Growing up in a middle class family was fun and enjoyable. I would always go to New Jersey to see my family and go the Jersey Shore. It was tons of fun to be there with my grandfather and spend time with him. My grandfather and I would always joke and talk about baseball, it was indeed a great time. I could never imagine not being able to see him, especially if I was taken from my home. In Sudan this happens to children all the time, they’re taken from their families and forced to be in the military and kill their families. This type of action is against Human Rights: The right to life, liberty, and personal security. Children are drugged and forced to kill other children that disobey orders or try to escape. Human Rights advocates have been trying for years to end this. The Invisible Children Foundation and SOS have made great progress by challenging the United States government.

Children over in Sudan face the worst living conditions than any other children in the world. Rebel armies force children to live under harsh conditions with insufficient food, and rebel armies have little or no access to heath care. Kids are treated brutally, subject to beatings, and humiliating treatments. Punishments for disobeying or mistakes are very severe; girls are forced to high risks of rape, sexual humiliation, and prostitution. Armies also drug the children to give them a high so they will have more courage to fight. The child soldiers are given AK 47 weapons, they brain wash them to make them believe that they have magical powers, and that it will protect them from enemy bullets.

The most important human right that is being violated is the right to life, liberty, and personal security. United Nations created a law saying that no one under the age of 18 can serve in the military. Not just human rights are being violated, but laws are being broken. Children as young as 8 years-old serve in the military. These children witness things that no 8 year-old should see on a daily basis. They see killings, rape, torture, and more.

Sudan was ruled by the British and Egyptian government in 1899. The first Civil War was in 1955. General Abbud led the first military group against the civilian government. Sudan’s 19 years of Civil War was blood, but also got their independence from the British and Egyptian government. The first big problem that could of caused this huge demand of young children as soldiers was the discovery of oil in Sudan. This could have caused the rebel armies to start because they wanted to get their hands on the oil, also known as “black gold”.Oil is a big money resource; you could make billions of dollars. These rebel armies want to protect their money so they decided to form an army, but they want to save money so they kidnapped children from their homes, they are also easier to manipulate.

South Sudan’s independence is one of the major disputes dividing North and South, a Referendum, conducted in response to the 2005 Naivasha Agreement (Comprehensive Peace Agreement) between the NCP and SPLM. This was held on January 9th, 201l, to decide whether South Sudan should remain part of Sudan or become autonomous. A similar referendum was to be held in Abyei to decide whether it joined the North or South, but was postponed due to complications.

Yet steps are being taken towards resolving these issues facing the creation of the world’s newest nation. Peace talks over a planned referendum in Darfur are under way, ex-combatant reintegration is taking a foothold and South Sudan’s draft constitution has successfully been completed. It has yet to be seen in how long and with how much difficulty the secession is to be instated.

The impact that this war has on families and children is a big issue. Twenty thousand boys, also known as the “lost boys of Sudan”,from the ethnic background of Nuer and Dinka, which was where displaced/orphaned during the Civil War in Sudan, over 2.5 million people died during the Civil War.