Abduction Child Abduction In Somalia

Kidnapped from their homes, the abducted children from the Al-Shabaab conflict in Somalia are forced to become soldiers and prostitutes. The children are treated inhumanely as they have not been given any chance for education or freedom, but are being stripped of their rights. Instead, they are forced into labor against their own will. The boys are forced to torture and kill their friends and families. The girls are forced to marry and have sex with the generals (Somalia. U.S. Department of State). From the Al-Shabaab conflict, 300,000 children are kidnapped annually with one third of them coming from Somalia. They are forced to participate in the fight with the Al-Shabaab. Most of the children are below 15 years of age (Farah). The abduction

The conflict between the Al-Shabaab and Somalia has been ongoing since 2006. The Al-Shabaab has been fighting in order to create an Islamic State (Who Are Somalia's Al-Shabab?). They are a known terrorist group that are trying to enforce the Shariah laws by using children (Who Are Somalia's Al-Shabab?). The Al-Shabaab is currently in need of new recruits and are kidnapping children to increase their manpower and revenue. About 300,000 boys and girls are kidnapped annually from Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia each year (Government of Somalia). In 2011, there were about 260,000 deaths from the struggle between the government and the Al-Shabaab, the majority of them being children (Government of Somalia). The consequences of this incident has resulted in thousands of children being stripped off their rights and forced to do inhumane things. They have been denied their rights to have access to education and to live a normal life. Both boys and girls are being taken to join the army or to be used as a prostitute in order to raise more money for the Al-Shabaab (Somalia U.S. Department of State). They are forced to kill their friends and family members in order to survive because the Al-Shabaab believes that it is a sign of strength (Bader). However, there are ways to drastically decrease this predicament with the help from the

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) will start a campaign to raise awareness about the Al-Shabaab abductions to make sure that communities are aware of the dangers they are living in. This will place pressure on the Al-Shabaab because there will be more people who will resist against the group. The pressure placed will force the Al-Shabab to hesitate and to consider to stop kidnapping the children. By raising awareness on this issue there will be a drastic decrease in the abduction as people will learn how to protect the children in these situations and the children will be aware of what they need to do (Bader). Most of the children do not know what to do and how to survive in these situations. The campaign will educate the people affected by the conflict on how to fight and survive in these situations (Government of Somalia). This solution will help the families of the children learn to protect themselves which will allow most of them to live their lives without having it ruined by the Al-Shabaab. For the HRW to raise a campaign against child abduction is not only affordable, but can be done with the support of the people and communities. In order for the HRW to raise a campaign and spread awareness the support of the people is a