“The Perfect Weapon for the Meanest Wars’’ is an article by Jeffrey Gettleman from the New York Times on the subject of child soldiers. All over Africa militias are fighting each other for control over certain areas. These militias have deployed four foot tall killing machine that terrorize, loot, and destroy village after village these weapons: child soldiers. Mozambicans have learned that children were the perfect weapon since they were easily manipulated, intensely loyal, fearless and most important in endless supply. There are 300,000 child soldiers worldwide experts say that the nature of the conflict changes especially in Africa.
There is a problem in the world and something needs to be done of it. There are children, primarily in Africa, that are forced to massacre innocent men and women. These kids are called child soldiers. Child soldiers are kids who are associated in war. A popular book about child soldier is an autobiography by Ishmael Beah called A Long Way Gone.
In most cases the group leaders only want strong soldiers who follow all commands and don’t hesitate to kill a person. If a child refuses to kill, the leaders could torture them for as long as they desire. The Child Soldiers cooperating with the leaders and doing what they are told to do will put them on their good side and won’t put their lives at stake. Doing what they’re suppose to do and showing how they’re not
Child soldiers are an element of the Civil War that rarely gets discussed. Most people associate the Civil War with men fighting for their beliefs and do not realize that boys or children fought as well. Children were as much a part of the war as adults; the reason for this is they too have to live with the results of the war. Children under eighteen years of age were not allowed to fight in the war but took up other positions to aid the war. These children of the Civil War supported and fought during it for a variety of reasons; these reasons include their patriotism and eagerness to fight and prove themselves.
Not only have these child soldiers have been through harsh conditions of training and taken away, but child soldiers should be given amnesty because they were easy to be manipulated or forced to do such crimes. The strategy that these training camps do to manipulate these child soldiers is placing drugs to their systems, to which can cause many to be confused or to not think rationally for what actions they take upon. The article, “A Former Child Soldier Shares His Story In New Graphic Novel,” Chikwanine shares his story of when he was a young child to where they have forced him from drugs to do a crime upon his friends. The text states, “There, a fighter drugged him with a mix of cocaine and gunpowder. Chikwanine was blindfolded and made to hold a gun, then told
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.
Thousands and thousands, of children in the Middle East and Africa, are being used as soldiers where it is needed. These children kill others and do things that no other child should have to do. People wonder if child soldiers should be given amnesty or not. The issue of child soldiers came to worldwide attention when Ishmael Beah published his book A Long Way Gone, which was based on what happened while he was a child soldier. A child soldier is someone under the age of eighteen and who is used in wars.
As stated in an informational article on differing opinions about child soldiers, “Most children are forcibly recruited and even when they enlist they may not have thought carefully about their decisions or made an informed choice.” This shows how many children are kidnapped from their homes to join a corrupt army, and forced to endure the hardships of war at such a young age. They can not be held accountable for acts that they were forced into, and the only logical outcome in this argument is that all child soldiers are given amnesty. Although it can be argued that there are quite a few child soldiers that made the conscious decision to join the army, these soldiers were often misinformed, and only seeking to enlist for the offer of food, protection and a place to live after possibly losing their family and home to the raging war. Choice is an important thing, and once it is taken away, you cannot convict a person as if they still had that option to
When I think of a soldier, I think of a strong young man fighting for his country. When I think of a child, I get the image of a young child playing outside with no worries in the world and no responsibilities. However, this is not true, as there are millions of children who have become child soldiers and have been displaced in the world. What makes children want to become child soldiers? Children become soldiers for their governments, as they recruit them.
Hundreds of children are forced to put in the army but some kids join on their own and suffer years and when they try to come out they come out worse than when they joined. They come out with broken bones or even missing body pieces, some kids don't even make it back out they die or they kill them before even starting war. Poverty kills children and also eventually kills family because of the children dying, the government doesn't care about children but they do care about winning a war. “Special attention will be given to the young women and girls, who are likely to have suffered sexual abuse, so that they can rejoin their communities without the stigma associated with such abuse.” young women suffer more than male soldiers, females are abused sexually and are thrown back to there
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.
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.
Boom! A bullet goes into an innocent citizen’s head. Everyone gasps. Who would do such a thing? An enemy?
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.
First and foremost, I would like to tell you a little bit of what my grandfather told me on his experience in the battlefield. He said it was a terrifying ordeal, and all you could see was people getting murdered, children, adults, babies it didn’t matter. He suffered from PTSD and night terrors because of what he had experienced in war. Sometimes he tells me “I can close my eyes and still see all the people screaming, men with limbs blown off of them, and innocent people getting shot right in front of me,” because of the stories he tells me I always never wanted to step foot into any war. Presumably, it would be a terrifying experience.