In November of 2012, a young boy was kidnapped by armed men while working in the field. Oliver, the young boy who was kidnapped, was taken without anyone noticing because: ‘“The armed men worked swiftly, taking away the boy without a noise. Olivier went on to spend two years as a Mayi-Mayi child soldier” (OCHA). Several girls were abducted the same day as Oliver. For the next couple of years, he was forced to adapt and survive in the woods. As Oliver tells his story, he recalls that, “‘Life in the forest was not easy. You had to be strong and have a goal in mind to survive...’” (OCHA). Even though they lived under the fear of dying, there still were many rebellions and uprisings in order to get free. As a result, the leaders of the Mayi Mayi had to take action in order maintain power and keep their recruits to be loyal to them. Due to this, Oliver said that the soldiers, “‘We were drugged to remain obedient. We were forced to kill. When I was in the armed group, I committed violence and crimes...’” (OCHA). Due to all of this violence that Oliver was forced to commit, his innocence vanished. This was because he was forced to kill during these years which shattered all traces of innocence from him. In fact, he admits that, “‘I lost my childhood, my friends and my mother’” (OCHA). However, one day he was able to escape and tell his story so that he could be rescued.
Why is this important?
This shows that adults don't care who they abduct, be it children or adults. They aren’t afraid to completely ruin the child’s life and snatch everything away from his/her life without allowing them to agree with their terms. Clearly this is a violation in human rights as kidnapping is against the law and also they forced children to learn how to kill instead of teaching them proper education needed to live life like normal people. It enhanced our understanding about our human right violations because the abductors kidnap several kids a day for the sole reason to support their vision.