In the United States the idea of children serving as soldiers is an unfathomable concept; in many countries around the world, however, child soldiers perform tasks such as robbery, torture, and even murder for people such as drug lords, and political activists. Things like this are tragic even for adults; dealing with death everyday, knowing that one could be killed any second by an opposing force can really hurt someone mentally, and physically. This tragedy is not really even thought of that much, even though the effects are severe. Kids who have not even had the chance to raise a family, fall in love, or even go to school are either joining or being forced to join a war effort that can ruin their lives.
Child soldiers are kids whose ages are under 18 who are used in any aspect of war. From the front line to cooks kids are used in many different ways, some might be safer than others, but the underage use of child solders is still frowned upon. Most of the time boys are used as cooks, soldiers, and horrible, human shields. (Child Soldiers International Charity) This is cruel and shouldn’t be brought upon anyone. These kids are used for things that most soldiers would not do because of how gullible kids are, they honestly do not know better, so the kids are manipulated and pushed around to do things that the average soldier either is too scared to do, or to risky for them to do. (Child Soldiers International Charity)
On the other hand girls are used for totally different things, sometimes they are used in the field of battle, sometimes they cook for the army, and sometimes they even use them for sex. (Child Soldiers International Charity) The troops really abuse these kid’s; another huge thing that impacts these kid’s live...
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In a significant part of the world, there are many countries that recruit child to become soldiers against their will. Child soldiers are being utilized to commit horrendous actions that people would not believe could be done by just kids. The United States should intervene in wars where child soldiers are being used ,because they are transformed against their will,being killed and the ones who survived are more likely to become psychopaths.
There are thousands of soldiers that are under the age of 18 around the world. Many kidnapped and are forced into war. They are forced to do brutal things like kill their friends and family. They are also brainwashed by being drugged so they can kill in the war.
Children have been used as soldiers in many events, however two that stand out are the use of child soldiers in the Sierra Leone civil war and the drug cartels in Mexico. Most people agree that forcing children to be soldiers is wrong and not humane. The people that make them soldiers transform them into belligerent beings by force. Child soldiers of drug cartels and the armies of Sierra Leone were threatened with their lives if they didn’t become soldiers. The lives of these child soldiers are lives that nobody should live. Situations in both countries are horrible because of the high number of youngsters that are forced to take part in drug use and are transformed into extremely belligerent and inhumane people; in addition they are deprived
First of all the child soldiers/suicide bombers are located in many different continents all around the world. The majority is based in the Middle East and Africa: Burma, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Congo, Liberia, and also Sierra Leone (British Broadcasting Corporation World Watch). Being poor, disconnected from their families, or get a poor to no education make them more likely to become victims (Human Rights Watch). Girls make up an estimated 10-30% of the child soldiers in Uganda and Nepal (Do Something). Some join because they are too young to realize the consequences that war may bring upon them, and want to be a part of the army because of the weapons they use and uniforms they wear. Being bathed, fed, and properly clothed is another reason for them wanting to be a part of these groups, in which they would not receive during their every-day lives (British Broadcasting Corporation World Watch). The children that survive the war are captured by the rebel groups and are then converted into child soldiers, along with the kids who had just...
Most of these kids had the choice to be killed or become a child soldier. All the soldiers chose the wrong choice, a choice that would make them a criminal. In the article, Armed and Underage it states, 8,000 children are fighting in armed rebel groups battling the U.S. government. The worst part of this is, many children volunteer to become soldiers. If a child volunteers are held accountable for the acts committed, stated in child soldiers,
They are just kids. Only, they are not normal, they have lost everything they love and need to feel safe. Their family, a reliable food source, and their shelter- all gone. These kids are left completely stranded. Searching for the things that were taken from them. This is terrible because when these kids see others around their age fighting with these commanders, that are around the age of their parents or older siblings… the kids must think that now they have a chance getting the things they are searching for. Although now they are trapped, they are going to fight with these people no matter what, and some of these commanders have children as young as nine years old fighting for on their front lines. As told in the article “Armed and Underage” by Jeffrey Gettleman. Also, it is not just boys who are joining and fighting. Girls will join too, because they are looking for the same thing. But it is even worse for them. They are forced to be cooks, messengers, spies, and sexual slaves. This comes with sexual abuse, and rape. The sad thing is, this is only my first reason as to why child soldiers should be given amnesty, and a guided path to
Imagine being given a gun and drugs and forced to kill on demand or be killed. This is the life of a child soldier in a nutshell. There is no question that child soldiers should be given amnesty because they are being forced to do things against their will and hardly have a choice of what they are doing. A child in a village doesn’t get to decide if their village is attacked and they are made a soldier. It is wrong that someone, especially a child, should be held accountable for something they can’t control except to lose their own life instead.
Throughout the world children younger than 18 are being enlisted into the armed forces to fight while suffering through multiple abuses from their commanders. Children living in areas and countries that are at war are seemingly always the ones being recruited into the armed forces. These children are said to be fighting in about 75 percent of the world’s conflicts with most being 14 years or younger (Singer 2). In 30 countries around the world, the number of boys and girls under the age of 18 fighting as soldiers in government and opposition armed forces is said to be around 300,000 (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 1). These statistics are clearly devastating and can be difficult to comprehend, since the number of child soldiers around the world should be zero. Furthermore, hundreds of thousands adolescent children are being or have been recruited into paramilitaries, militias and non-state groups in more than 85 countries (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 1). This information is also quite overwhelming. Child soldiers are used around the world, but in some areas, the numbers are more concentrated.
One reason why child soldiers are victims is they are taken advantage of in armed forces. Children tend to act without thinking through so then on command they commit terrible acts of violence. In a breeze, they can be taken control of because they are more easy to manipulate than adults. As a result, commanders use this as a tool when recruiting
When war is thought of, usually a picture comes to mind of man vs man, nut in reality, there is women, and even children. Children fighting, killing, dieing. The natural thought of a child may be happiness, games, and toys. What about guns, grenades, and explosions? That is right, guns. Children with guns, killing other human beings is quite disturbing once really thought of. Children from other countries killing other without regret. Child soldiers should be held accountable for their actions. These children committed serious crimes, they had a choice to do what they did, and these children lack emotion.
Children at such a young age don't have the mental ability to think long term about their actions, especially when they are being forced or drugged. Some may argue that if child criminals get punished for their actions, then child soldiers should too, but that is just not the case. The difference being, child criminals choose to commit their crimes, child soldiers are forced to commit crimes. As an example, in the article Child Soldiers it states, “More often than not, children have no say in whether they enlist or not and once recruited the children have become brainwashed through the use of drugs and alcohol” (Child Soldiers).
There are three hundred millions of children under the age of eighteen who are used in war for the purpose of violence and target killing. Because of the kids participating in the war, they do not get to have a chance at life. Child soldiers have unique health problems. Youths and teenagers utilize their energy to destroy humanity through weapons. Although, the contribution of children may help in the war, the environment has negative effects on youth and kids. Therefore, the use of child soldiers must stop throughout the world.
Robinson, Lori S, and Jimmie Briggs “Kids and Violence” Emerge November. 1993:44+ Seifert, Kathryn. A.
A highly debated topic amongst society is whether or not child soldiers should be considered as victims or criminals. There are children in this world that don’t get to experience the wonders of growing up. They are trained to hold a gun and shoot a man with no second thoughts, and if they don’t obey there are serious consequences, one being death. These children are bribed to become a soldier with money and food, sometimes they have to accept in order for their family to be fed. Child soldiers should be treated like victims because they are brainwashed into thinking that killing people is okay, the recruitment of child soldiers under the age of 15 is a war crime, and when they are recruited they are treated very poorly and often given the
Child Soldiers: The use of children in the military. Child Soldiers have three different roles in armed conflict. They can take a direct part in hostilities, or they can be used for support, such as sexual slaves, lookouts, messengers, and spies. Also, they can be used in the political aspect of war. Because many children have been physically or mentally damaged by their participation in armed conflict, children should not have any involvement in any armed conflict and should be removed indefinitely from warfare. Every child has the right to go to school, free from violence. Children have been used in the military for hundreds of years.