Should Child Soldiers Be Granted Amnesty Essay

Although they can be rehabilitated like Ishmael, most times this does not happen in countries like Sierra Leone through the influence they have from drugs and after being brainwashed, they will often go back into war or they get captured again and become child soldier once more. It is very rare for someone that went through war and has become a child soldier to go back to having a normal and peaceful life as their minds are scarred for life. Also, they threaten and disrespect those around them, although they are innocent for doing nothing to them. The article “The Child Soldier on Trial at Guantanamo”, is about deciding if the past child soldier, Khadr, should be prosecuted or not. It says, “Former interrogators and Dr. Welner testified that when Khadr was angry at his guards, he would recall how he had killed a U.S. soldier and that would make him happy,” (Prasow, 2015).

Snatched from their families, with guns pointed at their heads, they are forced to kill. Beaten and drugged, they lose all moral values. They are brainwashed into believing that killing is required to survive. These people are children, innocent victims, who need rescue. First of all, child soldiers are treated very poorly - like machines - to perform one task: kill.

“ 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

The first reason i think that child soldiers should not be prosecuted is because while kids are young they don 't have much control over what they get to do, lots of kids have to do what their parent or guardian says, and i am sure that when kids get recruited they have no choice but to go. In an article i read said that when a child soldier is recruited that they have no choice but to join. This matches with the story because it explains that kids don’t have a choice but to join when they get recruited. Kids also don’t get to choose what

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.

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.

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.

The most important reason why child soldiers should be granted amnesty is because it is not their will to commit these crimes, it is simply being forced into act they would never commit unless their life was on the line. Emma Gordon, writer on E-international Relations Students says, “Children are often abducted at a young age, brutally initiated and forced to commit heinous atrocities, they are undoubtedly victims of these conflicts” (2011). Gordon uses the word “abducted” which shows that most if not all of child soldiers don’t chose to live that way. Additionally, the bulletin health

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.

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.

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.

However, although the acts that child soldiers carry out may be horrific, they can still be forgiven and the children can be reconciled.

"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

The child soldiers deserve amnesty, rehabilitation, not to be locked away. Being incarcerated could cause them to become even more dangerous than they already are. Child soldiers need help and attention instead of being forced behind bars and forgotten.

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.