Special Court for Sierra Leone

Bullet shells litter the ground your bare feet are treading on like dead leaves in Autumn. The only pair of clothes you own are torn and two sizes too small but it’s all you have. The main emphasis of your appearance is not any of this, but the enormous machine gun slung over your starved body. No emotion is felt from you; no regret, hurt, or pleasure. The only thing you want is the chemically dangerous drugs fed as a reward to you in the little food you are given. Was this your choice? Did you choose to be consistently in fear, not of your life at risk, but of what will happen to you if you do not complete your assignment? Did you choose to pull the trigger targeting the person who held you at gunpoint? Kill or be killed. This will be all you know to do- kill. Child soldiers worldwide face these events daily. Nevertheless, child soldiers should be granted amnesty for the actions that they have been brainwashed into believing, the distress of disobedience bestowed upon them, and the justice that the child soldiers have been forced into suspecting they are fighting for. A large percentage of child soldiers have been brainwashed into committing outrageous acts of war. In the cover story written by Jeffrey Gettleman it quotes, “These kids can be so easily brainwashed...They don’t even have to be paid.” This excerpt is a statement that Ali Yassin of the Elman Peace and Human Rights Center in Mogadishu claims, based off of his personal encounters about the effortless…

amnesty for that. That's like saying we should not charge people living in places like compton that are committing crimes because they grew up there? No that is not what we should do, they could simply walk away from it before there too deep in as a child solders, especially if your parents are in charge. If your parents are leaders of a terrorist organization they probably have enough money to buy another one in place of you. They also say that they were drugged and cannot think right. That is…

50-year jail sentence on charges of aiding and abetting war crimes during the brutal civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone. In 1989 Charles Taylor stared the Liberia civil war. He was a warlord and was elected president in 1997. For six year, before he was forced into exile in Nigeria he governed Liberia. He was convicted for 11 charges of war crime and crime against humanity. This was for his alleged role in the brutal civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone. He was accused of backing rebels…

also referred to as the Geechee in some parts of the south, are West African slaves that were brought to the New World to work on the plantations in the lowcountry along the southeastern coast of the United States, from the Cape Fear River in North Carolina to the St. John 's River in Florida. This coastal region with its many barrier islands is separated from the mainland by creeks, rivers, and marshes. The islands were accessible only by boat until the first bridges were built around…

Charles Taylor a former Liberian President on May 30, 2012 was sentenced to 50 years in prison for aiding and abetting during the Sierra Leone civil war. The Special Court of Sierra Leone found him guilty on 11 counts of crimes such as terrorism, murder, and enslavement. Liberia and Sierra Leone Taylor was the first Liberian government official to be found guilty for receiving royalties from illegal diamond mines that were exchanged for armored weapons and utilities. The conflict or “blood”…

of the supply. He created the illusion that diamonds were rare (Blood Diamonds). De Beers is the company responsible for marketing the gem as a symbol of forever love (Forman). Unfortunately these symbols of love were highly valued by violent insurgents. Rough diamonds are untraceable, easy to transport and smuggle, along with having constant value throughout the world. These factors make them the perfect medium to fuel wars. Small rebel groups quickly turned into well-armed militias (Blood…

A Vacuum of Death Greg Campbell’s Blood Diamonds is a didactic narrative of the atrocities that have pursued throughout the Sierra Leone over the natural resource of diamonds. Campbell gives vivid detail into the realities behind the beauty of diamonds through the tales of smugglers, RUF victims, and his investigative research on this valued resource. This piece illuminates the key issues of exploitation and corruption that are carried out by smugglers and rebel fighters, and fueled by…

Story highlights Much of war wrongdoings trial of Charles Taylor focused on "Strife Diamonds" Conflict or "Blood" essential stones are unlawfully traded to hold confide in war-torn spaces Thousands in countries, for instance, Sierra Leone are used as slaves to think gems Group pulls out of structure to guarantee pearls don 't start from strife zones Much of the masses trial of past Liberian President Charles Taylor focused on the imagined by demanded "Battle Diamonds" in supporting radicals in…

The average amount of time spent in a hospital was no shorter with health care professionals, who is exposed to the virus and risk acquiring it and transmitting it to individuals that they come into contact with. The average amount of time spent staying in a hospital was roughly a week. Meaning, that the number of beds that are needed to treat Ebola virus patients roughly equates out to the rising amount of cases incidents that were rising weekly. Approximately 995 patients were confirmed,…

Dr. Augustine Kposowa is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Riverside. Professor Kposowa grew up in Sierra Leone, West Africa, where English was the language taught at schools, from basic education to higher education levels. Kposowa received his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy at the Saint Paul’s College in Liberia in 1977, he then got his Master of Arts in Sociology from the University of Cincinnati in 1986 and lastly he obtained his Doctor of Philosophy…