Media
- Overview
- Interactive Map
- Interactive Filmstrip
- External Media
Overview
This section is dedicated to child soldier media that we have created and found on the World Wide Web. Some people learn and absorb information better visually as opposed to reading text. External Media links to powerful videos and eyewitness reports that are truly a dramatic representation of the horrors of child soldiers that create a long-lasting impact on the reader.
Interactive Map
This map is the same as the introduction video, but it is also a great piece of media that is an easy reference for quick facts about countries.
Interactive Filmstrip
This Filmstrip is a collection of pictures dealing with child soldiers. To view a full-size picture and details, click on a picture and a description will show up.
Picture Description
A young boy stands in league with a crowd of older foot soldiers in Myanmar.
©2006 Peter Mantello. Used with permission.
Picture Description
Two Maoist rebels from India march with guns.
©2006 Alok prakash Putul. Used with permission.
Picture Description
A girl with a gun rides to the front lines in Myanmar. She is a part of the Special Woman's Unit.
©2006 Peter Mantello. Used with permission.
Picture Description
A child soldier shows off his gun to the camera.
©2004 François Goemans and European Commission - ECHO. Used with permission.
Picture Description
A boy carrying a rocket launcher stands among his soldier friends.
©SPURonline. Used with permission.
Picture Description
A boy soldier from Congo pushes his gun aside and laughs for a minute.
©2004 François Goemans and European Commission - ECHO. Used with permission.
Picture Description
Girls in dresses get trained in how to use machine guns.
©SPURonline. Used with permission.
Picture Description
This girl is a part of the Special Woman's Unit in Myanmar. About 40% of all child soldiers are female.
©2006 Peter Mantello. Used with permission.
Picture Description
A young boy with two guns stands unnoticed next to older people in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
©2004 François Goemans and European Commission - ECHO. Used with permission.
Picture Description
Two friends smiling in the streets of Iraq; one with a gun, both out of school.
©2005 Cesar G. Soriano. Used with permission.
Picture Description
A boy in Sri Lanka holds a gun and stands on a truck.
©SPURonline. Used with permission.
Picture Description
Girls in Sri Lanka sit in the front of a crowd holding guns.
©SPURonline. Used with permission.
External Media
This is a list of external media we have compiled that show first-hand experiences with child soldiers and other gruesome occurrences. Our hope is that by viewing these videos and pictures, you can learn the true barbarity of the world of child soldiers.
Videos
- Invisible Children - Invisible Children is a very powerful documentary made by young Americans who travel to Uganda. This film documents the true tragedies of young soldiers and how a 20 year war has devastated the entire country. Watching Invisible Children is truly a well presented experience that anyone can be interested in and that everyone should watch. A version of the film provided by the creators is available for free on Google Video. We highly recommend this film and encourage everyone to see it.
- A Duty to Protect is a short documentary highlighting the child soldier situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is a very powerful documentary that will surely move anyone who watches it. Included are real footage of villages with child soldiers, interviews with former child soldiers, and even footage of current child soldiers in action.
- "Children of War" - This is an eyewitness slide show with audio from CNN that shows how children in Iraq are dealing with the war in their country. (full story)
- "Child Soldiers in Africa" - This is another eyewitness slide show with audio from CNN that serves as a great overview of the child soldier situation in the world as well as being a presentation of great impact on the viewer.
- Jon Stewart's Interview with Ishmael Beah - On February 14, 2007, Ishmael Beah, author of A Long Way Gone, appeared on The Daily Show discussing his memoir and his past as a child soldier in Sierra Leone.
Books
- A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah - A Long Way Gone is Ishmael Beah's personal story about being a child soldier. Beah has been in the news frequently in recent months and it is this book that is generating much-needed media attention to the topic of child soldiers.
- Young Soldiers: Why They Choose to Fight by Rachel Brett and Irma Specht - Young Soldiers is about why children and young people choose to fight and leave their normal life behind. Included in the book are interviews of children and stories of being a soldier.