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Many historical studies provide a rich source of information revolving around the issue of childhood and the treatment of children. Although there is a general understanding about what childhood is, it is not considered the same in all cultures. Even with cultural differences, it is still important to recognize how countries perceive childhood to mean because it sets the tone for how they are treated. All children are valuable and should be entitled to a high standard of living regardless of where they live but this is not always possible in areas that are misguided by poor government. The only way that the preservation of childhood can gain the legal protection that it deserves is by seeking direct action and spreading awareness.

Social Construction of Childhood

The idea of childhood as a social and historical construct was first developed in the work of Philippe Ariès. He revealed how the emergence of the modern conceptualization of childhood as a distinct stage of life was tied to the rise of bourgeois ideas of the family, privacy and individuality between the 15th and the 18th centuries. Although other historians have disagreed with certain of the points made by Ariès, there has been no disputing the constructed nature of childhood . Building on Ariès’ work, James and Prout (1997) understand childhood not as biological immaturity, but as certain ways in which cultures interpret this immaturity and the meanings they assign to it. Their recognition of childhood as a social construct allows for the idea of multiple childhoods, as embedded in local cultural constructions, to prevail. It thereby provides a strong critique of existing work on children in the fields of developmental psychology and its construction of a singular figure of ‘the child’.

Constructing Childhood Sociologically

• Childhood is understood as a social construction. As such it provides an interpretive frame for contextualizing the early years of human life. Childhood, as distinct from biological immaturity, is neither a natural nor a universal feature of human groups but appears as a specific structural and cultural component of many societies.
• Childhood is a variable of social analysis. It can never be entirely divorced from other variables such as social class, gender and ethnicity. Comparative and cross-cultural analysis reveals a variety of childhoods rather than a single or universal phenomenon.
• Children’s social relationships and cultures are worthy of study in their own right, independent of the perspective and concern of adults.
• Children are and must be seen as active in the construction and determination of their own social lives, the lives of those around them and of the societies in which they live. Children are not just passive subjects of social structures and processes.
• Ethnography is a particularly useful methodology for the study of childhood. It allows children a more direct voice and participation in the production of sociological data than is possible through experimental or survey styles of research.
• Childhood is a phenomenon in relation to which the double her- meneutic of the social sciences is acutely present. That is to say, to proclaim a new paradigm of childhood sociology is also to engage in and respond to the process of reconstructing childhood

Childhood In the Third World

Third World childhoods are divided into those of urban middle-class children, in whose lives we recognize the influence of western childhoods, and the childhoods of the poor, which we tend to view as unaffected by these western material and cultural markers. Thus, while we acknowledge the role played by modernization, westernization in the construction of urban bourgeois childhoods in the Third World, we often invoke tradition to classify childhoods of the poor.

For example, while pointing out the limitations of the discourse on abandonment in understanding the lives of the khates, or street children, in Nepal, draw a distinction between, the traditional childhood currently experienced by a majority of the poor and a largely urban middle-class childhood that tends towards the dominant Western model. What distinguishes the traditional from the modern in discussing Nepali childhoods is that within the former children have to assume, work responsibilities at an early age both within and outside the house Through using tradition to describe the cultures of the poor, these get viewed as ahistorical, essentialist processes, and a ‘them’ and ‘us’ binary opposition persists, which offers only a depoliticized understanding of these lives.

While studies of European childhoods can invoke a history of transformation from a non-bourgeois past, this historical narrative is absent in enquiries into Third World childhoods. For example, Blanchet (1996) in her work on kangali, or marginalized children in Bangladesh, invokes samaj (society) as a cohesive set of cultural practices to explain the discrimination that these children experience. The way Blanchet uses samaj as an absolute reality facilitates the naturalizing of certain traits to the culture being described. Her work is characteristic of studies of Third World children in its view of indigenous traditional cultures as autonomous, unchanging units. It fails to incorporate the workings of power, both in terms of the constitutive role of history in these cultures, and the politics of representation within which such descriptions are constructed. This allows for an unmediated view of these lives to prevail in which the traditional/modern binary is embedded even when not explicitly used.

In analyzing the Indian nationalists’ negotiation of the colonial state, Partha Chatterjee (1993) discusses how the formation of an Indian modernity is indelibly tied to anticolonial nationalism, and therefore differs in significant ways from western modernity . According to him, the nationalist construction of a ‘modern’ national culture, that is however not western, would hold true in the formerly colonized countries of Asia and Africa as well. His work raises some important points, which can serve to enhance our existing understanding of childhoods in the Third World. These are that the formation of modernity in these countries is negotiated and contains significant differences with western modernity, and that this national modern exercises a hegemonic ideological role even in the absence of a certain modern material wealth in the lives of the urban and rural poor. Recognizing this would not allow us easily to reduce the childhoods of the middle class and rich as imitating the bourgeois western ideal. And it would force us to study childhoods of the poor, not as pre-modern, but as significantly influenced ideologically (if not materially) by the formation of modernity under colonialism. The history of colonial education policy is crucial to the ways in which the street children articulate their subjectivities and frame their world-views. And their narratives, as the following section highlights, cannot be understood without analyzing this particular history and its continuing impact on these lives.

Child Labor

Child labor is the dominant image that signifies the loss of childhood among poor children in the Third World. There is an unwillingness to undergo vocational training that can be read as reflecting traditional cultural practices that socialize children to the world of work at an early age, and therefore regard any formal work- related training as alien and unnecessary. But doing this would be to discount the ways in which the history of colonial capitalism in India transformed children’s household work (an integral part of early childhood socialization practices) into wage labour. In pre-colonial India, children worked in the household economy and it was only with the advent of capitalism, as introduced by the colonial state, that their work was drawn into the production of capital in the form of wage labour.

In the late 19th century, when factories, mines and tea plantations in India began setting up factory schools to train working children to be more efficient workers, legislation was already underway in England to abolish child labour and enforce compulsory schooling for all children. In the colonies, however, capital continued to utilize children’s labour, while simultaneously putting into circulation discourses on the unwillingness of parents to send their children to school and on vocational education being the commonsense solution for poor children.

Child Soldiers

Child soldiers are recognized as a person under the age of 18 who directly or indirectly participates in an armed conflict as part of an armed force or group. This age limit has been newly added in 2002 by the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Prior to this time, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 additional protocols set fifteen as the minimum age for participation in armed conflict While some children are instructed to operate assault rifles, machetes or pocket propelled grenades on the front lines, others are used in combat support roles such as messengers, spies, cooks, mine laborers, porters and sexual slaves. It is also not uncommon for some of recruited children to participate in the killing and raping of other civilians. Contrary to popular belief, it is not only males who are led into becoming soldiers, about 30 percent of armed groups using children include girls to date, it is estimated that 300,000 children are active participants in combat armed are currently involved in armed conflicts. Prior to this time, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 additional protocols set fifteen as the minimum age for participation in armed conflict . Child soldiers are recognized as any person under the age of 18 who directly or indirectly participates in an armed conflict as part of an armed force or group. This age limit was recently added in 2002 by the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Prior to this time, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 additional protocols set fifteen as the minimum age for participation in armed conflict. While some children are instructed to operate assault rifles, machetes or pocket propelled grenades on the front lines, others are used in combat support roles such as messengers, spies, cooks, mine laborers, porters and sexual slaves. It is also not uncommon for some recruited children to participate in the killing and raping of other civilians. Contrary to popular belief, it is not only males who are led into becoming soldiers. In fact, about 30 percent of armed groups using children include young girls. It is estimated that 300,000 children are active participants in combat armed are currently involved in armed conflicts

History

Ancient Greece

Back in 1600 BCE when the Spartan military was prevalent in Ancient Greece, boys as young as seven were being taken from their home and brought up with military training. The Spartans were considered survivors and they raised these children to be warriors as a way to ensure their supremacy against Greek rivals, including citizens from Athens. Young warriors were seen as central to survival for a small city state so they were relied upon to strengthen the numbers of military forces. At this time, leaders had little problem kidnapping children into the armed forces seeing as children already looked up to those who occupied military positions. Smaller children who were unable to wield heavy weaponry were used as scouts and spies.

The Middle East

In the 1300s, the Ottoman Turks would kidnap young Christian boys and essentially brainwash them into being loyal to the Sultan, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire. Once trained, these boys became the elite military unit in the Middle East and were called "Janissaries".

The Western World

Throughout the Western World, children were used to mostly occupy support roles. The drummer boy became an iconic figure in American military history and the British Navy frequently used small boys as aides in their fleets. It was not until the 20th century when the military use of children became more widespread did government actors seek legal protections for children in war.

Africa

The African continent has experienced numerous internal conflicts over the past decade. Eighteen of the fifty three countries are currently involved with or emerging from armed conflict. As a result, violent wars have caused severe harm to countries such as Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic (CAR), Congo-Brazzaville, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda. The recent outbreak of violence in Côte d’Ivoire in September 2002 has further perpetuated the political instability of the West African sub-region. Recent African civil wars have undoubtedly been quite brutal and bloody to say the least with violence against civilians being a common characteristic of warfare. Child soldiers are often employed to carry out war tactics that aim to humiliate and eventually kill members of their community or at times, their loved ones. For example: One child soldier, fighting for Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), was forced to stab his pregnant sister to show his loyalty to their force. This is one of many horrifying encounters where children were manipulated into committing human rights violations.

Legal framework surrounding the issue

A legal framework to prevent the military use of children was first developed in the early 1900s when attempts were made to protect the child. However, these efforts failed as policy makers remained focused on maintaining the rights of a family which essentially caused the issue of child soldiers to be ignored. After the surrender of Germany and Japan in their conflict, the draft Convention for the Protection of Children in the Event of International Conflict or Civil war was to be included in the Geneva conventions of 1949. In the end, these conventions did little to address the issue of child soldiers by dismissing the crimes of non state actors and did not set a minimum age for child soldiers. At this time, the focus was mainly put on international conflict rather than the destabilization of civil wars where child soldiers were most often employed.

It was not until 1959 when the United Nations issued the Declaration of the Rights of the Child did this problem receive the attention it deserved. This written document guaranteed the right to a name, a nationality and the right for a child to be raised in a peaceful environment. Furthermore, In 1974, the international community formulated the Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict which extended legal protections to women, often mothers and their children. The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child spells out the rights of children in times of armed conflict and peaceful times. Articles of the Convention that are specifically related to war-times include all these related to survival and to family support as well as those concerned with education, health care and adequate nutrition. Other rights that are at risk include rights to protection against exploitation and violence, protection against torture or any other cruel, inhumane treatment of punishment. The Convention also asks state parties to apply the rules of international humanitarian law that are relevant to the child and take every measure to ensure protection and care of children who are effected by armed conflict. In 2000, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a protocol aimed at restricting the use of children in armed conflict all together. This protocol set minimum ages for compulsory service, it was now 18 instead of 15 and declared no one under this age can be put in a combat situation. As of 2012, the largest attempt to outlaw the use of child soldiers has not come from Europe or North America but from Africa. The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child is considered the most ambitious attempt to control child soldiering but its enforcement was delayed due its massive scope. It not only protected children in war but also "tension and strife" as well. It came into force on November 29th 1999 and in its final form, the Charter only prohibits child marriages, discrimination and protection against harmful rituals .

Conditions

Given how prevalent the military use of children has become in the developing world, much of this can be associated with the social conditions under which children become involved in combat. Hunger and poverty have shown to be leading factors. In some cases, it may drive parents to offer children for service or attract children to volunteer as a way to ensure regular meals, clothing and medical attention. Other children decide to become soldiers as a way to protect themselves or families in the face of violence and chaos. For militant leaders, it is considered effortless to acquire child soldiers seeing as young children are so vulnerable at their age. In this sense, it merely takes a manipulation of the mind to persuade them into joining a military force and from there, teach them to how to participate in a war However, there are often cases where children become recruited by force especially under circumstances where armed groups take children from their homes as they pass through villages. Orphans are looked at as the easiest targets.

Nations that have been known to use child soldiers

According to the 2004 Global Report of the Coalition to Stop The Use of Child Soldiers, between 2001 and 2004, child soldiers were still reported to be used in a number of areas including the following examples:

Burundi

Since the 1993 assassination of the Burundi’s first democratically elected president, the rate of violence substantially increased. More than half of Burundi’s population is under eighteen and the minimum legal age for military recruitment is sixteen. Even so, there have still been children recruited as young as ten serving as combat troops, labourers, spies and sex slaves for Burundi armed forces and political groups. Although much of the pre-existing tensions are no longer severe, sporadic fighting still continues and an estimate of 5,000 child soldiers have not yet been demobilized.

Colombia

Through out the course of Columbia’s forty year civil war between government and paramilitary groups, an estimated 14,000 children have served in combat, create and deploy mines and seek information for their militant leaders. A quarter of their army of child soldiers are girls and often forced to commit horrifying human right violations.

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

Ever since 1998, the civil war occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has seen 30,000 children populate the ranks of government and rebel armies. The opposition has been known to have as high as fifty percent of their soldiers also are children. The leader of the Congolese Rally for Democracy-Goma (RCD-Goma), Adolphe Onusumba, claim children join RCD-Goma voluntarily and benefit from the care and education they receive. In contrast, analysts say most are abducted and their “education” includes being forced to commit rape, killing their own relatives and performing sexual or cannibalistic acts on the corpses of their enemies according to the Child Soldiers Global Report

Liberia

During the fourteen year civil war in Liberia, there was a widespread use of child soldiers in both government and opposition forces. Within the national army, there was a small boys unit with commanders as young as twelve, most of whom were orphans due to the war. According to the president at the time, Charles Taylor, “some of these boys saw their mothers wrapped in blankets, tied-up and burned alive”. When the conflict ended, approximately 21,000 children needed to be reintegrated into Liberian society.

Myanmar

In Myanmar, there is believed to be as much as 35 to 45 percent of combatants whom are children fighting in a conflict between the Myanmar army and sixteen armed resistance groups. Many of these children are abducted and subjected to brutal treatment in training camps before being forced into combat.

Sierra Leone

Between 1991-2002, Sierra Leone had been involved in a violent civil war in which child soldiers had aged between 10 to 18. Some were even as young as 7 when they were conscripted into fighting forces and paramilitary groups. As a result, these children witnessed executions, death squad killings, torture, detention, rape and massacres of family members. When the conflict was over, they returned to civilian life. More than third of the girls reported having been raped and almost a quarter of both girls and boys reported having injured or killed someone. Children who had reported surviving rape or hurting others showed high levels of hostility and anxiety while children abducted at younger ages were more likely to report symptoms of depression.

Uganda

Children have been known to serve in the ranks of the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Force as well as in the opposing Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA is recognized as a cult with a core of only 200 adult members and have recruited approximately 25,000 children by abducting them. Within the units, the LRA carry out widespread attacks on civilians, killing, raping and looting. Kidnappings are so widespread that Amnesty International reported in November 2005, an estimated 30,000 children were hoping to avoid abduction were seeking refuge in urban areas each night.

Post War-Effects on the child

As soldiers, children often witness or commit appalling acts including rape, beheadings, amputations and burning people alive. When they return and try to re-integrate back into their communities, they often lack basic survival skills since the armies using them provide food and shelter. Various human rights groups have setup programs to help rehabitate demobilized child soldiers but it is still difficult to help them move on from the experiences they endured while in combat. The most common mental health illness linked to child soldiers presented in the literature was Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, where the effects on the child can include: a loss of security, distrust in parents and in close relationships, restricted range of affect, diminished interest or participation in activities, efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings and conversations associated with trauma.

Involvement of External Actors

In dealing with the mental health issues faced by children involved in military use, The African Mental Health Organization (AMF) an example of a group who deals with these problems. It is a non governmental organization whose focus is on person centered mental health, community, institutional and environmental determinants of mental health and biological aspects of mental health, also focusing on the spiritual aspects of mental health. Some of their efforts include psycho trauma management in Rwanda and professional support for survivors of the Nairobi Embassy Bomb Blast in 1998 and Kyanguli School fire tragedy

Child Soldiers International

Child Soldiers International was in created in 1998, works to prevent the recruitment and use of children as soldiers, their demobilization and ensure their rehabilitation. Currently, this organization is working for the effective implementation of OPAC, a global ban on any form of military recruitment of people below the age of 18 years and a definitive end to the military use of children. Achievements include: playing an instrumental role in the negotiation, adoption and entry into force of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, actively engaging influential inter-government agencies such as the UN Security Council, the Human Security Network and the European Union. Lastly, they have also published three child soldiers global reports spreading awareness on country to country information on child recruitment and use worldwide

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

UNICEF is one of the world’s best recognized charities and a leading advocate for children. In response to the issue of child soldiers, they are working to create a protective environment for demobilized child soldiers including strategies to prevent their recruitment, ratification of policies regarding involvement of children and giving children an opportunity to a say in their protection. Since the mid 1980s, UNICEF played a central role in securing the release from armed forms in Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi, Columbia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Uganda. In partnership with NGO organizations, it have also provided care, technical guidance and at times financial assistance

Possible Solutions

According to International Crisis Group's Senior Advisor John Prendergast, he suggests only effective way to stop the use of child soldiers is to end the conflicts in which they fight which would require a political solution that dissolves the tensions between conflicting groups. Beyond this, there are few practical strategies. Most would expect that the first approach would be to prosecute leaders of militant groups who use children in heir ranks. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has recently issued arrest warrants for leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) but they have no police force to arrest these individuals who remain at large. The only area where prosecution has been attempted is within the Special Court for Sierra Leone, who ruled in 2004 that recruiting child soldiers is a war crime and has already begun trials. Many hope that if this is successful, it may set a precedent that prevents other leaders from recruiting children in the future. .