Jimmie Briggs
Encyclopedia
Jimmie Briggs is a freelance journalist and teacher. He was awarded the John Battlow award from Northwestern University
for a story about the Gulf War
's impact on children, which became a finalist for a National Magazine Award. He has also investigated the impact of war on children in Afghanistan
, Sri Lanka
, Congo
, Uganda
and Colombia
. He has written for The New York Amsterdam News, The Village Voice
, Emerge, Vibe, Life
and The Crisis
.
He is the author of "Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go to War", which is about children that have been forced to fight wars
. Jimmie Briggs has disputed the popular saying that the truth is the first casualty of war. He believes the first casualty of war is always the children. Young children are being used as soldiers, scouts, cooks and sexual servants in conflicts around the world. These conflicts are mostly third world countries where there is little or no enforcement of laws and the children are often fighting on both sides of the conflicts. The organization with the dubious distinction of having the youngest soldier, only five years old forced to fight with small arms is the Lord's Resistance Army
in Uganda led by Joseph Kony
. Even the most intense media coverage of a war pays very little attention to the children who are affected. This includes those forced into combat as well as those that are wounded or killed as a result of collateral damage and those who suffer from malnutrition and lack of schooling and medical treatment.
Military commanders throughout the world are attracted to young soldiers for combat because they can easily be trained to carry out the most repulsive orders, they can be found in abundance when adult soldiers are scarce and they can be forced to fight for little or no pay. they often give them drugs to keep them dependent on their leaders and make them more susceptible to indoctrination by their leaders.
Most researchers into child soldiers including Jimmie Briggs and P. W. Singer believe that the ones who should be held accountable for the crimes of children in war are the adults who force them into combat not the children, however the children do need to be reeducated properly until they can function normally in society. In many cases the people from the hometowns hold them accountable and don't want them to come back since they don't feel they can trust them. In some cases these children are held in the same prisons as adults and are subject to additional physical abuse and rape. In some cases when they are fighting for the resistance these child soldiers are labeled terrorists, This is less likely to happen if the child soldiers are fighting for the government in power. Sometimes they have been held for years without access to lawyers or trial including some child soldiers who were arrested for genocide in Rwanda
. Under Rwanda law children under fourteen can't be tried however this wasn't strictly enforced partly because they didn't know how old the children were in some cases people lied about their age to get out in others children under fourteen were held anyway. Unlike South Africa
Rwanda didn't have a Truth and Reconciliation Commission
to reveal the truth without prosecuting war criminals. P. W. Singer has concluded that this helped reduce the uses of child soldiers in South Africa; however it also left a lot of unemployed soldiers who were only trained for combat, some of these soldiers became mercenaries for hire and were later accused of additional war crimes.
Many of the conflicts involving children are motivated by class differences, business and drug interests. In many cases these wars are fought over resources like opium
, coca
, diamonds, oil
and coltan
. Religion is also a factor that motivates some of these conflict including the Lord's Resistance Army
in Uganda
and the Taliban in Afghanistan
. These religious institutions often push religious education in favor secular schools. Several humanitarians including Jimmie Briggs have expressed hope that the international community will help children who don't have proper schools. In Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai
has said there should be a separation between Madrasah
s and schools.
Jimmie Briggs believes that Global organizations like the UN and countries like the USA can and should do more to address this concern. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali
has acknowledged that he should have done more to sound the alarm and rally support to stop the genocide in Rwanda. He also thinks Secretary-General Kofi Annan
should have allowed peace keepers in. He has criticized the USA for not ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child
. The USA is one of only two countries that failed to ratify this treaty, the other one is Somalia
. He has also criticized the USA for withholding support for the International Criminal Court
. The White House and leading members of United States Congress
have resisted efforts to restrict the spread of small arms that help increase the use of child soldiers since they can be handled easily. The USA has been supplying to many of the countries that use child soldiers.
When ending wars it is important to address the concerns of these children otherwise they will be disruptive to the community and possibly increase the chance that order will break down and the breakout of war will happen again. the availability of child soldiers often increases the chance that wars will break out and that they will last longer. It is important that these children are given the proper treatment in order to reintegrate back into society. This involves close contact with case workers and individual case files to help keep track of their progress.
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
for a story about the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
's impact on children, which became a finalist for a National Magazine Award. He has also investigated the impact of war on children in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
, Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
and Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
. He has written for The New York Amsterdam News, The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, Emerge, Vibe, Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
and The Crisis
The Crisis
The Crisis is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People , and was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. Du Bois , Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly Miller, W.S. Braithwaite, M. D. Maclean.The original title of the journal was...
.
He is the author of "Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go to War", which is about children that have been forced to fight wars
Military use of children
The military use of children takes three distinct forms: children can take direct part in hostilities , or they can be used in support roles such as porters, spies, messengers, look outs, and sexual slaves; or they can be used for political advantage either as human shields or in...
. Jimmie Briggs has disputed the popular saying that the truth is the first casualty of war. He believes the first casualty of war is always the children. Young children are being used as soldiers, scouts, cooks and sexual servants in conflicts around the world. These conflicts are mostly third world countries where there is little or no enforcement of laws and the children are often fighting on both sides of the conflicts. The organization with the dubious distinction of having the youngest soldier, only five years old forced to fight with small arms is the Lord's Resistance Army
Lord's Resistance Army
The Lord's Resistance Army insurgency is an ongoing guerrilla campaign waged since 1987 by the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group, operating mainly in northern Uganda, but also in South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo...
in Uganda led by Joseph Kony
Joseph Kony
Joseph Kony is an African terrorist who is the head of the Lord's Resistance Army , a guerrilla group that is engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government based on the Ten Commandments in Uganda...
. Even the most intense media coverage of a war pays very little attention to the children who are affected. This includes those forced into combat as well as those that are wounded or killed as a result of collateral damage and those who suffer from malnutrition and lack of schooling and medical treatment.
Military commanders throughout the world are attracted to young soldiers for combat because they can easily be trained to carry out the most repulsive orders, they can be found in abundance when adult soldiers are scarce and they can be forced to fight for little or no pay. they often give them drugs to keep them dependent on their leaders and make them more susceptible to indoctrination by their leaders.
Most researchers into child soldiers including Jimmie Briggs and P. W. Singer believe that the ones who should be held accountable for the crimes of children in war are the adults who force them into combat not the children, however the children do need to be reeducated properly until they can function normally in society. In many cases the people from the hometowns hold them accountable and don't want them to come back since they don't feel they can trust them. In some cases these children are held in the same prisons as adults and are subject to additional physical abuse and rape. In some cases when they are fighting for the resistance these child soldiers are labeled terrorists, This is less likely to happen if the child soldiers are fighting for the government in power. Sometimes they have been held for years without access to lawyers or trial including some child soldiers who were arrested for genocide in Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
. Under Rwanda law children under fourteen can't be tried however this wasn't strictly enforced partly because they didn't know how old the children were in some cases people lied about their age to get out in others children under fourteen were held anyway. Unlike South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
Rwanda didn't have a Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was a court-like restorative justice body assembled in South Africa after the abolition of apartheid. Witnesses who were identified as victims of gross human rights violations were invited to give statements about their experiences, and some were selected...
to reveal the truth without prosecuting war criminals. P. W. Singer has concluded that this helped reduce the uses of child soldiers in South Africa; however it also left a lot of unemployed soldiers who were only trained for combat, some of these soldiers became mercenaries for hire and were later accused of additional war crimes.
Many of the conflicts involving children are motivated by class differences, business and drug interests. In many cases these wars are fought over resources like opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
, coca
Coca
Coca, Erythroxylum coca, is a plant in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. The plant plays a significant role in many traditional Andean cultures...
, diamonds, oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
and coltan
Coltan
Coltan is the industrial name for columbite–tantalite, a dull black metallic mineral from which the elements niobium and tantalum are extracted. The niobium-dominant mineral is columbite, hence the "col" half of the term...
. Religion is also a factor that motivates some of these conflict including the Lord's Resistance Army
Lord's Resistance Army
The Lord's Resistance Army insurgency is an ongoing guerrilla campaign waged since 1987 by the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group, operating mainly in northern Uganda, but also in South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo...
in Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
and the Taliban in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. These religious institutions often push religious education in favor secular schools. Several humanitarians including Jimmie Briggs have expressed hope that the international community will help children who don't have proper schools. In Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai, GCMG is the 12th and current President of Afghanistan, taking office on 7 December 2004. He became a dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001...
has said there should be a separation between Madrasah
Madrasah
Madrasah is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious...
s and schools.
Jimmie Briggs believes that Global organizations like the UN and countries like the USA can and should do more to address this concern. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Boutros Boutros-Ghali is an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1992 to December 1996...
has acknowledged that he should have done more to sound the alarm and rally support to stop the genocide in Rwanda. He also thinks Secretary-General Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
should have allowed peace keepers in. He has criticized the USA for not ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Convention on the Rights of the Child
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a human rights treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children...
. The USA is one of only two countries that failed to ratify this treaty, the other one is Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
. He has also criticized the USA for withholding support for the International Criminal Court
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...
. The White House and leading members of United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
have resisted efforts to restrict the spread of small arms that help increase the use of child soldiers since they can be handled easily. The USA has been supplying to many of the countries that use child soldiers.
When ending wars it is important to address the concerns of these children otherwise they will be disruptive to the community and possibly increase the chance that order will break down and the breakout of war will happen again. the availability of child soldiers often increases the chance that wars will break out and that they will last longer. It is important that these children are given the proper treatment in order to reintegrate back into society. This involves close contact with case workers and individual case files to help keep track of their progress.
See also
- P. W. Singer investigator and author of Children at War
- A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy SoldierA Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy SoldierA Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is a memoir written by Ishmael Beah. Published in 2007, this book provides a firsthand account of the decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone and the ongoing plight of child soldiers in conflicts worldwide. Ishmael Beah was forced to run away from attacking...
by Ishmael BeahIshmael BeahIshmael Beah is a former Sierra Leonean child soldier and the author of the published memoir, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.-Early years:... - Children of warChildren of WarChildren of War is an award-winning, feature-length documentary film directed by Bryan Single and released in 2010. Filmed in northern Uganda over a period of three years, the story follows the journey of a group of former child soldiers as they undergo a process of trauma therapy and emotional...
Documentary Film by Bryan Single