Imagine a crying 8 year old girl, barely even knowing how to dress herself, yet having to go to war. Her commander forced her to leave her family behind. They give her a gun and tell her to go shoot at people. Imagine how scary and traumatizing that must be for her. Child soldiers are children who are forced to be a part of combat during war. The commanders force the children to commit war crimes, and therefore the children are considered war criminals. The question is, should they be considered guilty of their crimes or should they be granted amnesty? Child soldiers deserve amnesty because they are manipulated and drugged, they enlist out of necessity to live, and child soldiers should be rehabilitated and integrated. Firstly, child soldiers …show more content…
According to The Summative Essay, these children are so young that they aren't able to think through actions and consequences like adults. It is clear that, “Many of these children join without carefully thinking through their decision. At the time, they might believe that recruiting would lead to a safer life as necessities such as food, water and shelter would be available; actually fighting in war would not cross their mind.” Source. Many child soldiers join out of necessity and don’t think carefully about it as they are just children. Most children who joined out of their free will joined because it would give them a more secure and stable life than they had before. Why should the child be blamed for joining out of necessity to live? The article by Debatewise makes it clear that dying or starving is not something these children want, so they either have to join forces to avoid being killed or to provide for their families. This makes it obvious that “child soldiers are not morally responsible for their actions”. Children are often forced into fighting and have little choice over whether or not they enlist.” Source. Some of the children who are joining are being forced to join where they would be killed if they refused. They are just children and their frontal lobe has not developed yet, so they are not capable of making important …show more content…
These children enlist out of necessity to live and don’t think about the consequences of joining. Which is why they deserve amnesty. These children should be integrated and rehabilitated into society so they can live a normal life. These children are exploited, so it is clear they deserve amnesty. If a child is forced to join a war to escape poverty, then it is obvious they should not be punished for that. A better option for punishment would be rehabilitation. Rehabilitation is crucial to giving a child soldier a chance at living a normal life after overcoming the horrible things they went through during war. Some might say that these children joined out of their own free will and they deserve punishment. According to The Summative Essay, not all child soldiers were forced to join the war, and the children who weren’t forced should be punished. “it would be false to proclaim that all child soldiers are forced into fighting. Some children join without being forcibly recruited. Children such as these knew what they were doing and thus should be taken into custody.” Source. While this is a good point, even if they did join out of their own free will, who is to say they didn’t join to provide a better life for themselves and their families? It is important to remember that these children come from struggling and impoverished countries. While they have committed crimes, they have also been through horrible
As defined by Timothy Webster, author of Babes with Arms: International Law and Child Soldiers, a child soldier is “any person under the age of eighteen who is or has been associated with any kind of regular or irregular armed group, including those who serve as porters, spies, cooks, messengers and including girls recruited for sexual purposes (Webster, 2007, pp.230). As this definition reveals, a child soldier is more than simply a child with a gun. It is estimated that there are approximately 300,000 children under the age of 18, being used as soldiers in 33 conflicts currently, and this figure continues to rise (Webster, 2007, pp.227). Similarly, in 1999 it was estimated that more than 120,000 children, under the age of 18, were used as soldiers to fight ...
Many kids are involved around the world in violent wars as child soldiers. These children who were forced into being soldiers had no other choice but to face their own death and therefore should be granted amnesty. This is because the great majority of the kids were forced into being war fighters. Even then, some people think that just because they’re kids doesn’t change the fact that they have performed horrible acts, and that they should be punished for their actions. Also, these kids were forced to take drugs and drink alcohol which influenced bad decisions and made them less thoughtful about the harm they were doing. So, child soldiers should get another chance and be granted amnesty after proven worthy.
One of the major problems in the Middle East is child related. To be specific, child soldiers. It is estimated that there are over 38,000 kids who are forced into being child soldiers (Storr). Because child soldiers can’t prevent their horrific fate, they deserve to be granted amnesty by the United Nations. One main reason why they should be given amnesty is because they are forced and drugged into becoming killers. Children at such a young age don't have the mental ability to think long term of their actions, especially when they are being forced or drugged to. 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
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
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.
Throughout the world children younger than 18 are being enlisted into the armed forces to fight while suffering through multiple abuses from their commanders. Children living in areas and countries that are at war are seemingly always the ones being recruited into the armed forces. These children are said to be fighting in about 75 percent of the world’s conflicts with most being 14 years or younger (Singer 2). In 30 countries around the world, the number of boys and girls under the age of 18 fighting as soldiers in government and opposition armed forces is said to be around 300,000 (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 1). These statistics are clearly devastating and can be difficult to comprehend, since the number of child soldiers around the world should be zero. Furthermore, hundreds of thousands adolescent children are being or have been recruited into paramilitaries, militias and non-state groups in more than 85 countries (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 1). This information is also quite overwhelming. Child soldiers are used around the world, but in some areas, the numbers are more concentrated.
It is inequitable that the boneheaded criminals who are taking the freedom and liberty of the innocent children to war are not getting consequences; therefore, the corrupted government have an obligation to take proper action to punish these boneheaded criminals. The removal of children soldier from their families to fight war has had major catastrophic impacts on the children such as: emotional effects, physical effects, mental conditions, destruction of families, and post-traumatic stress disorder that carries into adulthood. First, more and more children refugees are being used to fight in a war which
Child Soldiers have no control. Either they choose life-- joining the war, or they and their family die. Sometimes, children choose to go into the war because they believe they will have shelter, food, protection, and safety. In one article-- Children in Somalia Facing War Crimes-- states “Al-Shabab is also using increasingly threatening recruitment methods, luring children with the promise of phones, money . . .” They are deceived into believing that they will be impervious and wealthy, when really, they are being constantly lied to.
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.
“Child recruitment spiked sharply last year, with estimates that twelve-thousand children were fighting with both government and non-state armed groups.” Since, child soldiers are forced to go into the army, the children could become physically and mentally damaged from a war they didn’t even start. For this reason child soldiers should receive amnesty. Therefor, it could be struggling to determine whether a child should be given forgiveness or be treated as a victim.
There are also many other factors that make child soldiers more desirable. Children tend to be daring and highly obedient. It is also hard for children to notice the morals behind what they are doing, instead of thinking about consequences
Children have the lack of making the right decisions based on their positions due to the fact of not realizing what is wrong or right. Some may argue that children occupy command positions in their armed group and are responsible for planning or ordering the commission of war crimes and human rights abuses; therefore, they should not be excused from their actions. Others may argue that most of these children were forcibly recruited and they may have not thought carefully about their decisions. Military commanders target poor countries to recruite child soldiers since they are are poor, displaced from their families, and have limited education. If these factors are present in the child, he or she will be controlled easily.
Most of the children put into conflict are unlawfully recruited, either because they were forced or because they fall under the legal recruitment age. 2/3 nations agree that banning the use of children under 18 is necessary to their wellbeing. However, not all of the children are forced into conflict, and many join out of sheer desperation. As well as this , children aren't just solely on the front line.
Imagine not being able to go to school, play your favorite sport, or spend quality time with your friends and family, and instead having to go out and shoot people in fear of your own life. That’s the life of a child soldier. I strongly believe that child soldiers are victims in wars. They are being forced into this position, being drugged making them think they should kill, and kids don’t fully understand the situation and know what they’re doing, unlike an adult. I feel that if the children didn’t choose to do any of this, and they don’t quite understand the whole situation, that they should not be looked at as perpetrators, but more as victims of the situation.
Even though kids aren’t usually directly involved in war, they might live in a war zone. Children are very vulnerable at young ages and can be easily influenced by stuff going on around them. Not only are they are they surrounded by the violence, but sometimes they are forced into combat. Many children around the world are forced into combat by the soldiers around them. These soldiers put children into harm's way.