Article: Stop Backsliding on Use of Child Soldiers

 I have been interested in the problem of child soldiers since I was a high school student, so I researched about it even at the previous university. This article is very short, but Becker points out a very important point. At first, she says that it has been 20 years since the adoption of the United Nations treaty banning the use of child soldiers, and 170 countries have ratified the treaty. Perhaps, we should celebrate it, but a lot of problems are still remaining. One of them is the rehabilitation system of child soldiers. How the government deal with child soldiers is different depends on the country. Some take care of them very carefully while cooperating with NGOs and the UN, but the others imprisoned, tortured, and prosecuted child soldiers instead of rehabilitation. The government, politics, law, and educational system are different if the country is different, so it is difficult to regulate how the government should deal with child soldiers. Now, 170 countries have ratified the United Nation treaty, but it could be meaningless even if the country has ratified the treaty because some countries do not manage the family register precisely. It means that the country can use a child as a soldier very easily even though they have ratified the treaty. That’s why child soldiers are called invisible soldiers. We must solve these problems as soon as possible. To do so, I keep paying attention to the problem of child soldiers.

Source: https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/25/stop-backsliding-use-child-soldiers