Child Soldiers Deserve Amnesty Essay

I am a student at Sherwood Middle School, in Sherwood, Oregon. In our class, we are having a discussion about whether child soldiers do or do not deserve amnesty. As long as child soldiers can show that they won’t recommit their previous acts of violence as a child soldier and that they regret their acts, I believe that they should be granted amnesty. If child soldiers demonstrate that they are fixed from their time as a soldier, there are plenty of reasons that show they deserve amnesty. To begin with, child soldiers are often forced into the position of being a child soldier, and are also forced into being violent. In an article I found, Child Soldiers, Prosecution, the text states, “Most children are forcibly recruited.” In my opinion, this shows that many of the child soldiers don’t have any interest in becoming a soldier, and most likely don’t want to be violent. Another quote I found in Armed and Underage by Jeffrey Gettleman says, “They are easily manipulated.” This is another statement that I believe really brings to attention how these are just kids, and we shouldn’t expect them to be mature enough to think about anything other than making sure they follow orders from their leaders. These are just some reasons why I believe that within certain

They may argue that child soldiers still have control over whether they commit violent and horrible acts. But after looking into this topic, I have come to the conclusion that given most child soldiers circumstances, they are basically forced into their actions. In many cases, if they do not comply with orders, they risk as serious of consequences as being killed. I think that children should most definitely not have their acts of violence held against them if their options are to be violent or be seriously injured or