Sunal, O.(2007); ‘‘5-6 February 2007 Paris Conference and Child Soldiers’’, Çalışma Ortamı Magazine, Issue No.91, March-April

Sunal, O.(2007); ‘‘5-6 February 2007 Paris Conference and Child Soldiers’’, Çalışma Ortamı Magazine, Issue No.91, March-April.

Number of Works Cited:

Scope:

The history of child soldiers that is recently attracting attention from the world media is rather long. Following the movie ‘Blood Diamond’ premiered in 2007, concepts such as trade, poverty, globalization, and exploitation started to be discussed again. And the Paris Conference has been made to demonstrate the situation in Africa where income made through diamond trade is spent directly to buy weapons and to prevent the use of such weapons by children. Child labour has been listed among unacceptable works in ILO’s Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention No. 182.

An Excerpt from the Article:

The subject of child soldiers attracted the attention of (UN) United Nations and (United Nations International Child Fund) UNICEF when in the 1990s wars and civil wars and struggles particularly in Africa and in other continents started to increase. Because an important part of these wars and civil disorders was in poorest countries, armed groups easily recruited 100.000s of children by deceiving, kidnapping, frightening and applying violence. All children male and female started to be used to work in different jobs by force. Children aged 6-7, nearly baby-aged, were being used to lay mines, bring and send news, make meals and more importantly, fight with guns in their hands. And female children were forced to have sexual intercourse with soldiers in their early ages and exploited.

Some Keywords:

Africa, child soldiers, child exploitation, sexual exploitation of children, diamonds, globalisation, arm traders