Child Soldiers Should Be Prosecuted

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.

Today, approximately 200,000 children are being used as soldiers around the world, usually against their will. Children as young as nine are put on the front lines of war. Many adolescent girls are subjected to sexual abuse, including rape. Thousands of children are purchased, kidnapped, and terrorized into joining the countries army where they are used as suicide bombers, soldiers, & to clear minefields. You may be informed that many children are or have been a child soldier.

However, the overall process of war is still imprinted upon the lives of many who remember exactly what happened and what they went through during the time of the war. People suffer from PTSD because of wars. It is a disorder caused by the extreme and acute stress faced by people in a traumatizing situation and the Vietnam War left thousands of soldiers with PTSD on both ends of the war. Soldiers were assigned tasks such as maiming, torturing and killing thousands of Vietnamese who came in their way and

However, a new question rises- should the mentally ill and emotionally disturbed be allowed to have guns? Or should teachers be armed? The emotionally and mentally ill are incapable to be trusted with a weapon that can be capable of taking the life of another, and teachers should not be armed because they lack the judgement to shoot a student and training. As the topic of gun control surfaces the news and media, the gun

In 2018, physical abuse is “hidden”, but it is present in such large numbers especially in children, “Children are suffering from a hidden epidemic of child abuse and neglect… Every year more than 3.6 million referrals are made to child protection agencies…” (childhelp). Physical abuse is a major issue current day, every day 7 to 10 children die due to abuse or neglect. Because abuse was such a big issue in history, and is such a big issue current day, abuse laws are now being enforced in order to prevent future cases from

On top of that almost all child soldiers are drugged, to subdue them so that they will do what they are told without hesitation. Also while they are drugged the child soldiers are brainwashed by the commanders everyday to trick the kids into thinking what they are doing is good. CNN reporter states that “Once recruited, many are brainwashed, trained, given drugs and then sent into battle with orders to kill.”(O'Neill Paragraph 3) .

During the eleven year timeframe of the Afghanistan and Iraq war, countless men and women died in order to create peace around the world. Over six thousand American soldiers lost their lives, fighting to end conflict. However, in those same eleven years, nearly twice as many innocent women were murdered by spouses, boyfriends, and girlfriends (The Huffington Post). They were victims of intimate partner violence, also known as IPV, one of the most brutal forms of domestic abuse. The women who face IPV are exposed to several types of harm, including physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.

A physics teacher, Mr Dave Young, also died suddenly in the night. You could see the fear in the students eyes when they arrived to school and the flag was at half-mass. The feeling was all too familiar for many and when the news came in our homeroom classes I saw devastation and sorrow that I didn't know was possible. Seeing my teacher (Mr Joe Webster) the most inspirational person I know break down and cry, along with many of my peers was a life changing experience like coming to Count Me In. I have tried to capture the pain my school community has felt in this message, but I don't think I ever could adequately describe this school's

According to Gettleman in “Armed & Underage” he states, “While the number of conflicts involving child soldiers has dropped since 2004 from 27 to 15, human-rights experts estimate that more than 200,000 children worldwide are still being used as combatants, usually against their will. And it isn't just boys: Girls are often pressed into duty as cooks or messengers. Many are subjected to sexual abuse, including rape.” Gettleman is saying that boys and girls that are in the army have to deal with struggles. This supports that war brings hardship to countries and their people because in this case, the children that are drafted in the army are dealing with hardship with being in the army.

They have a thought that being violent with the children would make them raised in a good way. Sometimes they resort to violence to stop the children from doing unethical things such as when the parents know that one of their children has done a wrong thing; in this case the parents start to use many forms of violence including the physical abuse by beating and knocking them, using weapons and violating on the body. The social abuse which includes the isolation from family gathering and friends meeting and deprivation from the entertaining things as mobile phones and watching TV, and the emotional abuse including the blaming and threatening and economical abuse which is prevention from the pocket money. According to Shahe (2015) some forms of family violence is related to abuse the female member of the family who behaved in unethical way that is thought to brought shame and dishonor to the family, sometimes it may lead to killing or punishing to restore the family’s

Being in such outrageous and sickening situations, it causes the children 's developing brains to go crazy. Death is not easy, especially on children because they don’t understand it. They were just given guns and told to shoot. Other kids are either raped or wounded which also leave a psychological scar. It causes the children to go into the state of depression.

With over 620,000 deaths, the American Civil War was definitely one of the bloodiest wars in history. The battles between the Union and the Confederate troops raged on from 1861 to 1865 and ruined the lives and families of countless people. There were prison camps that tormented their prisoners, animals that were used until death, and diseases that ran rampant throughout the soldiers’ barracks. An average of 504 people died every day due to battle, which is actually a record (Civil War by the Numbers). Countless problems were faced by almost everyone that was a part of the battles, and by those who were only affected in second-hand ways.

The kids who are fighting are being bribed, manipulated, and brainwashed. In the article ‘Armed and Underaged’, it says, “They (the children) are easily manipulated, intensely loyal, fearless, and, most important, in endless supply” (Gettleman 6). Easily manipulated with many kinds of things such as drugs. Also stated is, “They don’t complain, they don’t expect to be paid-and if you tell them to kill they will kill” (Gettelman 6). That goes along with the whole brainwashing thing.

His sister, who ran to pull him off, had both her arms broke and her head bruised. The boy

Post traumatic stress disorder is triggered after a traumatic event someone has gone through, and creates a high anxiety disorder. Symptoms may include nightmares, reliving the experience, and feeling distant from friends and family. “It is estimated as many as 400,000 service members live with the invisible wounds of war including combat-related stress, major depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder” (Wounded Warrior Project). PTSD can last for weeks or months, and if treated properly, symptoms can be resolved. If PTSD is not treated, it can lead to alcohol and drug abuse, outbursts of anger, and sleeping problems.