Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: Child Soldiers in the Salvadoran Civil War Samantha Miller or centuries children have been used in warfare in a variety of roles, including as drummer boys, messengers, and soldiers.Modern weaponry has made it easier for children to become soldiers but at the same time it has made life increasingly dangerous for those children involved in conflict.It is estimated that in 2015 there is 250,000 child soldiers worldwide and that number is continuing to grow. 1 This paper focuses on the child soldiers who participated in the Salvadoran Civil War, both through their experiences during the war and the effect the war had on the child soldiers and families in general.There is little previous work done comparing the role of child solider on both sides of the Salvadoran Civil War, instead most scholars focus on one side or the other.However, a comparison allows us to see the direct impact the treatment of child soldiers had on those children after the war was over. BackgroundA military junta came to power in El Salvador in 1979.In response to this right-winged military regime a variety of leftist guerilla groups formed, which merged in October 1980 to form the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN).The Salvadoran Civil War was a conflict between the military junta's army, the Fuerzas Armadas de El Salvador (FAES), and the rebel guerillas (FMLN) which lasted from 1979-1992.Over the course of the war the FAES was supported 1 Ilse Derluyn, Wouter Vandenhole, Stephan Parmentier, and Cindy Mels, "Victims and/or Perpetrators?Towards an Interdisciplinary Dialogue on Child Soldiers," BMC International Health & Human Rights 15 (2015): 1.
Authors: Lisa Ottum, Mack Mariani
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2889915149