Map of Sierra Leone
(picture from UN)
Dimensions of Freedom is a class that is meant to teach people about the importance of issues dealing with freedom and oppression throughout the world. The purpose of the assignment is to create an informative blog about an issue that has to do with freedom.
Child soldiers have been used in wars and fighting all over the world, but this blog is only going to cover the child soldiers that fought in Sierra Leone's civil war. The civil war began in 1991 and continued on until January 2002. Both government forces (Kamajors) and rebel forces (AFRC and RUF) were using child soldiers to fight each other (Fofana). Many children captured by the rebels were forced to fight for them by being drugged or threatened with death if they did not obey. Not all children were used for fighting, some were used for carrying loot or some were abducted for the purpose of being raped as well as other reasons (HRW).
Sierra Leone's use of child soldiers is a perfect example of what should never happen again. It is wrong that the world stood by and watched as both sides of a country were forcing children to kill others including their own families. This civil war split up many families and it scarred a generation of children whose lives will never be the same.
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