LESSON: CHILDREN AT WAR
Background, Activities and Critical Analysis

By Doug DuBrin, an English and history teacher as well as an editor and writer

Subject: social studies
Time: One to two class periods, plus extended activities

Objective
This lesson will familiarize students with the extensive use of children in combat throughout the world so that they can begin to examine both the causes as well as the consequences of the practice.

Background
The West African nation of Liberia has been involved in a bloody civil war intermittently for close to two decades now. The two primary warring parties include the followers of recently exiled president Charles Taylor and the insurgent group Liberians United for Reconciliation and Development (LURD).

In addition to the war's devastating effect on the nation as a whole, the Liberian conflict has also brought to the world's attention the use of children in combat. The United Nation's Children's Fund (UNICEF) recently reported that upwards of 60 percent of the soldiers in Liberia's civil war are under 18 years of age, including children as young as nine-years-old.

Liberia, however, is not unique. It has been estimated that there are at least 300,000 children under 18 directly involved in armed conflicts worldwide. Some nations that have regularly used children in combat are Angola, Burma, Colombia, Lebanon, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka.

Even the United States has acknowledged using 17-year-old soldiers in recent conflicts in the Persian Gulf, Somalia and Bosnia. Measures have been taken since then, though, to cease the practice.

Of course, the use of children in combat is not strictly a contemporary phenomenon. The American Civil War saw drummer boys lead troops directly into the line of fire, and numerous nations of both World War I and World War II used children to bolster their oft-depleted ranks.

Active efforts are being made, however, to curb the use of children as soldiers. Many countries have either signed or ratified the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which calls for nations to "take all feasible measures" to assure that no children under 18 years old are used as combatants. (http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/6/protocolchild.htm).

Media coverage as well has brought the issue into clearer focus, as popular magazines and daily newspapers such as People and The Washington Post have recently featured articles on the topic.

Materials

• Internet access
• Copy of NewsHour Extra article: Disarming Liberian Child Soldiers
  www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec03/liberia
• Copy of Human Rights Watch overview
  http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/crp/index.htm
• Copy of personal testimonies
  http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/CRP/voices.htm
• In-depth investigation of impact
  http://www.unicef.org/graca/
• Extension activity explanations
• Teacher Key

Correlation to National Standards

Procedure
1. Either prior to the lesson or as a class, have the students carefully read the background information, the NewsHour Extra article, and, time permitting, the Human Rights Watch overview.

2. As the students refer to the readings, have them answer the following questions (either in small groups or individually). Possible answers are provided in the teacher key, but the link to UNICEF will significantly deepen your knowledge.

• What could be the reasons that children, as opposed to adults, are chosen for combat?
• What circumstances in a society might lead children into combat situations?
• What do you imagine might be some of the consequences to children who do take part in war?
• In most states in the U.S., once 16 years old, children can legally work, drive or leave school; they may not, however, vote until 18 or drink alcohol until 21. If the U.S. were to adopt an official policy of having children at 16 serve in combat, while maintaining the current voting and drinking age, how would you respond? If the voting and drinking ages were lowered to 16 as well, would you be more likely to support the policy of using children in combat?

3. Discuss the responses as a class.

Extension Activity I

To further their understanding of the life of a child soldier, have the students read and discuss the personal testimonies provided. Please keep in mind that the material is often stark and explicit in its descriptions.

To address the following questions, the students should then envision themselves (at their current age) as participants in combat situations -the responses may be given in small groups, as a class, or in essay format.

Be sure to urge your class to respond to the hypothetical situation as truthfully as possible:

• How would you respond to the lack of sleep, unappealing food, and seemingly endless, exhausting labor associated with combat?
• How would you handle having almost none of the amenities you currently possess, such as television, the Internet, music, junk food, etc.?
• How would you respond to taking orders constantly and having virtually no say in your own life?
• If you became ill or wounded in combat, how do you see yourself coping without your family nearby to help you?
• Do you see yourself able to kill another person if you are ordered to do so?
• How do see yourself responding to the death, pain and destruction that would surround you in battle?
• What causes, if any, would you be willing to fight for?

Extension Activity II

Assign the students to follow and analyze the media coverage (newspapers, magazines, television, Internet, etc.) of children in combat. You may wish to have them begin with the conflict in Liberia, but there are, of course, numerous points of departure. Questions to guide their research could include:

• What conflicts seem to be receiving the most coverage? Why do you think certain regions receive more attention than others?
• Does the coverage present a bias or opinion on the subject matter, or is it mostly factual and objective?
• What kind of language in the coverage would indicate bias?
• How much of the media coverage addresses what is being done to solve the problem of child soldiers?
• From your research, what are some of the specific efforts being made to help the situation?

National Standards:

For detailed explanations, please consult
www.socialstudies.org/standards/teachers/vol1/home.shtml

Thematic Standards
Standard 4: Individual Development and Identity
Standard 5: Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
Standard 6: Power, Authority, and Governance
Standard 9: Global Connections
Standard 10: Civic Ideals and Practices

Disciplinary Standards
Standard 1: History
Standard 3: Civics and Government

Author Doug DuBrin currently teaches English and history at the French International School in Bethesda, MD. Before that he taught English and history at Arizona School for the Arts in Phoenix. Doug is also a freelance writer and editor.

To find out more about opportunities to contribute to this site, contact Leah Clapman at extra@newshour.org.