Should Child Soldiers Be Prosecuted For Their Crimes Essay

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.

In the last decade, progress has been made in establishing criminal responsibility for the recruitment and use of child soldiers. The Child Soldier Accountability Act is a positive next step as it would enable the US to prosecute military commanders who recruit or use child soldiers under the age of 15, whether committed here or abroad by either US citizens or non-citizens present in the United States.

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.

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. When these children use their weapons, others are killed, and these children can get prosecuted. Child soldiers should be given amnesty because they are not fully responsible for their actions, they join without fully knowing what they are doing and for reasons other than wanting to fight, and they should be rehabilitated instead of being prosecuted.

When you picture war, what do you see? Is it people with tanks and Ak-47s fighting each other? Maybe adults in camo fighting in the desert? Or perhaps even an image from your Call of Duty video game pops into your head. But what most people don’t imagine is children, ages 9-15, fighting each other and dying at the hands of guns and other weapons. Although this might seem unrealistic, it is a reality for thousands of pre-adolescents around the world. Many places such as Sierra Leone have recruited hundreds of children to fight in wars. Some families die due to the violence, while other children are taken or come willingly and are brainwashed and drugged into thinking that what they are doing is normal. They refer to their commanders as father

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.

Have you ever mentioned the subject of child soldiers in a standard conversation? Most likely not. Child soldiers are not an everyday discussion topic, but recently they have grown more and more popular. While in the past, “children were not particularly effective as front-line fighters since most of the lethal hardware was too heavy and cumbersome for them to manipulate” (unicef.org), weapons have become lighter, and younger infantries have followed suit. While childhoods usually don’t consist of shooting people, taking villages, and other awful acts of war, they can, and this physiologically impacts a child. However, although the acts that child soldiers carry out may be horrific, they can still be forgiven and the children can be reconciled.

Many child soldiers had gone through traumatizing events, but should be given amnesty. Child Soldiers have been the cause of the death of innocent people. They were put up to do that job and went through with it without question. Many people believe that child soldiers should not be given amnesty, but others think they should be forgiven. They did not choose to kill people, most were forced, drugged, and tortured into doing it. Even though there are people that believe child soldiers should be forgiven, others think different. These child soldiers had knew exactly what they were doing, but not even question the idea. There are many child soldiers that have gone through horrible things, but should not be forgiven.

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. Others argue that child soldiers are dangerous and without doubt should not be given amnesty, however, child soldiers should be given amnesty because they are forced to join through false promises and poverty, get brainwashed with drugs and alcohol, and are usually too young to understand what they are being involved in.

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

A child, not any older than 13, walks through the remains of a city. With an AK-47 in his hands and cocaine in his system, he is alert and ready to do what he has to in order to survive. As he walks through the gravel and sees civilians crying on the ground, he remembers his family, his friends, and his other lost loved ones. This child grows sad yet angry at the same time--he wants vengeance. The next thing he knows his commander is standing at his side giving him one simple order: kill.

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. 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.

Child Soldiers An organization that addresses the issue of child soldiers is named “War Child”. Based in the United Kingdom, War Child provides life-changing support to the most vulnerable children whose families, communities and schools have been torn apart by war. This includes child soldiers, in addition to other children whose lives have been forever changed by war. A general overview of War Child’s organization highlights key endeavors such as protecting, educating and advocating for those children. War Child provides quite a few services to address the issue of child soldiers.

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.

In an excerpt form an article by Michael Karwowski he explains the severe tolls of being a child soldier. “Too often, a [circumstance] of [betrayal] in their brutal new environment is that child soldiers exhibit a willingness to turn against their own community in a way that ensures their summary execution or lengthy imprisonment for war crimes if they then attempt to return. As a result, most child soldiers are like