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The issue of child soldiers
Research on child soldiers
The issue of child soldiers
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Imagine being a brainwashed child soldier who thought they were doing something good, but later found out that they were going to be killed for their actions. Would you be wondering what you did wrong? They were told what they were doing was good, only to later find out it was wrong. That they were going to die for their actions. There have been child soldiers fighting for terrorist groups because the terrorists convinced them that what they would be best for their country. Some people believe they should be persecuted, however, I don’t agree with this opinion, I think they should be given amnesty or forgiven. They should be given amnesty because they’re brainwashed, tortured and are made broken promises.
My first reason they should be given
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They were told something that never happened. This shows in the article “Child Soldiers: Victims or Perpetrators?” where it says. “Children are forced by commanders through false promises”. Commanders falsely lie to their child soldiers in order for them to fulfill their needs. This shows again in a similar sentence in the same article where it says “I have developed this opinion after conducting research on this topic. I have discovered that child soldiers are often forced into fighting through false promises” After conducting research, it has shown that the commanders made false promises towards the child soldiers. These are the reasons why I would give them amnesty, however, I’m gonna show you the other side of the discussion, Why they shouldn’t give them …show more content…
One reason they believe this is because that they do it to avenge their family. Therefore, they know what they are doing is wrong and want revenge for what they did to him. However, this leaves them homeless with almost no other choice except to join the army. Secondly, Commanders might get them caught on purpose knowing they won’t get in trouble to create a war crime to get them an extra edge in the war. War commanders can purposely get their child soldiers in trouble because they know that they will be given amnesty. Finally, people say that they shouldn’t get amnesty because child soldiers are no different than child criminals. I don’t agree with this and neither does the author in the article “Child Soldiers: Victims or Perpetrators” where it says “children are forced by commanders through false promises, drugs and things which you can’t even imagine” This says that kids are drugged to make sure that they don’t know what’s happening and are made promises that never come true in order for them to join the
O’Brien also alludes to the fact that these soldiers were basically plucked from their homes , given some BDU’s and an M-16A1, perhaps a frag grenade or a Wille Pete (white phosphorus) grenade, and kicked out of a helicopter over the jungle. They weren’t there because they wanted to be there. They were there because of fear. Whether it was fear of the law, fear of embarrassment, or fear of disappointing those around them, fear was their only motivation.
The first reason these kids shouldn’t be prosecuted or punished in any way is because it wasn’t their choice to be a soldier to begin with. According to Child Soldiers, Prosecution, most kids were forced to fight and had no choice of weather to enlist or not. There are about 200,000 child soldiers worldwide state's Armed and Underage, (Gettleman) and these kids are doing things their adolescent brains
“This is how wars are fought now: by children, traumatized, hopped-up on drugs, and wielding AK-47s” (Beah). Innocent, vulnerable, and intimidated. These words describe the more than 300,000 children in nations throughout the world coerced into combat. As young as age seven, boys and girls deemed child soldiers participate in armed conflict, risking their lives and killing more innocent others. While many individuals recollect their childhood playing games and running freely, these children will remember “playing” with guns and running for their lives. Many children today spend time playing video games like Modern Warfare, but for some children, it is not a game, it is reality. Although slavery was abolished nearly 150 years ago, the act of forcing a child into a military position is considered slavery and is a continuously growing trend even today despite legal documents prohibiting the use of children under the age of 18 in armed conflict. Being a child soldier does not merely consist of first hand fighting but also work as spies, messengers, and sex slaves which explains why nearly 30 percent of all child soldiers are girls. While the use and exploitation of these young boys and girls often goes unnoticed by most of the world, for those who have and are currently experiencing life as a child soldier, such slavery has had and will continue to have damaging effects on them both psychologically and physically.
Children at such a young age don't have the mental ability to think long term about their actions, especially when they are being forced or drugged. Some may argue that if child criminals get punished for their actions, then child soldiers should too, but that is just not the case. The difference being, child criminals choose to commit their crimes, child soldiers are forced to commit crimes. As an example, in the article Child Soldiers it states, “More often than not, children have no say in whether they enlist or not and once recruited the children have become brainwashed through the use of drugs and alcohol” (Child Soldiers).
Children have been used as soldiers in many events, however two that stand out are the use of child soldiers in the Sierra Leone civil war and the drug cartels in Mexico. Most people agree that forcing children to be soldiers is wrong and not humane. The people that make them soldiers transform them into belligerent beings by force. Child soldiers of drug cartels and the armies of Sierra Leone were threatened with their lives if they didn’t become soldiers. The lives of these child soldiers are lives that nobody should live. Situations in both countries are horrible because of the high number of youngsters that are forced to take part in drug use and are transformed into extremely belligerent and inhumane people; in addition they are deprived
Over the past month or two we have been reading many articles and even the book “ Along Way Gone” by Ishmael Beah. These articles and this book have taken us into some child soldiers stories and what it was like having to participate in the war. These children were forced to take part in these crimes, they were brutally tortured, and many were shot because they didn’t obey their commanders. In my opinion I believe that child soldiers should be granted amnesty.
A child soldier is a child who has been abducted and forced to fight in a conflict in which they would not typically be involved in. Child soldiers have their relatively normal childhood taken away if they are abducted. Instead of playing with the other children, they are forced to murder them. Many are forced to watch the people they once knew be tortured and they may even take part in the act. Child soldiers are internationally banned, yet many countries still utilize them to this day. Uganda is one country in which they are used. The use of children in armed combat in Uganda sheds light on the fact that the concept of power is indeed a double-edged sword.
They are just kids. Only, they are not normal, they have lost everything they love and need to feel safe. Their family, a reliable food source, and their shelter- all gone. These kids are left completely stranded. Searching for the things that were taken from them. This is terrible because when these kids see others around their age fighting with these commanders, that are around the age of their parents or older siblings… the kids must think that now they have a chance getting the things they are searching for. Although now they are trapped, they are going to fight with these people no matter what, and some of these commanders have children as young as nine years old fighting for on their front lines. As told in the article “Armed and Underage” by Jeffrey Gettleman. Also, it is not just boys who are joining and fighting. Girls will join too, because they are looking for the same thing. But it is even worse for them. They are forced to be cooks, messengers, spies, and sexual slaves. This comes with sexual abuse, and rape. The sad thing is, this is only my first reason as to why child soldiers should be given amnesty, and a guided path to
Child soldier is a worldwide issue, but it became most critical in the Africa. Child soldiers are any children under the age of 18 who are recruited by some rebel groups and used as fighters, cooks, messengers, human shields and suicide bombers, some of them even under the age of 10 when they are forced to serve. Physically vulnerable and easily intimidated, children typically become obedient soldiers. Most of them are abducted or recruited by force, and often compelled to follow orders under threat of death. As society breaks down during conflict, leaving children with no access to school, driving them from their homes, or separating them from family members, many children feel that rebel groups are their best chance for survival.
Imagine being given a gun and drugs and forced to kill on demand or be killed. This is the life of a child soldier in a nutshell. There is no question that child soldiers should be given amnesty because they are being forced to do things against their will and hardly have a choice of what they are doing. A child in a village doesn’t get to decide if their village is attacked and they are made a soldier. It is wrong that someone, especially a child, should be held accountable for something they can’t control except to lose their own life instead.
“Compelled to become instruments of war, to kill and be killed, child soldiers are forced to give violent expression to the hatreds of adults” (“Child Soldiers” 1). This quotation by Olara Otunnu explains that children are forced into becoming weapons of war. Children under 18 years old are being recruited into the army because of poverty issues, multiple economic problems, and the qualities of children, however, many organizations are trying to implement ways to stop the human rights violation.
“I would like to give you a message, please do your best to tell the world what is happening to us, the children. So that other children do not have to pass through this violence.”
...rthermore, to fight in a way is fundamentally inhuman. As humans, we are thinking animals and we should be able to tell from right and wrong. Since these soldiers have decided to join the war, they are not human at all.
The officers manipulate and brainwash the children so they can kill. They do not have a fully developed brain to understand the situation and to separate from wrong to right. Children join the war, but they are more like pawns taking a knight job, “with military grade weapons and 13-year-old brides. Its ranks are filled with boys brainwashed to burn down hut and pound newborn babies to death.(Gettleman 3).” With this point stated, the adolescents are underage as they are being joined the unit. The army pressure the children's with trickery, then armed with a gun and taught to kill. Beah a former child soldier, says that after adjusting to killing it, “became as easy as drinking water (Gettleman 16).” Children easily adjusted to the crimes but they didn’t sign up to do it. Likewise, since the children are weaker and
cause they are senior to a young Soldier that was trusted to them by there families, then they to