http://children.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2007/04/26/the-use-of-children-to-commit-crimes-and-acts-of-war/ The largest network of Foreign Policy blogs Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:32:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.0 http://children.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2007/04/26/the-use-of-children-to-commit-crimes-and-acts-of-war/#comment-17 Sun, 06 May 2007 14:18:56 +0000 http://children.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2007/04/26/the-use-of-children-to-commit-crimes-and-acts-of-war/#comment-17 [...] I would like to bring you back to my entry on April 26th, ‘The Use of Children to Commit Crimes and Acts of War’, on April 26th, in which a boy of maybe 12, was captured on video beheading a man in Iraq. Now I know nothing about this child, except that he is living in a world surrounded by violence, permanently scared by war, and now he too is a killer. One does not recovery easily, or ever, from such acts, not even trained soldiers, who are of consenting age, killing in self defense. So where does a child go to after growing up in such a violent and submissive way? They grow into violent, extremist adolescents, or adults if they make it that long. The child executioner, becomes the next radical leader, who sees no harm in recruiting the very young, and the cycle continues and grows. The child who is paraded around as a mini-suicide bomber, becomes just that, a young suicide bomber and their act of martyrdom incite more families to rear a new generation of young suicide bombers and extremists. ” Any attack on civilians is prohibited by international law, but using children for suicide attacks is particularly egregious. Palestinian armed groups must clearly and publicly condemn all use of children under the age of 18 for military activities, and make sure these policies are carried out. ” Jo Becker, children’s rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch [...] […] I would like to bring you back to my entry on April 26th, ‘The Use of Children to Commit Crimes and Acts of War’, on April 26th, in which a boy of maybe 12, was captured on video beheading a man in Iraq. Now I know nothing about this child, except that he is living in a world surrounded by violence, permanently scared by war, and now he too is a killer. One does not recovery easily, or ever, from such acts, not even trained soldiers, who are of consenting age, killing in self defense. So where does a child go to after growing up in such a violent and submissive way? They grow into violent, extremist adolescents, or adults if they make it that long. The child executioner, becomes the next radical leader, who sees no harm in recruiting the very young, and the cycle continues and grows. The child who is paraded around as a mini-suicide bomber, becomes just that, a young suicide bomber and their act of martyrdom incite more families to rear a new generation of young suicide bombers and extremists. ” Any attack on civilians is prohibited by international law, but using children for suicide attacks is particularly egregious. Palestinian armed groups must clearly and publicly condemn all use of children under the age of 18 for military activities, and make sure these policies are carried out. ” Jo Becker, children’s rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch […]

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