Imagine your childhood, sweet, cute and simple. This isn 't the case for everyone. Right now there are child soldiers who are making memories, but they aren 't good. They 're violent and damaging, but there is nothing they can do about it. These children are being forced by commanders to fight in war, they are seeing things that children should never have to see, and they 're being put under drugs and can 't think clearly. Child Soldiers are victims. First, these children are being forced by commanders to fight in war. "They lack the mental maturity and judgment to express consent or to fully understand the implications of their actions… and are pushed by their adult commanders into perpetrating atrocities" (IRIN). The commanders are taking advantage of these innocent children because the commanders know how easily influenced the children are. These commanders making the kids significantly less innocent. Another piece of evidence is "Children are often forced into fighting and have little choice over whether or not they enlist" (Child Soldiers Prosecution). They are usually forced into becoming a soldier, and don 't have much of a choose whether they enlist or not. It isn 't their fault that such terrible things around them. …show more content…
Next, these children are seeing things that children should never have to see. "Khadr was also seriously wounded in the firefight, half-blinded in one eye and with two bullet wounds to his chest..." (Child soldier on trial). This happened to one former child soldier. He experienced much more physical pain and mental pain than anyone should have to go through. More evidence is "The war has left him, like many other children here, hard beyond his years" (Armed). No child should be "hard" they 're supposed to be innocent and happy. Children shouldn 't have to experience such a tough and harmful life. No child should have to watch people die. Let alone actually kill someone. These kids need to be kids, they have so ,unchanged life
This just shows how dangerous child soldiers can be if they are let out in public, you could push against them and they might threaten you or actually inflict pain on you. Anything you do can possibly get them angry because they look down upon those who have not been in war. They feel nothing about those who haven’t gone through what they have, all they care are
For child war victims like Sourdi, who lived in a war zone until she was nine years old, it is a wonder if there can ever be an end to the war. The trauma that children endure in a war zone is enough to last a lifetime. Not only are they
Very few kids have birth certificates so it is hard to identify them as adult or child. (Getlleman 7) For most of these adolescents, war and fighting is all they know. They wake up every morning having to face death and bloodshed, never having the experience of school and playing. It is hard to think of a childhood where there was no playing or going to the park, but that is exactly what kids in certain places around the world do not receive. Kids in the United States are very privileged but yet are not thankful to live in such a wonderful country, where they receive freedom.
Many of the child soldiers who were able to leave the war had a tremendous amount of problems. “But at night some of us would wake up from nightmares, sweating, screaming, and punching our own heads to drive out the images that continued to torment us even when we were no longer asleep.” (148) The child soldiers who were rescued and sent to one of the rehabilitation centers still had the same mentality. They were still addicted to drugs, and to killing.
To start off, there was never any justice done for the kids who were child soldiers because people weren’t paid for certain jobs they did because of their age. This idea was supported in the article “Armed & Underaged” by
Child soldiers have been a major issue in countries all over the world for a very long time. For example, Afghanistan is recruiting children to become a part of the Taliban, one of the largest terrorist groups in the country. A theme presented by Ishmael Beah in the book A Long Way Gone: memoirs of a boy soldier is that when all is lost, there is always hope. He went through brutal drugs and a dark childhood while he was in a civil war but he still was able to push through it and find happiness.
Many children live in an environment that is constantly under threat of conflict. Child soldiers are an ongoing problem because children should not be forced to kill and have their innocence stripped from them. This issue requires citizens to take action because children should not be forced to fight in a war that they did not
These child soldiers are also usually brainwashed and forced to take drugs before committing violence. If child soldiers are “fixed,” they shouldn’t be punished or judged because of their acts as a child soldier. There are many reasons supporting that former child soldiers should be granted amnesty, as long as they prove that they are cured and will not continue to be violent. To begin with, child soldiers are often forced into the position of being a child soldier, and are also forced to be violent. ”Most children are forcibly recruited.”
Many young children under aged have been taken in by the government. They are being held captive tell they are drugged enough and brainwashed to go out and kill or to be killed. They are forced to train to kill under the influence of drugs and they are hardly aware of what they or doing. Child soldiers should be given amnesty because of the absents of their minds and them not being able to process what they are doing. These children are often seen as targets because they are under aged and not able to take responsibility for their actions so they are targeted to be able to kill without punishment.
There are thousands of child soldiers in the world today. These children are stripped from their homes and sent to fight with people twice their age. Many haven’t even had their 11th birthday yet. Although some people say that child soldiers should not be granted amnesty, evidence shows that these children do deserve amnesty, except in cases when the former soldiers show violent behavior after war because children are forced to commit acts of violence and are force addicted to illegal substances so they won’t want to leave.
Although child soldiers have done many horrendous things like kill innocent people and forcibly recruit more children, there is a reason for everything and in this case is being forced and the influence of drugs and alcohol. These children may seem dangerous in every aspect but always remember that they never choose to commit these atrocious crimes. In fact, as you finish reading, keep in mind that they are just like every other normal human being out there except they were not as lucky as you are because they unfortunately were those who became child
Also, according to the Invisible Children Association, “...child soldiers are often forced into fighting through false promises. They are also forced into fighting through drugs and alcohol.” This shows how they are forced and they think what they are doing is okay because they are brainwashed. These children are being misled and sometimes threatened to commit horrible acts, that they wouldn’t do if they knew what was happening. But these children were never taught what is right and wrong.
An unhealthy obsession with guns, being drugged to make killings seem normal, and being undoubtedly loyal to commanders is only part of what a child soldier is. Child soldiers can be dangerous and make up many armies in war-torn countries. In much of the world, usually in unstable countries, when conflict breaks out, children can quickly be swept up and put on the front lines to fight. Children may carry ten-pound guns and use bullets twice the size of their fingers. Some children are old enough to understand what they are doing, and others have no idea.
Assignment page Video Where many children all over the world merrily and freely live under the protection of the law, for others, this is a distant reality, they live in a world where they’re battling poverty, stripped of their childhood and basic human rights are expunged, they’re the innocent victims of conflict, and war is made to seem their one and only duty, not to mention that these are children no more than 10 years of age. They are put into a situation where it’s to kill or be killed. The United Nations defines a child soldier as, “Any person under 18 years of age who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity.” Since the past 15 years, child soldiers are being used in almost every region of the world. Unlike most children, who go to school, they’re abducted from their families and forced into becoming a child soldier, where living conditions are beyond imaginable.
Have you ever imagined growing up on a life of drugs, war, crime, and seeing things that many adults won’t dare to ever see? In many countries around the world, this is what many children have to deal with. There is an occurring issue of people across Africa and parts of Asia using children as soldiers in war. They act and take upon the roles of real combatants, causing the people of the public to act in different ways. It’s been well documented that these children have used guns and war tactics, and committed various illegal and illicit acts of violence.