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Many American childhoods consist of innumerable “adventures” and “missions,” in which a little brother and an older brother would be at war, shooting each other with our squirt guns and water balloons. Although American childhoods consist of play fighting and shooting it isn’t exactly “play fighting” for many children from foreign countries. Many children are forced into real warfare. Not only are these child soldiers used in the front of battle lines, but they are also used for cruel roles such as suicide bombers and for sexual purposes. There are numerous countries that use child soldiers, these under privileged kids are very vulnerable when it comes to become recruited, and the chances of these kids recovering and returning to normal are very slim.

Many people that aren’t too profound on the subject regarding child soldiers believe that child soldiers are only used by rebel groups in Africa. Although a majority of child soldiers are used by African rebel organizations, there are many other countries that use child soldiers. Some of the other countries that use child soldiers include: Afghanistan, Colombia, India, Iraq, Israel, Uganda, Mali, Pakistan, Thailand, Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen. The child soldiers of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) made headlines in 2012, as a video surfaced online known as, KONY 2012. The video, which cultivated awareness of child soldiers in Uganda, became the most viral video ever. Uganda’s LRA has abducted around 30,000 children, which is only 12% of the 250,000 kids that are currently serving as child soldiers around the world.

Children are besieged to become soldiers for many reasons. Children are very vulnerable when it comes to getting recruited. A majority of child soldiers do ...

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...ir actions. For example, child soldier Ishmael Beah from Sierra Leone was prosecuted and jailed, which really only strengthened the problems children are facing. Ismeal Beah was quoted saying: “I didn’t have a life as child. In five years as a fighting boy, what was in my heart was to kill as many Muslims as possible.” Children at this age should not have to resort to such harsh treatment. Not only this, they were only 15 when they were prosecuted which means, they were still too young for prosecution. Overall, Many believe child soldiers should not be held responsible for their crimes. From the drugs to the alcohol, these children are placed under horrific circumstances which are outrageous. They kill to stay alive and those who try to escape are killed. Any child, any human, who has to live under such situations should not be convicted for their crimes.