by Marcelle Mccallum

Created on: January 29, 2009

One of the most shaming moments I have had in relation to my national pride was when my government declared they would no longer accept refugees from Sudan. Including the Sudanese children who had not only their childhoods, but potentially their lives ripped away and altered for the political purposes of a few. Were it our own children being tortured and abused in this manner, the outcry would be deafening. And yet, many do not accept responsibility for assisting the Lost Boys and countless other child soldiers in as broad a way as we are capable of. In the west where we claim to be civilised, mature and evolved, we should have an attitude which attempts to bring an end to conflicts which punish innocent children without providing some form of help or rehabilitation.

It is not always practical or possible for the world at large to intervene directly in conflicts, as we have learnt in many cases, however we can assist in other ways. One of the most important is to help these countries torn by conflict to reclaim a generation which my be able to work towards stopping the conflict. If we allow these child soldiers to be left as they are we run the very real risk of being party to conflicts which know no end and are needlessly and blindly perpetuated by people who have been given no opportunity to do anything else.

Beyond the mere human side of children forced into armed conflict, there is the more basic fact that children are the worlds most valuable resource. I know it is tired and cliched but it is true. Because of this very simple fact, it is up to the world at large to protect all children. They may be in a foreign country, or subjected to things which we cannot understand in anyway, but this does not change the fact that they deserve and need the world to take notice, and take care. We have no hope of ending conflict in the world if we allow children to be indoctrinated in the worst possible way that conflict is normal and acceptable. Despite the massive amounts of damage done, children have the best hope of recovery among all who have lived under brutal conflicts, and the world has a moral and ethical responsibility to do all that they can.

We cannot pretend to be working towards world peace and other comforting notions if we are refusing to help those most damaged and most likely to be rehabilitated by the conflicts we claim to be so desparate to end. We must step up and admit not only our responsibilties to these children, but also our culpability in allowing

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