As long as former child soldiers show that they will not recommit their acts of violence, they should be granted amnesty. Child soldiers are often forced into being violent. They shouldn’t be held responsible for things that they were essentially forced to do. Although there is plenty of evidence showing that child soldiers should be given amnesty, some may argue the opposite. People may say that they could sacrifice their own lives instead of killing others, but that is too much to expect of kids. 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.” This quote shows that many of them don’t have any interest in being soldiers, so they don’t want to be violent. “They are easily manipulated.” (Gettleman) Since they are only kids, we shouldn’t expect them to be mature enough to think about what they are doing as soldiers. Besides, most child soldiers don’t …show more content…
They might suggest that instead of taking others lives, they could decide to not follow orders. But this would result in the child soldiers most likely getting shot. That sacrifice is really too much to expect of kids, and would even be a tough decision for adults who are already matured. So we should most definitely not judge child soldiers on their violent acts, because to expect them to give their own life is far too
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Show MoreFirst of all, child soldiers go to extremes for such little things like having to ask for thing to be given to them. In the book by Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone, an actual child soldier who is now rehabilitated shared his experiences through the war in Sierra Leone. It says, “We placed a bucket over the cook’s head and pushed him around the kitchen until he burned his hand on a hot boiling pot and agreed to put more milk in our tea,” (Beah, 2007). This demonstrates how dangerous they can be to innocent people, even those that are trying to help. They hurt those no matter what, for their own desires and sometimes they just do this for their own entertainment.
The definition of a child solider is any child under the age of 18 recruited by a state or non-state armed group and used as fighters, cooks, suicide bombers, and human shields among other things. However regardless of what role the child plays, it is a clear violation of the fourth and twenty-sixth articles. The fourth states that there shall be no slavery of any person while the twenty-sixth protects the right of people (specifically children in this case) to get an education. The former applies to child soldiers as most of them are press ganged into joining and are then treated horribly. In the book When Elephants Fight by Eric Walters and Adrian Bradbury goes into detail about the reality of child soldiers in western Africa.
So, the captors do whatever they can to train the children to kill. Ishmael Beah, once a child soldier, was rescued by the UNICEF after being a child soldier for 2 years. As a child soldier, he saw crying children shot before his eyes, and he was brainwashed and drugged into oblivion. His captors desensitized him so much that he said, “Shooting became just like a drinking a glass of water.” So, when a child like Ishmael, who was
Have you ever had an opinion on if child soldiers should have consequences on their actions or have u ever thought that it is not all their fault? Many people say the kids should be prosecuted because they know what they were doing while others think differently. I believe that it is not the kids fault, the first reason i think this is because when kids are kids they can’t tell grown ups what they want to do. The second reason i think that they should not be prosecuted is because while they are being recruited they get drugged. The last reason i think that kids should be set off free is because when the children are fighting they can be in serious danger.
In the article Should Child Soldiers be Prosecuted For Their Crimes it says,“if a child is under the age of 15 is considered too young to fight then he or she must be considered too young to be held criminally responsible for serious violations.” This explains how that they are easily manipulated and targeted because they aren't legally responsible to take responsibility for their actions. Each child were held in hostilities and couldn't have to opportunity to not fight. Also in Should Child Soldiers be Prosecuted For Their Crimes a report within the article it says, “ The report says child soldiers should not be prosecuted simply for the association with an armed group of having participation in hostilities.” Children are targeted to be recruited to war because nobody can take responsibility for the
"They don't even have to be paid. " The international justice system is catching up with those who use children as soldiers.” Children are being manipulated by their own country, to do things they get no benefit from. This helps show this helps show that they should be respected because they are not given the freedom to have their own opinions and decide if they want to do something without being pushed around and being manipulated into doing something. People are telling them what they should be doing and that they need to be in
Child soldiers are unaware of their actions due to the drugs and alcohol pulsing through their bodies making them more compliant than they otherwise would be. In the article, Armed and Underage, states that, “... they are easily manipulated, intensely loyal, fearless and, most important, in endless supply. ”(Gettleman, Pg 6). This expresses that children have many traits that adults don't, making them much easier targets to the rebel groups. In the same writing piece the text states that, “‘These kids can be so easily brainwashed,’ Ali say.
In the article “Should Child Soldiers be Prosecuted for their Crimes?” it states, “‘... this principle might mitigate the responsibility of a child soldier who was forcibly recruited and forced, under threat of harm, to commit war crimes,’ ICRC adviser Young said”(Johannesburg). This shows that sometimes child soldiers are forced into committing a war crime which is illegal. And it would be very unfair if child soldiers were prosecuted because it is their commanders that are pushing them and forcing them to do such acts. It isn’t the child 's fault because they don’t know or understand what is happening and they don’t know they are doing something wrong because the leader told them to do it.
However, although the acts that child soldiers carry out may be horrific, they can still be forgiven and the children can be reconciled.
Have you ever thought about the long-lasting argument over whether child soldiers should be given amnesty? Well there is no definite answer and in many ways is a complicated argument. To begin with, child soldiers are kids that are usually forced to join armed forces and commit violence to people all around them through false promises and poverty. In many cases, once they join, its almost impossible to change their mind and leave because they immediately get brainwashed through drugs and alcohol. From there, the kids learn how to kill and then all of the violence starts to happen to those around them.
The author of Child Soldiers states, “ … kill innocent civilians, other children, and even their own families.” ( ) Child soldiers had not only killed innocent civilians, they had also killed their own families. They did not even have the heart to try to something else about it. From the same article it says, “Over the course of the past decades, child soldiers have been responsible for some of the most brutal acts in
However, what they’ve done doesn 't come with the fact that child soldiers live with rugged conditions, drugs, the influence of others. Even though some people believe that child soldier’s shouldn’t be given amnesty, overall, it becomes clear that these children should be given amnesty because many adults influence their actions, they live in inferior conditions, and children who enlist as child soldiers enlist for multiple reasons other than violence. First, in many areas, it can be clearly seen that child soldiers are influenced by their superiors. No one is ever born dangerous, it’s always their parents and environment that shape a child into who they are.
“ Many children volunteer to become soldiers in wartime out of patriotism or a desire to avenge the death of their families.” This tells me that they do it for protection or like payback for what they had done before to everyone. “ At the time they might believe that recruiting would lead to a safer life as necessities as food, water and shelter would be available.” This tells me that some child soldiers join and everything because they need food and somewhere to live because they don't have it and they need it. This is another reason why I think child soldiers should be
In the article, “CHILD SOLDIERS AND THE GLOBAL AGENDA” it says, “Children need be the victims of war only if there is no will to prevent it.” This helps show how children should not be involved in war in the first place. They aren’t the ones who have started the war. It isn’t their fault in the first place so why are people punishing the children for their involvement when it wasn’t their fault. They expect the kids to serve time or to get a death sentence when it was adults like them who brought them into this mess.
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.