In many Middle Eastern and African countries, independent groups and even armies are enlisting children, many younger than ten. Some are forced to do it, being taken from their homes, or even enlisted by their own parents. Child soldiers are unable to understand the consequences of their actions, and they kill others mindlessly. Even if the children do initially understand what they are doing is wrong, they are lied to and brainwashed until they believe it is right. Child soldiers should not be punished with war crimes because they do not want to fight, do not understand what they are doing wrong, and are constantly being brainwashed by leaders.
The first reason that child soldiers should be granted amnesty is that many child soldiers are
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“They lack the mental maturity and judgment to express consent or to fully understand the implications of their actions,” (IRIN, 1). Most child soldiers start fighting at an extremely young age. Because of this, most of them do not know that what they are doing is wrong. “The Children and Justice During and in the Aftermath of Armed Conflict report says: ‘If a child under the age of 15 is considered too young to fight, then he or she must also be considered too young to be held criminally responsible,’” (IRIN, 1). If children that are forced to fight are not legally old enough to fight, they cannot be punished because they may not realize the magnitude or effect what they do will have. Even if they do understand that violence and killing is wrong, they have no say and can do nothing to get out of the situation. “Eleven-year-old Abu Imara al Omri kneels down to kiss his father's hand; a final blessing before the boy blows himself up in a truck full of explosives,” (McLaughlln, 1). Child soldiers will do whatever the leaders want them to do. This could be because they are forced to, or they may simply just not understand what harm could be caused to them. As in the case of Abu Imara, they may volunteer to become a suicide bomber because they want to be appreciated, but they don’t realize what they are getting into. Child soldiers are too young to understand …show more content…
Many child soldiers enlist themselves or are enlisted by their parents because leaders promise the children that if they fight, their family will be taken care of. “ISIS offered financial rewards to recruit children for the same training undergone by adults, according to a separate U.N. report…” (Vinograd, Balkiz, Omar, 1). Parents enlist their children thinking it will get them out of financial issues, but once the child begins to fight, this promise is broken. In reality, these leaders do not care about the families. What they do care about is finding as many children as possible to fight. Since many families in these countries are in desperate situations, this tactic works very well. Children are also told that they are fighting for their religion, and to not fight would be to disrespect their religion. This strategy is used heavily by ISIS. "‘These children won't have any point of reference other than jihadism so the ideology will be a lot more firm in their heads’” (Vinograd, Balkiz, Omar, 1). ISIS leaders tell the children they are fighting for their religion, when in reality, it does not support fighting. Leaders bend the words children grow up around to make them seem like they support violence. Once child soldiers are brainwashed, they can not understand their actions, and won’t think they are doing anything wrong because they are
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.
As defined by Timothy Webster, author of Babes with Arms: International Law and Child Soldiers, a child soldier is “any person under the age of eighteen who is or has been associated with any kind of regular or irregular armed group, including those who serve as porters, spies, cooks, messengers and including girls recruited for sexual purposes (Webster, 2007, pp.230). As this definition reveals, a child soldier is more than simply a child with a gun. It is estimated that there are approximately 300,000 children under the age of 18, being used as soldiers in 33 conflicts currently, and this figure continues to rise (Webster, 2007, pp.227). Similarly, in 1999 it was estimated that more than 120,000 children, under the age of 18, were used as soldiers to fight ...
The first reason these kids shouldn’t be prosecuted or punished in any way is because it wasn’t their choice to be a soldier to begin with. According to Child Soldiers, Prosecution, most kids were forced to fight and had no choice of weather to enlist or not. There are about 200,000 child soldiers worldwide state's Armed and Underage, (Gettleman) and these kids are doing things their adolescent brains
There is no exact known number of children currently being utilised in warfare worldwide. The issue of the military use of children is so widespread that no figure can be calculated, although it is estimated that there are currently over 250,000 child soldiers across the world. Many are drugged and brainwashed into murder, many are forced to sever all ties with their family or watch them die. Most are faced with a simple choice: kill or be killed. Although the notion of child soldiers is vastly alien to contemporary Australian society, it is a reality in many parts of the world. ISIS have been known to employ the use of children in warfare and over 30,000 children have been abducted into the Lord’s Resistance Army for military purposes. It
...t they are easy to access; they are low cost, and easy to manipulate. When children are on the battlefield fighting for their lives, they become more violent and tend to do more killing than usual, raping girls, and torturing others. The armies, militia, and rebel groups recruit the children and separate the community to resist the conscription. The child is being forced to commit murder and turn against their family and friends because this proves that the child is recognized and implicated in the violence they have created. Child soldiers are known to be criminals, traitors, or even terrorists, so they would be held in military prisons. When either girl or boys are captured they go through abusive interrogation procedure, torture, isolations, rape, and death threats. These are the consequences of children being on the battlefield and shortly after being captured.
Over the past month or two we have been reading many articles and even the book “ Along Way Gone” by Ishmael Beah. These articles and this book have taken us into some child soldiers stories and what it was like having to participate in the war. These children were forced to take part in these crimes, they were brutally tortured, and many were shot because they didn’t obey their commanders. In my opinion I believe that child soldiers should be granted amnesty.
“This is how wars are fought now: by children, traumatized, hopped-up on drugs, and wielding AK-47s” (Beah). Innocent, vulnerable, and intimidated. These words describe the more than 300,000 children in nations throughout the world coerced into combat. As young as age seven, boys and girls deemed child soldiers participate in armed conflict, risking their lives and killing more innocent others. While many individuals recollect their childhood playing games and running freely, these children will remember “playing” with guns and running for their lives. Many children today spend time playing video games like Modern Warfare, but for some children, it is not a game, it is reality. Although slavery was abolished nearly 150 years ago, the act of forcing a child into a military position is considered slavery and is a continuously growing trend even today despite legal documents prohibiting the use of children under the age of 18 in armed conflict. Being a child soldier does not merely consist of first hand fighting but also work as spies, messengers, and sex slaves which explains why nearly 30 percent of all child soldiers are girls. While the use and exploitation of these young boys and girls often goes unnoticed by most of the world, for those who have and are currently experiencing life as a child soldier, such slavery has had and will continue to have damaging effects on them both psychologically and physically.
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
Some people argue that in certain situations, child soldiers are too volatile to be let free and therefore not given amnesty. While this is indeed a problem, child soldiers should be taken to a center where they can receive adequate treatment until their psychological state is acceptable for living in the world by themselves. Another reason some people believe child soldiers should not be granted amnesty is because some child soldiers have said that they enjoyed harming others. While this may be true, this is not the true nature of the child and you can hardly blame them for these thoughts because they have been brainwashed and drugged to think this. This should not stop them from receiving amnesty and with the proper psychological treatment, it is nothing to worry
“Children, you call them? They can pull a trigger just as well as veterans …” (Colonel Marcus Cullen, War Hammer 40,000). People should question the world in which they live when a child is forced to become a soldier. Especially when the children are under the age of 18, they should not be required to fight. Many children who are demanded to fight are taken from their families. These young adolescents are mistreated; malnurtured, abused and the girls are usually used for sexual purposes.
In the world, there are about 300,000 children recruited as child soldiers (Hill 1). One-third of this number of children fight and serve for the government military or rebel groups in Africa (Hill 1). “According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, child soldiers are defined as all children engaged in hostilities under age 18. Although they are under 18, the roles of children in armed conflict are not limited because of their young age. Some children fight on the front lines of combat. Others perform manual labor, such as digging trenches, working in the kitchen, or carrying food, ammunition, or other supplies, often for long distances. Still others, primarily female children and adolescents, are reduced to sexual servants for military and rebel leaders” (Hill 1).
Child soldier is a worldwide issue, but it became most critical in the Africa. Child soldiers are any children under the age of 18 who are recruited by some rebel groups and used as fighters, cooks, messengers, human shields and suicide bombers, some of them even under the aged 10 when they are forced to serve. Physically vulnerable and easily intimidated, children typically make obedient soldiers. Most of them are abducted or recruited by force, and often compelled to follow orders under threat of death. As society breaks down during conflict, leaving children no access to school, driving them from their homes, or separating them from family members, many children feel that rebel groups become their best chance for survival. Others seek escape from poverty or join military forces to avenge family members who have been killed by the war. Sometimes they even forced to commit atrocities against their own family (britjob p 4 ). The horrible and tragic fate of many unfortunate children is set on path of war murders and suffering, more nations should help to prevent these tragedies and to help stop the suffering of these poor, unfortunate an innocent children.
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.
“I would like to give you a message, please do your best to tell the world what is happening to us, the children. So that other children do not have to pass through this violence.”
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).