UN Charter, Human Rights, Sierra Leone
A long Way Gone primarily brings into light the effects of war on today's modern society amongst them violation Human Rights as spelt out by UN Charter in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Through the noble eyes of a former child soldier Ishmael Beah, the memoir, though immeasurably heart-wrenching and disturbing, paints clear scenarios of the war in Sierra Leone, its atrocities and its irreversible damages. Forcefully indicated into the government army to fight the R.U.F (The national Revolutionary United Front) rebels, the war transforms Ishmael and his friends from gentle souls to lifeless killing machines.
Article 1 of the UN Charter, states "All people are born devoid in dignity and rights. They are awarded conscience and reason and must act towards each one to the other in a spirit of brotherhood " (Brooks 120). It upholds and promotes the spirit of brotherhood, propelled by dignity and love for fellow countrymen. The war strips Ishmael off of all the requisites as spelt out in Article 1. Once inducted into the army, Ishmael loses his conscience, to judge right from wrong. The war brainwashes Ishmael into killing as the most-justified means of avenging his resentments and the loss of his family.
[...] A long Way Gone primarily brings into light the effects of war on today's modern society amongst them violation Human Rights as spelt out by UN Charter in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Through the noble eyes of a former child soldier Ishmael Beah, the memoir, though immeasurably heart-wrenching and disturbing, paints clear scenarios of the war in Sierra Leone, its atrocities and its irreversible damages. Forcefully indicated into the government army to fight the R.U.F (The national Revolutionary United Front) rebels, the war transforms Ishmael and his friends from gentle souls to lifeless killing machines. [...]
[...] New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Print. Brooks, Thom. "Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948)." Nations, United. The Global Justice Reader. New York: Blackwell Publishing 119- 123. Print. [...]
[...] This he attests in the following statement, “Apart from their tiredness and malnourishment, it was clear they had witnessed something that plagued their minds that we would refuse to accept if told. (Beah 7). At the start, his autobiography, Beah paints a picture of a normal African village, children swimming leisurely in the rivers, men working in the mines, women in the markets, and the elders as watch dogs and upholders of good morals and discipline, the spirit of love, communalism, brotherhood is unquestionably in order. Everyone dutifully observes their role and place in this society. [...]
[...] In addition to the merciless killings, and disruption to normal human activity and living, the war inferno burns down the moral and social fabric that once created order, and held together Ishmael's community. In the subsequent chapters of the book, children who once looked up to their parents and the elderly have gone astray. Ishmael is forcefully indicated into the government army, together with his group of friends they involuntarily become the prime perpetrators of the unspeakable carnage witnessed in Ishmael's memoir. Fear and distrust have engulfed the dignity and trust that once defined relationships between individuals. “This is one of the major effects of the civil war. [...]
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