Zach+-+ASID2+-+SP13

[|__http://www.reportagebygettyimages.com/features/somalia-s-child-soldiers/#__]

[|__http://articles.cnn.com/2012-02-21/africa/world_africa_somalia-child-soldiers_1_al-shabaab-child-soldiers-human-rights-watch?_s=PM:AFRICA__]

[|__http://www.somaliareport.com/index.php/post/3324__]

Samatar
Doer of good

I am Samatar. I am a fifteen year old boy living in the country of Somalia. Somalia is bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, and Ethiopia to the west. Somalia makes most of its money from livestock and telecommunications. The government is a Federal Republic.  Unlike children around the world I do not attend school. I am a child soldier in the government’s army. I was recruited to fight against the rebels a year ago. The soldiers came into our classroom and took me and all of my classmates. We spent a very short time in training. We were taught how to fire guns, make explosives, and fight with a knife. When our training was finished we were rushed to the front lines. Out of my class of 50 there are only 12 of us still alive. We do not want to fight and die but the army hasn’t allowed us to live our normal lives for such a long time that I wouldn’t have anything to do. So instead I have stayed to fight. I don’t think the government should have been able to use us as soldiers and I don’t think our enemies should use kids either. I am fighting against kids that I should be playing a friendly game of soccer with. I am seeing my friends with bright futures be gunned down in front of me. I know that I am not the only one that believes this way. The commander of my battalion looks down on me with sad eyes. He sees the potential in me and wishes I wasn’t out risking my life for nothing. He deeply believes that I should be in school getting my education. If he could he would end the service of all the children in our squad but he simply does not have the power. Our president the president of Somalia also has bad feelings about us child soldiers. When the war began he only used soldiers of proper age. He waged war the way you are supposed to. However when the war continued on he was looking at a shortage of soldiers while his enemy kept bringing in fresh legs from children in surrounding areas. Soon our president had to switch to this tactic as well or we would have lost the war. It is not something he wanted to do and he would choose to end it if he could, but at the moment the only way to make sure our ideas live is if children like me die. Child Soldiers International is an organization that is totally against child soldiers. They work together with the UN to end the use of children in wars. They accept donations that go towards ending this issue. So far they have done a lot of good work and will continue to do work in helping kids like me.

Somalia Scored a 7 out of a possible 100 in the overall scale.

Safety & Rule of Law- A huge part of this is because of the child soldiers serving in the war taking place. Somalia sees a lot of Social Unrest, Violent Crimes, and Government Involvement in Armed Conflict. There are many events that take place in Somalia that scare the people due to violence and chances of getting hurt on a daily basis. Child soldiers are trained to be ruthless killers. They don’t really have any boundaries and scare the citizens. These soldiers also commit a high number of violent crimes. They kill, rape, steal, and burn down houses. The government isn’t helping because they are supplying them with the weapons that are being used in these crimes.

Participation & Human Rights- The war in somalia has had a great impact on people’s political rights and human rights. Everyday people are violated by the war. Soldiers are destroying families, houses, and communities. People no longer have their given rights as humans. Because of these child soldiers lives are being taken, marriages are forced and education is interrupted. The rights these humans have no longer exist. They also have lost political rights. The people in Somalia face death every day because they may have a different opinion of the government. When people get killed for not supporting a certain government strategy the countries rating drops like it did in Somalia.

Sustainable economic opportunity-Diversification is a big reason Somalia has a low rating in this category. These wars are proof that the country is not ready to have change and are not ready to accept others. The war is being fought to keep one group in the minority and to not grow bigger. If the country was more open to diversification they would have a higher rating. Dialogue between Government and Rural Organisations is also a big problem. These groups obviously do not get along. They don’t have great discussions or compromises and because of that they are hostile to each other. This hostility results in violent confrontations and in this ongoing war.

Human Development - Progression to secondary school is another reason Somalia is low in its ranking. The rate of kids moving onto secondary school is very low. This reason is almost entirely because of the child soldiers. Since both sides are pulling kids out of school to fight there are less and less kids getting their education. This is leaving a high amount of students without proper education. The other contributor to this low school is the child mortality rate. This war has been causing many deaths from ages 1-18. Whether they are soldiers or just getting caught in the middle the number of deaths is too high for a good ranking.

Compared to the rest of Africa, Somalia is very low in the rankings. They are the only country between 1-10 in the rankings. This is obviously when scores can reach the 80’s and 90’s. The average is around 50. Somalia is nowhere close to where it should be. While the majority of these countries are rising up Somalia is at best staying the same. The war is a huge reason. Taking this problem and all the problems it causes away would drastically increase their ranking.