"Child" soldiers

Child soldiers.

How interesting that, despite the fact that the US allows soldiers to join at 17, this phenomenon is commonly spoken in the US as an issue of the "other." How interesting that these discussions on the "crime" of using child soldiers normalizes the notion of adult soldiers, normalizes the notion of warfare, normalizes the idea of, not us, but the savage "other" being the true criminals in war.

How old is a child soldier? Where do they need to be based to be considered a "child" soldier rather than a soldier? How might the economic and social marginalization of youth related to young people signing up to go to fight, to go to war? How is the rhetoric of child protection used to affirm social injustices?

I called in to a NRP program this morning to ask child-soldier author and Canadian Senator Roméo Dallaire about only a couple of these things. You can listen in, if you'd like. I called in at 30:05.