 15. In fact, having an army of soldiers under 17 is almost unimaginable to us. But a reality elsewhere.

Imagine being caught in crossfire, having to fight for your lives, to make yourself into a killing machine. Some 300,000 children risk their lives every day in war, and another half a million are part of armies not in conflict currently. That's massive. Most of them are forced because of poverty or even abduction.

Many of the most serious offenders are in Africa. Liberia, DRC, Burundi, and Uganda, combined, account for more than 25% of the child soldiers in the world. Other hotspots for child soldiers are generally South America and Southeast Asia, and specifically Colombia and Myanmar.

Well, you may ask, what good do child soldiers do? Won't they be useless as soldiers? The answer is no. Being trusted, vulnerable, and easily intimidated, children can be manipulated to be daring and reckless, especially under the influence of drugs. The use of children in an army can greatly add to confusion on the battlefield, and presents a unique moral dilemma to opposing forces. If that is not enough, children have also been used as scouts, messengers, minesweepers, bomb-makers, and suicide bombers.

Child soldiers grow up to be mentally scarred, uneducated adults. But the problem will continue to perpetuate if conflict is not taken care of, and poverty not dealt with effectively, two near-impossible problems. For now, our hearts go out to the thousands of innocent children whose lives will never be the same, and we hope someday, the problem can be eradicated, once and for all.

Profile: Len Morris

You might have heard the saying: "A picture is worth a thousand words." Well then, could a video not be worth a thousand pictures? It certainly applies for Len Morris, the famed human rights filmmaker, who has risked his entire life to capture videos of children being tortured, abused, and slowly murdered.

Lee started out his venture with an educational program for child laborers in Kenya. It flopped. But Len refused to give up on his dream. In 2004, he filmed his fated documentary "Stolen Childhoods", which became a huge hit, for one simple reason - It was the voice of the children that spoke out for themselves. From five year old runaways begging in tatters on the streets, to fifteen year old prostitutes that live a life too miserable for most of us to imagine, we saw the children themselves speak up against child labor, and it should inspire us to make a difference.

Rescuing Emmanuel ( 2009 ) and The Same Heart ( 2010 ) were two other masterpieces of Len's, apart from dozens of other short videos and films that he taken traveling around the world to document human injustice. He has received the Iqbal Masih Award ( Remember him? ), the Walter Cronkite Award, and Images and Voices of Hope Award for his groundbreaking work. Truly, he is a hero in the midst of chaos, one who wishes and decides to stand up for what is wrong and right it as it should be righted. Thank you, Len Morris.

Why Would Child Labor Be A Good Thing? Hmm...

A recent comment by a friend of mine provoked me to take a look at the arguments for child labor. They are weak, but have enough merit for me to address them - and then shut them down.

According to a recent study by the Royal Economic Society, banning child labor is misguided, does more harm than good, and can damage the economy and living standards of many families in developing nations. Labor by children contributes more money to their potential education, the study says, and forcibly removing children from work could have adverse effects on their wages and the family's welfare.

I agree. There's nothing more foolish than to take kids out of work, put them into school, and expect the family to adjust and recuperate. That's where the complexity of child labor comes in. In order to build and sustain an effective, populated school system, there must be an "alternative income", or another way for the family to earn money and sustain themselves. Therefore, the best way to tackle child labor is to focus on eliminating poverty, because only then can kids be able to go to school and break the cycle of poverty.

The thing is, often times rescuing kids from child labor might have the right reasons, but the wrong result. In 1993, Bangladeshi children were whisked away from their factory jobs and put into crude, falling apart schools. Within six months, they were found homeless and begging on the streets, even worse off than before. So, no, child labor is not a good thing. But it's a lot more complicated than we think it is.

Reflection...

Recently, Hallie came over to our school and gave a presentation about her journey, Iqbal, and Free the Children. Watching it brought tears to my eyes, and I did something that I haven't done in a few weeks: Reflect on what I have fought so hard for and will in the future.

Imagine that you're 5 years old, living in a rundown shack at the fringe of Pakistan. You can feel your ribs beneath your shirt, begging for food that is so scarce and valuable that they wouldn't give it to a little kid like you. Your tongue is parched from lack of water, and your feet are blistered and covered with blood.

Then, one day, a strange man that you've never seen before approaches your family and chatters with them for more than an hour. Curious, you ask your parents what is happening, when suddenly the man turns his head and looks directly at you, with a gruesome, twisted smile. In his hand he holds 20 dollars, which he quickly palms off to your parents. Then he picks you up, carries you off, and rides away. You don't know what is happening, but you do know one thing: Everything is not right.

Suddenly, carried away, you enter a dark room, and are chained to a loom, forced to tie microscopic knots into beautiful carpets sold to tourists thousands of miles around the globe. Or dumped into dusky, dirty mines and forced to work 15 hours a day. Sometimes you cry out for your parents, for the life you once had, but you soon learn not to. Because you're either whipped or beaten.

A life full of trouble and misery. This is why we have stood up, to help those who need it the most.