Kids pushed into war, gangs, sex rings

Children as young as 10 fighting in wars and working in brothels was just one of the subjects of "Meeting the 21st Century Challenge: The Search for Peace and Security" held at Cal State Long Beach on Wednesday.

"These are children and to say that they know what they are getting into is not fair," said Kathryn McMahon, CSULB assistant professor in women's studies and international studies.

Children are fighting for their lives in Africa, when they are forced to become members of armies in countries such as Mozambique, Zaire and Sudan, said Skyne Uku-Wertimer black studies professor and coordinator of the conference.

Young girls often end up working as prostitutes once they reach their destination, she said.

This is devastating to these children if they survive military battles, because they are deprived of normal physical and mental growth, Uku-Wertimer said.

Organizations, such as the Red Cross, are assisting the children by helping them deal with the trauma and rehabilitation, Uku-Wertimer said.

Unfortunately, some American youngsters are not receiving help in their battles against the criminal justice system, said Jose Lopez, CSULB professor of Chicano and Latino studies.

Across the country, even in Long Beach, youth are unlawfully accused of being gang members, Lopez said.

"Cops can create gangs," Lopez said.

One police officer in California testified that because a youth who was previously identified as a gang member conspired with two other youths to commit a crime, they were all gang members, Lopez said.

This is inaccurate and unfair to those youth and others like them who are falsely identified by police as gang members, Lopez said. This is based not only on criminal acts, but by clothing and social customs as well.

Also at the conference McMahon and John T. Wang, assistant criminal justice professor, examined the rapid growth of the illegal smuggling of immigrants from Asia.

The smugglers involved in these operations earn thousands of dollars each trip across the ocean, Wang said.

That money is tempting to people from Asian countries without a lot of employment opportunities, Wang said.

Economic conditions, loosened border control and the lack of jobs are the cause for 10,000 illegal Chinese immigrants coming to America across the ocean each year, Wang said.

"They have no job, no education, so what is left for them?" Wang said.

Once these immigrants get to the United States and other countries, they are often faced with debt that is repaid through physical labor at a low cost, even prostitution, McMahon said.

Some solutions presenters suggested for these problems included more humanitarian support and better law enforcement tactics on the global level.

"Hopefully things like this won't keep happening because it's so sad that people face these terrible social challenges,''  said CSULB sociology major Melinda Bennett.

CSULB President Robert Maxson said he enjoyed this  and other conferences  on campus.

"We've got to do more than teach classes," Maxson said.