Political + Economy
Violence and political unrest have prevented Somalia from developing a coherent and coordinated domestic marketplace. The government only controls the central part of the country. The corruption of the country is really high, so that means the government's revenues are easy to steal. It means that its very difficult to the economy to grow but it is slowly expanding beyond Mogadishu. Livestock, agriculture, and fishing are economic mainstays.
The situation surrounding the Child Soldiers
Somalia has not had an effective national government for more than 20 years, during which much of the country has been a war-zone. With Mogadishu and other towns now under government control, there is a new feeling of optimism and many Somalis have returned from exile, bringing their money and skills with them. Basic services such as street lighting, dry cleaning and rubbish collection have resumed in the capital. But Somalia is still too dangerous and also, Somalia remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world. It is estimated that over 200,000 Somali children have carried a gun. The war itself has killed and injured thousands of kids and has left many of them homeless as well. The militia life has become more attractive to the children, who see a possible future of survival with their fellow soldiers. Children in Somalia have become a valuable commodity for the various warlords that are engaged in a continuing and senseless civil war. The warlords force them into their family expenses or for themselves; however, the warlords never intend to pay them but only use them for fighting.
Al-Shabaab only uses children from the poor as fighters. They are using children as shield. They recruited children from poor families because they don't have family to look after them. While the recruitment of child soldiers by the Somali insurgent group is not new, the scale of child abductions over the past two years is like nothing documented in the past. Al-Shabaab fighters abduct young girls and boys from their homes or schools, in some cases taking entire classes. By the way, do you know Al-Shabaab? Al-Shabaab means The Youth in Arabic. Al-Shabaab is a Somali group that the United States designated as a foreign terrorist organization in March 2008. It is banned as a terrorist group by both the US and the UK and is believed to have between 7,000 and 9,000 fighters. In many cases Al-Shabaab will recruit all the able-bodied males of a village, as well as using women. Using children in war is particularly useful, because they have little to no sense of their own mortality. Children are easily manipulated. That's why terror groups like Al-Shabaab use child soldiers. Children can be sent out to recruit other children. One survivor told Human Rights Watch he was asked by a group of kids to play football at a nearby field. When he arrived, he and others were gathered up and sent to training camps. The camps are places where children live in fear. They see injured and dead fighters, many of them children, coming bach from the battlefield. Recruits are taught to use weapons and to throw hand grenades and are subjected to a myriad of abuses including rape, assault and forced marriages. A 15-year-old boy recruited by Al-Shabaab from his school in Mogadishu in 2010 told Human Rights Watch that "out of all my classmates about 100 boys only two of us escaped, the rest were killed." For children of Somalia, nowhere is safe.
Conclusion
Government authorities committed to implement action plans signed in 2012 to end the use of child soldiers, as well as the killing of children, but progress has been slow. The use of child soldiers in Somalia has been widespread. It's much more difficult to get Al-Shabaab to stop using child soldiers. UNICEF, the U.N. children's fund, has programs to help former child soldiers back into society. These include psycho-social support and returning them to school. The International Labor Organization also provides skills and livelihood training.