deddit.petersanchez.com

Guterres put the crisis in stark perspective, emphasizing the near complete lack of security for the Yemeni people. More than 22 million people out of a total population of 28 million are in need of humanitarian aid and protection. Eighteen million people lack reliable access to food; 8.4 million people “do not know how they will obtain their next meal.”

Besides Saudi Arabia, the coalition attacking Yemen includes the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan, Kuwait and Bahrain. Qatar was part of the coalition but is no longer.

Based on the information available to it using open sources, YDP reports that two-thirds of the coalition’s bombing attacks have been against non-military and unknown targets. The coalition isn’t accidentally attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure – it’s doing it deliberately.

The air and naval blockade, in effect since March 2015, “is essentially using the threat of starvation as a bargaining tool and an instrument of war,” according to the UN panel of experts on Yemen.

The coalition’s genocide in Yemen would not be possible without the complicity of the U.S. This has been a bipartisan presidential effort, covering both the Obama and Trump administrations.

U.S. arms are being used to kill Yemenis and destroy their country. In 2016, well after the coalition began its genocidal assault on Yemen, four of the top five recipients of U.S. arms sales were members of the coalition.

The U.S. has also provided the coalition with logistical support, including mid-air refueling, targeting advice and support, intelligence, expedited munitions resupply and maintenance.

US complicity in the Saudi-led genocide in Yemen spans Obama, Trump administrations

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 10:33 collapse

I do not disagree.

However, the Houthis are using child soldiers on their front lines.

So fuck them too.

hrw.org/…/yemen-houthis-recruit-more-child-soldie…

There is just no “good guy” involved in this particular conflict.

technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 17 Oct 15:44 next collapse

Which is worse: using “child soldiers” to fight genocide or genociding children including those too young to be soldiers?

B/c the “both sides” argument is just obvious BS.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 16:17 collapse

I would say killing children in large numbers is a form of genocide.

Keeponstalin@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 15:51 next collapse

That’s not my point. This isn’t about good guys or bad guys. This is about an entire population subjected to a genocide. There are plenty of reasons to not like the Houthis, but that doesn’t change the reality that they only exist as a resistance to the ongoing genocide. The point isn’t that the Houthis are good, it’s that the genocide, facilitated by the US and our Ally Saudi Arabia, is significantly worse by multiple magnitudes.

The root cause of the problem is still the genocide, that’s a much bigger concern, especially to the people of Yemen, than to stop or reform the Houthis themselves. They can only be addressed in a realistic way, by the people of Yemen, once the genocide ends.

As of February 2018, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the coalition had killed 6,000 people in airstrikes and wounded nearly 10,000 more.

Yet, according to the OHCHR report, these counts are conservative. Tens of thousands of Yemenis have also died from causes related to the war. According to Save the Children, an estimated 85,000 children under five may have died since 2015, with more than 50,000 child deaths in 2017 alone from hunger and related causes.

If you’re concern is the well-being of the children in Yemen, which is a completely valid concern, then you can clearly see that the genocide is a far greater threat to them.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 16:18 next collapse

How is genocide any greater a threat than putting them on the front lines? They’ll be killed either way.

Keeponstalin@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 16:27 collapse

Are you seriously asking how Genocide is a greater threat? Over 5 times as many children have died to starvation alone

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 16:29 collapse

If the child is going to die either way, it isn’t a greater threat. It’s an equal threat.

Keeponstalin@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 16:30 collapse

That’s not how Genocide works. It targets children regardless

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 16:33 collapse

So do people shooting at child soldiers. The child will die either way.

Keeponstalin@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 16:37 collapse

I don’t understand, are you upset that they choose to fight back instead of sit back and die regardless? Again, the genocide has killed over 8 times as many children. How is your focus not on the genocide.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 16:39 collapse

The child soldiers are not choosing to fight back. That’s just not what is going on and it’s disgusting that you are suggesting forced conscripts are doing something by choice.

Not even human rights groups are on your side on this.

hrw.org/…/yemen-houthis-recruit-more-child-soldie…

Keeponstalin@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 16:45 collapse

No, I’m saying it’s the material conditions that are responsible, which are caused by the ongoing genocide. How would I know any of their motivations, I have no idea what it’s like it grow up under a genocide.

You’re still not recognizing that the root cause of all of this is still the genocide. Ending that is the only way to end the child recruitment, not bombing them more.

Human Rights Watch has also documented the Houthis’ use of much-needed humanitarian assistance to recruit men and children to their forces. At least 21.6 million people in Yemen, about two-thirds of the population, need some form of humanitarian assistance, and 80 percent of the country struggles to put food on the table and access basic services, according to the UN Population Fund.

“While the main reason for families to send their children is their position supporting the Palestinian cause, Houthis offer salaries and food baskets for families of those who are willing to join them, which works well given the deteriorated humanitarian and economic situation,” said a female human rights activist in Sanaa.

The ongoing US and UK-led airstrikes on Yemen have reportedly increased domestic support for the Houthis, strengthening the Houthis’ ability to recruit children. Maysaa Shujaa Aldeen, a researcher at the Sana’a Center For Strategic Studies, told the Washington Post that the “Houthis are connecting their attacks in the Red Sea to support [for] Gaza, which is a moral pretext for most people in the MENA region. These attacks have increased their ability to recruit, especially in the northern tribal areas.”

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 16:49 collapse

The root cause is irrelevant when it comes to forcing child soldiers onto the front line. There is no way to frame that other than flagrant human rights abuse. Trying to excuse human rights abuses because someone else is committing genocide is ridiculous and sickening.

Keeponstalin@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 16:56 collapse

The genocide is not irrelevant, are you being intentionally obtuse here? That is the main relevance. It’s the direct cause of the conditions in Yemen and the main cause of death by a wide wide margin. If you don’t care about the root cause, you don’t genuinely care about the problem or it’s resolution, because you’re ignoring the obvious solution of ending the genocide

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 16:59 next collapse

And now you’re just lying. Just like you were lying about children choosing to be soldiers. It’s no different than saying children choose to be sex workers.

It’s also a war crime.

There is no such thing as a necessary war crime. There is no such thing as a forgivable war crime. Genocides have repeatedly been stopped without child soldiers being used to stop them, something I’m sure you know. Child soldiers were not necessary to end genocides in Rwanda or the Balkans.

So you can lie about me not caring about genocide all you like. It doesn’t change the fact that forcibly sending children to their deaths is never necessary and always completely reprehensible. There is no moral justification for sending children to die.

jordanlund@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 17:13 collapse

I think you guys are on two different tracks.

When @Keeponstalin@lemmy.world references “the genocide”, I don’t think they’re talking about the ongoing Israeli genocide, they’re talking about the OTHER genocide, the one in Yemen, which directly involves the Houthi.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/…/14623528.2024.2346405#a…

It all gets muddled because the Houthis also make attacks in the Red Sea so it all kind of conflates together.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Sea_crisis

But Squid is right in that child soldiers aren’t volunteers, they don’t have the capacity of volunteering. They’re conscripted, often on dire threats against them and their families.

The Israeli genocide really does have nothing to do with it. The Yemeni genocide definitely does.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 17:16 next collapse

I realize which genocide they’re referring to. They’re saying that child soldiers are choosing to fight against it. They’re wrong.

Keeponstalin@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 19:34 collapse

Yeah I agree. I was no way defending the use of child soldiers. It’s done via coercion for better access to food and water. I was trying to focus on the underlying cause, being the genocide in Yemen, as the root cause. As in the best way to end the use of child soldiers, along with all the other deaths of children in Yemen such as starvation, is to first end the genocide. Without addressing the root problem, it won’t resolve, because the underlying material conditions have not changed.

cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.ml on 17 Oct 17:46 collapse

They aren’t being obtuse. They’re just an idealist. They likely believe the decisions people make and the things they choose to believe in are detached from the circumstances in which people find themselves. In their mind, morality is self evident and anyone committing an immoral act, as they define it, could simply choose not to.

FatCrab@lemmy.one on 17 Oct 18:00 collapse

Maybe I’m wrong, and definitely correct me if so, but I thought the houthis formed well before the Saudi lead effective genocide occurring in Yemen. In fact, the current conflict is the result of the houthis basically couping the preceding government? If that’s the case, it doesn’t make much sense to characterize them as a resistance or reactionary force to anything externally?

Keeponstalin@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 21:14 collapse

That’s a great question, I’m no expert on the situation so let me see what I can find.

The Houthis emerged as a Zaydi resistance to Saleh and his corruption in the 1990s led by a charismatic leader named Hussein al Houthi, from whom they are named. They charged Saleh with massive corruption to steal the wealth of the Arab world’s poorest country for his own family, much like other Arab dictators in Tunisia, Egypt, and Syria. They also criticized Saudi and American backing for the dictator.

After 2003, Saleh launched a series of military campaigns to destroy the Houthis. In 2004, Saleh’s forces killed Hussein al Houthi. The Yemeni army and air force was used to suppress the rebellion in the far north of Yemen, especially in Saada province. The Saudis joined with Saleh in these campaigns. The Houthis won against both Saleh and the Saudi army, besting them both again and again. For the Saudis, who have spent tens of billions of dollars on their military, it was deeply humiliating.

Who are the Houthis, and why are we at war with them? (This source has more historical background on the political situation before and after the quotes too, but it’s too much to summarize with more quotes)

Since Yemen’s revolution ended in 2012, the Houthis have demanded a greater role in the government and in the drafting of a new constitution. They accuse the government of corruption and oppose polices they say are at odds with their minority group’s interests, including a proposed division of the country into six federal states. They say such a move would weaken their Zaidi sect’s political representation.

5 Things to Know About the Houthis of Yemen

It seems like they began as a resistance to US and Saudi interests and corruption in Yemani Government. It could be fair to frame the genocide as a ‘punishment’ for their resistance against US/Saudi interests in the region

Sundial@lemm.ee on 17 Oct 17:45 collapse

There’s a reason why they were able to recruit children. Because the US and their allies have created an environment in Yemen where children would rather be soldiers than actual children.

Houthis offer salaries and food baskets for families of those who are willing to join them, which works well given the deteriorated humanitarian and economic situation,” said a female human rights activist in Sanaa. You see the same circumstances in a lot of third-world countries America has decided to fuck up.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 17:50 collapse

Because the US and their allies have created an environment in Yemen where children would rather be soldier than actual children.

And the Houthis could tell them no. Children’s brains are not developed enough for them to consent to being sex workers or soldiers.

Sundial@lemm.ee on 17 Oct 17:55 next collapse

You’re making this argument from a place of moral privilege. Yes, child soldiers are bad. But this has become a necessity for them and their survival based on foreign countries to deciding to screw them over because of their ethnicity and what side of a border they were born on. How effective or even necessary would this recruitment tactic be if Yemen wasn’t facing the struggles they currently are. Who is directly responsible for these struggles?

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 18:01 collapse

No, I am making an argument based on human rights and international war crimes.

There is no justification to equip children with weapons and put them on battle lines. They do not have consent to be there.

And I am not alone on this-

The Arab Center agrees- arabcenterdc.org/…/child-soldiers-in-yemen-cannon…

Human Rights Watch agrees- hrw.org/…/yemen-houthis-recruit-more-child-soldie…

Amnesty International agrees- amnesty.org/…/yemen-huthi-forces-recruiting-child…

ReliefWeb/OCHA agrees- reliefweb.int/…/militarized-childhood-report-hout…

If all of those organizations disagree with you, maybe you should rethink your position?

Sundial@lemm.ee on 17 Oct 18:37 collapse

I’m not advocating for the use of child soldiers. I’m advocating for the elimination of actions where children feel the need to stop becoming children and start becoming soldiers. Putting the full blame on just the Houthis who are stuck between a rock and a hard place is being very disingenuous.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 18:39 collapse

Full blame? No.

Blame? Yes.

They do not have to put children on the battle lines. That is a choice and that choice is both a war crime and a human rights violation. That needs to be acknowledged.

Sundial@lemm.ee on 17 Oct 18:44 collapse

If you’re being wiped out by an invading army. Then a lot of things become necessary. This isn’t some kind of political or religious battle. This is a fight for their lives.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 18:46 collapse

I’m sorry… are you saying that it is necessary for them to force children to die in battle?

Sundial@lemm.ee on 17 Oct 18:49 collapse

What force? The article you provided says recruitment, not force. They are literally telling these kids that we can help support you if you help us fight these invaders. True, they are young. But the US literally has similar recruitment tactics for the poor and the desperate as well. If you’re joining some kind of military organization, you’re either patriotic or desperate (usually).

Also, survival is a necessity. So yes, it is necessary. Otherwise, these kids would go play soccer instead of picking up a gun.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 18:52 next collapse

I provided multiple articles.

They are literally telling these kids that we can help support you if you help us fight these invaders.

Yes. They are manipulating people who’s brains are not developed enough to make rational decisions like that. Which is why it is a war crime, a human rights violation, and not morally defensible.

Sundial@lemm.ee on 17 Oct 19:20 collapse

I was referencing the article from this comment.

You’re applying a very generous use of the word manipulate here, IMO. Yes, it’s bad but the alternative is to either die by missile’s or starvation. What would you choose?

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 19:24 collapse

No, I am not. Maybe you do not have experience with children. Telling them “fight for us and we’ll give you stuff” is manipulating them. They do not understand the consequences of their actions. That’s why it’s illegal to convince them to have sex with you in most countries.

If someone came to a Houthi child and offered them everything they needed in exchange for sex, I assume you would be against that. And rightfully so.

Sundial@lemm.ee on 17 Oct 19:45 collapse

I would definitely be against that. But a more accurate analogy would be if the kid ended up joining some kids group where they all prostitute themselves and some are just a bit older because they were able to survive the harsh situation. Would you not want to go against the people who made the situation where a group of kids are forced to do such things? These people have been in a civil war for a decade that has been perpetuated by western nations to re-install a leader more sympathetic to them, they’re all in the same boat.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 21:18 collapse

I would want to go against both the people who made the conditions possible and the people directly hurting the children. Many people here don’t seem to think the latter should be done.

Sundial@lemm.ee on 17 Oct 21:21 collapse

You’re not wrong for being angry and bitter about the situation. Children should be allowed to be children, I’ll never argue against that. A lot of the Houthi’s grew up with the oppression that made the civil war possible and necessary along with the civil war itself that is being continued by foreign powers. They were children too and they grew up in this environment. They are living the only way they know how.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 21:23 collapse

I’m pretty sure they know how to tell a child not to take a gun from them.

Sundial@lemm.ee on 17 Oct 21:43 collapse

You’re kind of missing my point here…

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 21:45 collapse

Am I? Because, again, all the adults have to do is not allow the kids to fight. That’s it. The kids aren’t pushing past them and raiding the weapons lockers. They’re being forcibly conscripted.

Sundial@lemm.ee on 17 Oct 21:52 collapse

Again, what force? They’re being recruited, not forced. I know what you said about them being young and impressionable, but no happy kid would rather go fight in a war instead of playing with their friends. So again, ask yourself here. Why do they feel the need to?

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 21:55 collapse

Yes, just like kids are “being recruited” for sex work.

Yet again, children’s brains are not developed enough to understand the consequences of what they are doing. They are being forced to fight because they are being manipulated into doing it. That’s why they “feel the need to.”

It’s like you don’t even know what children are.

Sundial@lemm.ee on 17 Oct 21:57 collapse

Question then. If I were to go to a group of young, impressionable kids in a developed country where they are living comfortably, how successful would I be in recruiting them to be in a militia?

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 22:00 collapse

Why on Earth would you think I know the answer to that? Do you think I’ve ever seen it happen? Experienced it?

Considering the number of young, impressionable kids who live comfortably that join cults, I’m guessing a good salesperson could be pretty successful at it.

Sundial@lemm.ee on 17 Oct 22:30 collapse

And what kind of people do cults tend to attract? People that are in happy lives? Or the ones that are in desperate situations?

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 23:39 collapse

Lots of children of rich, successful people join cults.

For example: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squeaky_Fromme

Sundial@lemm.ee on 17 Oct 23:46 collapse

This person was literally a drug addict who got kicked out of her house by her parents. She was homeless when she got recruited. This only reinforces my point.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 23:49 collapse

Your point:

If I were to go to a group of young, impressionable kids in a developed country where they are living comfortably, how successful would I be in recruiting them to be in a militia?

Apparently you answered your own question now: yes, those kids in that developed country would be successfully recruited to be in a militia. Or at least do a militia’s bidding.

Nah, never happens in America.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_Rittenhouse

And do tell me about Kyle’s tragic upbringing full of hardship.

Sundial@lemm.ee on 18 Oct 00:00 collapse

You’re giving me another singular example that i can probably nitpick. I’m giving you thousands. You’re not familiar with the success of this strategy to recruit kids , as you said in a previous comment, because it doesn’t happen where you live. It doesn’t happen because people don’t feel the need to, and kids don’t want to do that by default. The radicalization didn’t happen because someone came and said, “Hey kid, wanna get paid?”. It happened over the course of decades as kids grew up with missiles flying over their heads repeatedly and their friends and families dying. What did you expect these kids to do?

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 18 Oct 00:02 collapse

You’re not familiar with the success of this strategy to recruit kids

And you are? How did you become familiar with it? Or is this just a guess on your part?

Sundial@lemm.ee on 18 Oct 00:07 collapse

It’s pretty obvious, man. I literally just explained why people like you and me, who live in a developed country, don’t really see it happening.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 18 Oct 00:10 collapse

Sure. Apart from the specific times I mentioned where you do see it happening. And all the other times you see it happening.

And it still doesn’t make child soldiers either moral or excusable.

Sundial@lemm.ee on 18 Oct 00:13 collapse

One. You gave me one example. I gave you thousands.

I never said it was moral or excusable. All I said is, what did you expect would happen given what we’re doing to them. You have a lot of anger over the people forced to do bad things for survival but not against the ones who created the situation where they need to do these bad things. Why is this such a difficult concept for you to understand?

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 18 Oct 00:16 collapse

I gave you two actually. I can give you more.

You have a lot of anger over the people forced to do bad things for survival

Ah, so they are being forced. Thank you, that’s what I was saying.

By the way, the idea that the only way you can survive is die on the battlefield doesn’t make much sense.

Sundial@lemm.ee on 18 Oct 00:27 collapse

No, you gave me one. I explained why the first one actually helped prove my point. Which is why you provided the second. And I’m too tired to read that person’s biography to point to why he actually did it and give him some kind of justification. Unless you can give me some kind of substantive example where there are a huge number of kids in developed countries who are having happy lives you’re point here is not justified.

Ah, so they are being forced

Now you’re just not even arguing in good faith here.

By the way, the idea that the only way you can survive is die on the battlefield doesn’t make much sense.

Is this your way of dismissing their suffering and their choices to defend themselves even in the face of overwhelming odds?

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 18 Oct 00:33 collapse

I gave you two. Squeaky Fromme and Kyle Rittenhouse.

If you’re going to gaslight me, try harder.

Sundial@lemm.ee on 18 Oct 00:41 collapse

Forgot about this, did you?

And again. I gave you thousands.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 18 Oct 01:58 collapse

No, I didn’t forget about it. But you’re pretending the comment I made after that doesn’t exist. It’s some pretty pathetic gaslighting, I must say.

jordanlund@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 19:00 collapse

Unfortunately, all of that goes against what they agreed to do in 2022:

hrw.org/…/yemen-houthis-recruit-more-child-soldie…

“In 2022, the Houthis signed an action plan with the UN to end grave violations against children, including the recruitment and use of children in their forces, and committed to releasing all children from their forces within six months.

Tawfik al-Hamidi, the president of SAM, told Human Rights Watch that the Houthis use their government institutions in their efforts to recruit children, including the Ministries of Education, Interior, and Defense. “All of them are working together and coordinate to mobilize children and recruit them,” he said.

Another activist, who works as a human rights researcher, said that “[recruitment] activities in schools have increased massively [since October 7], including through the school scouts. They take students from schools to their culture centers where they lecture children about the Jihad and send them to military camps and front lines.”

By leveraging official institutions, including schools, the Houthis have managed to take advantage of a far broader swathe of children. The UN secretary-general has also reported on the Houthis’ use of educational facilities for military purposes.”

Sundial@lemm.ee on 17 Oct 19:18 collapse

And what happened in 2023 that made the Houthi’s much more active and aggressive? What’s Saudi Arabia doing to Yemen with US made weapons currently? If you and your neighbors are being massacred indiscriminately simply because you’re the wrong ethnicity, it’s not a stretch to think you would choose to pick up a gun and fight.

jordanlund@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 23:08 collapse

Definitely not a stretch for adults to pick up weapons and fight, but what they’re doing to the kids by propagandizing them through religious indoctrination is entirely a different matter.

This is why the UN required them to stop using kids, which they agreed to in 2022…

youtu.be/angi1vwUkQc

Sundial@lemm.ee on 17 Oct 23:14 collapse

No happy child willingly becomes a soldier. They’re recruiting children who have known nothing but violence their entire lives. This is what people mean when they say people are radicalized due to the wars and suffering they’ve endured. Where do you think these militia groups come from? People who are happy and carefree? Or people who have had violence and oppression inflicted on them their whole lives and feel the need to fight back? This isn’t the result of some kind of propaganda campaign like you claim it is. This is people fighting back against systemic oppression and violence they’ve been enduring for decades.

jordanlund@lemmy.world on 18 Oct 00:50 collapse

No child, happy or otherwise, legally becomes a soldier.

childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/…/child-soldiers/

“Human rights law declares 18 as the minimum legal age for recruitment and use of children in hostilities. Recruiting and using children under the age of 15 as soldiers is prohibited under international humanitarian law – treaty and custom – and is defined as a war crime by the International Criminal Court. Parties to conflict that recruit and use children are listed by the Secretary-General in the annexes of his annual report on children and armed conflict.”

Sundial@lemm.ee on 18 Oct 00:55 collapse

You’re not saying anything wrong. You’ll get no argument from me if you say child soldiers are bad.You’re just sidestepping my point. Which is that the existence of child soldiers is due to the inhumane conditions foreign powers like the US have created in that part of the world.

jordanlund@lemmy.world on 18 Oct 01:34 collapse

No, the existence of child soldiers is due to illegal indoctrination and recruitment efforts. That’s the entire purpose of thoe Jihadi “schools” run by the Houthi.

memri.org/…/houthi-summer-camps-children-teach-ji…

sanaacenter.org/…/curriculum-changes-to-mold-the-…

Kids aren’t signing up for this, they’re bullied and brainwashed into it, and any legitimate military force would reject them.

leftytighty@slrpnk.net on 17 Oct 17:59 collapse

Underage Western men fought in the world wars

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 18:01 collapse

And?

leftytighty@slrpnk.net on 17 Oct 18:14 collapse

If your perspective on both is consistent, more power to you, but putting that out there for others who may judge things differently in that case.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 18:17 collapse

Of course my perspective on both is consistent. There is no moral justification for sending a human who’s brain is as undeveloped as a child’s to war. I doubt most people would say it was justified to send intellectually disabled adults to war either. I sure wouldn’t want to see guys with Down’s Syndrome in body armor and carrying a rifle, not having a true conception of the actual danger they’re in or maybe even what they’re fighting for.

leftytighty@slrpnk.net on 17 Oct 19:13 collapse

I think that’s a fair perspective and one I generally agree with. But I also see a compelling argument for “self defense.” Children are victims of war, maybe they need to be able to defend themselves in times of war at home.

It’s one thing to use child soldiers as cannon fodder or in wars of aggression, but maybe another when they’re defending their homes and themselves. I’m not sure

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 17 Oct 19:18 collapse

Putting them on the front lines puts them on the offensive, not the defensive. Sure, let them keep weapons in their home or whatever if they are threatened. That’s a different issue. Then it becomes defensive.

But that is not what is going on. What is going on is that they are being conscripted and put on the battlefield. It’s just not morally defensible.

leftytighty@slrpnk.net on 17 Oct 19:32 collapse

Granted, I just see some grey area. Home: justified. Neighborhood? City? Country? Hard to say.