摩苏尔作战双方均使用童兵?

AS IT IS 2016-09-06 Child Soldiers to Fight on Both Sides in Mosul Battle? 摩苏尔作战双方均使用童兵?

Islamic State forces have often used images of child soldiers as a propaganda tool.

One of the latest examples was a video released last week. It showed five children appearing to execute a group of Kurdish prisoners in Syria.

The SITE Intelligence Group studies the official statements and online activities of extremists. The group identified the young boys as being British, Egyptian, Kurdish, Tunisian and Uzbek. The SITE website said the video was filmed in the city of Raqqa.

IS propaganda machine

Islamic State (IS) has produced many other propaganda videos. Some show children as young as four years old carrying out executions. The videos also showed students attending IS schools and boys receiving military training and shooting weapons.

The exact number of children who have received training at Islamic State camps is not known. But the United States-based Combating Terrorism Center has estimated there are at least 1,500 active child soldiers fighting for IS.

While the abuse of children by IS forces is well known, there are new concerns about other groups recruiting young soldiers.

Militias¹ also recruiting children

Human Rights Watch said it recently found evidence that two Iraqi government-supported militias recruited children from a camp for displaced civilians².

The group said the militias, in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan area, are made up of Sunni fighters. They're expected to play an important part in the upcoming fight to recapture the IS-held city of Mosul. The Iraqi leadership has predicted that government forces will retake Mosul by the end of the year.

Bill Van Esveld is a children’s rights researcher for Human Rights Watch. He said witnesses and relatives told the group that the militias took at least seven children from a camp to an area near Mosul to prepare for the offensive.

“We think that what we documented is a real warning sign, and that it needs to be addressed publicly and firmly. And there should be a zero tolerance³ policy for child recruitment by any militias.”

Van Esveld said the concern is that child soldiers will be fighting against each other in the battle for Mosul. He added that unlike Islamic State, the militias did not force the children to join. But although they joined as volunteers, he said, all sides need to take steps not to accept fighters under age 18.

Human Rights Watch was told by a member of the militias they were being paid directly by the Iraqi government, according to Van Esveld. He said Iraq and its allies have a responsibility to take steps to stop the recruitment and use of child soldiers.

Call for Iraqi government action

“There are simple steps that could be put in place to check people’s ages, make sure that they present identification documents that are genuine. So that, that really needs to happen, otherwise we're gonna have children fighting each other on the front lines.”

Van Esveld said that some of the young volunteer recruits want to fight against IS forces because they were forced out of their homes by the militant⁴ group. He added that there has been a big push by militias in recent weeks to increase their numbers before the battle for Mosul.

John Horgan is a professor at Georgia State University and an expert on terrorism and political violence. He said the number of child fighters has reached crisis levels.

“We are looking at a level of [child] mobilization that is unprecedented⁵ and increasing,” he said.

Horgan said that for years, Islamic State has aggressively recruited children to be soldiers and suicide bombers⁶. He said those who escaped have described the horrors they had been though.

“Some children were sexually assaulted as part of their training. Some were beaten by sticks. They slept on flea-ridden mattresses⁷ and were beaten and bullied⁸ if they faltered¹⁰ even for a second,” Horgan said.

These young fighters and other children displaced or held captive by Islamic State will suffer from many physical and psychological problems for years, he added.

Child crisis predicted after Mosul battle

Human Rights Watch’s Bill Van Esveld agrees. He said this will create “serious problems affecting a large number of children” once the battle for Mosul is over.

“We can expect to see other kids with real psychological issues, mental health issues, coming out of prolonged periods of abuse and, and deprivation¹¹ and military training and participation¹² in battles.”

Van Esveld said another problem will be that many surviving children will have no parents. Some were born as a result of rape¹³. Others were taken away from families or their parents were killed. These children will be in great need of all kinds of physical and psychological support, as well as education.

“There’s a lot of serious heavy lifting to be done on this issue, and it hasn’t really started yet,” he said.

Words in This Story

recruit – v. to convince someone to join a cause or force

zero tolerance – n. not to accept any level of a certain behavior

genuine – adj. real, authentic¹⁴, not fake

unprecedented – adj. never having happened before

falter⁹ – v. to make mistakes, be weak or not succeed

deprivation – n. be denied access to something people need

1 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

2 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

3 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

4 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

5 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

6 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 mattresses   

褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The straw mattresses are airing there. 草垫子正在那里晾着。
• The researchers tested more than 20 mattresses of various materials. 研究人员试验了二十多个不同材料的床垫。

8 bullied   

adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
• The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 falter   

vi.(嗓音)颤抖，结巴地说；犹豫；蹒跚

参考例句：

• His voice began to falter.他的声音开始发颤。
• As he neared the house his steps faltered.当他走近房子时，脚步迟疑了起来。

10 faltered   

（嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃

参考例句：

• He faltered out a few words. 他支吾地说出了几句。
• "Er - but he has such a longhead!" the man faltered. 他不好意思似的嚅嗫着：“这孩子脑袋真长。”

11 deprivation   

n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困

参考例句：

• Many studies make it clear that sleep deprivation is dangerous.多实验都证实了睡眠被剥夺是危险的。
• Missing the holiday was a great deprivation.错过假日是极大的损失。

12 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

13 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

14 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。