Preview

Argumentative Essay On Child Soldiers

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1604 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Argumentative Essay On Child Soldiers
For many children in the world, being forced to become a soldier has a high chance of becoming reality. Recently, there has been many debates regarding the topic of child soldiers around the world. Whether to give amnesty has been the majority of the debate. Many children around the world are forced into being child soldiers due to poverty and personal circumstances. They are faced with the reality of being forced to becoming a child soldier and are stilted into committing horrible crimes. When deciding to give amnesty, which mean to offer forgiveness, it comes down to the crimes committed and the age of the child. After looking at the evidence, giving amnesty seems to be the reasonable response to the child soldier issue. Some of the major …show more content…
One article researched about what happens if the children were even to disobey a simple order, much less dry to escape. The article talks about how child soldiers have to follow the orders of their commanders or else they would be severely punished or possibly killed. Child soldiers are often forced to physically punish and kill other soldiers, including the other child soldiers. Anyone accused of desertion or any other crimes is beaten and most likely killed (Coercion and Intimidation of Child Soldiers to Participate in Violence). This provides that if the children were ever caught trying to escape, they would be beaten and killed. By doing this, the commanders instilled this fear in the children, making it impossible for the children to leave that lifestyle because they had it drill so far into their innocent minds that if they disobeyed, they would die. A further piece of evidence that supports that child soldiers should receive amnesty because they could not escape the lifestyle is from a former child soldier. The now grown man requests that he remain anonymous but does go on to state “The reason is for us to know that if we run away later we will get beaten like that too"(Coercion and Intimidation of Child Soldiers to Participate in Violence). The former child soldier goes on to talk about how they formed this horrific punishment …show more content…
Though it could be argued that child soldiers should not receive amnesty, evidence concludes that child soldiers should receive amnesty due to many differing facts. These children were forced to commit horrible crimes under the influence of many things. These innocent children should receive amnesty due to the facts that they could not change how there world was. Overall, child soldiers should receive amnesty for multiple reasons because these children could not control the awful things that happened to them and for that, they should receive forgiveness. Though child soldiers have no impact on many people's daily lives, there are many things that people can do to help them. Donating to a child soldier rescue program or even just spreading the word about the growing

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Child soldiers should be given amnesty unless they did it voluntarily. Children are kidnapped every year and are forced into the military. Some children join for personal gain revenge, better life, etc.. They have almost no choice in whether to fight or not, It’s usually join or die. This article explores the evidence to answer the question, should involuntary child soldiers be granted amnesty.…

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    You sit in a trench and wait for your orders to come. You look left and right to see your comrades sitting with you, but they aren’t grown men and women, they are children. Your mind is unsteady and lightheaded from the drugs you were given. When you look out of the trench you see children only eight years of age marching into a village and burning everything down to a smoldering ash. Some children do it for protection others doing it for their religion. Hundreds of lives were taken when the village burned down, and it was all at the hands of children. Child soldiers have been in existence for years. People believe that child soldiers should be punished for their crimes and put into jail, but why? Why would you put a little one in jail when they were told what they were doing was right? These minors have not been given the proper chance to live a life to the fullest of their potential.…

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Child soldiers are being forced and drugged in order to do what others want. Child soldiers have been abused,tortured,drugged,brainwashed and taught how to handle a gun and even kill. Child soldiers have had their homes destroyed their crops taken and their lives taken away. Their families slaughtered and money and jobs taken away.…

    • 143 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Child soldiers shouldn't be prosecuted as adults for their actions. Instead they should be rehabilitated. Instead they could be rehabilitated. With rehabilitation it could help them heal from the damage caused for such trauma. Others argue that they still have done the crimes and it wouldn't be right, especially for victims, to let them free. The children shouldn't be blamed for what they are forced to do, the people authority should have punishment for having child soldiers. Giving child soldiers adult consequences for their actions would be insensitive and more damaging. Their brain isn't fully developed, making them easily manipulatable. Child soldiers shouldn't be persecuted instead of rehabilitated.…

    • 621 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the history of war, child soldiers have always played a role in determining the outcome of the battle. These soldiers have lately stirred up a large portion of talk about whether they should be granted amnesty or not. Amnesty is a pardon of all crimes a person has committed, and considering what child soldiers have done; they should not receive that option. While people for amnesty may have excuses for all the problems they have caused, it does not deny that these children have caused many troubles all over the world the world. To exemplify, child soldiers should not be given amnesty because they kill, maim, and do other horrific deeds, their aggressive behavior from their past remains, and killing eventually becomes second nature to the…

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Child Soldiers

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Thy will be shot or killed but also, they depend on of the commander for food, money, drugs and alcohol.They become addicted and stay to be provided for. It’s a big family, for some of them, they are given a roof over their head that some children there have never had.”Most children are forcibly recruited and even when they enlist they may not have thought carefully about their decision or made an informed choice.”(Child Soldiers, Prosecution, page 11). Some had just witnessed their families death and the adult soldiers take advantage of them. They also think differently than adults their minds are not fully developed until age 22. They should have amnesty because they were drugged and many were forced to do their act. Also, not all fully understood what was happening because they process information differently because they are children.…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    throughout the world. It is estimated that there are as many if not more than 300,000 child soldiers around the world. Since 2001 and as of 2008, child soldiers have participated in 21 on-going or recent armed conflicts in almost every region of the world. Ranging from ages of 8 to 15, child soldiers are raped, abused, and sometimes even sent on suicide missions if they haven't died from the hardship put on a child in the military. 40% of child soldiers are recruited by force and many times forced to kill their family so that they don't have anything to come back to if they escape from the military. Although many countries still practice the recruiting of children, I believe stopping this practice will cause benefits to society, child soldiers lives, and quality of the protection of the country that stops this practice.…

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Justice systems are struggling to determine whether child soldiers should be treated as victims or predators. Some say if a child soldier is considered too young to fight then, he or she should be too young to be held criminally responsible for serious violations. Child soldiers lack the mental maturity to fully understand the implications of their actions.…

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When you think about people doing violent crimes, you automatically assume they’re guilty. What if they were sold and forced into doing crimes? They would be still be guilty right? In the article ‘Amnesty says Mali Continues to Jail Former Child Soldiers’ it mentions that commanders committed the crimes by forcing/recruiting the children to fight. This shows that really child soldiers did not have a choice to fight and that they were forced into it.…

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Child soldiers should not be held accountable for war crimes. They do not choose to fight or kill. There are 200,000 child soldiers worldwide that are being forced to fight against their will. Although they did not choose to fight, some people think they need to be held accountable.” These children knew exactly what they were doing and should not be excused from their actions…” Once their trust is earned, child soldiers can be easily manipulated. “Child soldiers are ideal,” a military commander from the African nation of Chad, told Human Rights Watch.”They don't complain, they don't expect to be paid-and if you tell them to kill they will kill.” Child soldiers should be granted amnesty because they just did what they were told to do.…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    They have to change their mind and body, to go to reality of the real world, instead of life in war. In the article Should child soldiers be prosecuted for their crimes?, the report stated how children need to be held accountable for the crimes they commit by more sufficient and appropriate methods, other than incarceration, empowering them to acknowledge their past and the crimes the execute. (should, 14). Rather than putting children in jail for murder, they should be rehabilitated so they can recognize what they did in the past was wrong. Because just putting them in prison for something they wouldn’t recognize was wrong wouldn’t be helping anyone; it would just be putting a short term solution on a long term problem. In the article Child Soldiers, the author gives “Demobilization and Reconciliation program, often abbreviated TTR and DDR, are far better ways of helping children recover and reintegrate back into society and out of war. The problem with prosecution is that it poses far too many problems” (Child, 18). A child from war needs to be pointed in the right direction instead of them having to dwell on what they did. The adolescent can turn their life around and focus on good things, other than situations of…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    First and foremost, the consideration of whether or not to help children is the issue. Many of them suffer from drug addiction and are basically brainwashed. To help the mass amount of child soldiers, we should give them amnesty. But we can’t just let them loose into the world because they can all still be dangerous. As the Armed & Underage article states, “They don’t complain, they don’t expect to be paid-and if you tell them to kill, they kill.” This is to show that if they are to hear the word kill, they’ll kill. Of course others may say differently. Personal research has been conducted and has…

    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thousands of children are serving as soldiers in armed conflicts around the world. Boys and girls serve in government forces and armed opposition groups. They may fight as front-line combatants, suicide bombers, mine sweepers, sex slaves, and spies.Many are abducted or recruited by force, while others join voluntarily, believing that armed groups offer their best chance for survival. We are working to prevent the use of child soldiers and to hold accountable the people who send children to fight. It threatens the core of the United Nations, and the heart of our world's future: Children. The US Child Soldiers Prevention Act prohibits the US government from providing…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Theses child soldiers are being forced to fight against their will. Ishmael Beth was a child soldier in a news report on CBS News and he said that they were drugged. Also a gun was held up to there held every second this went on. The children were also drug or sold out of their homes and put in the army, plus boys with no home or food go wandering into military base seeking help, instead they get enlisted and drugged.…

    • 446 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many Child soldiers are being placed in the middle of a war and should be granted amnesty. These children are being forced to fight. The warlords are using alcohol and drugs to make it so the children don’t know what they’re doing and are forcing the children to fight. They become brainwashed when they are consuming the drugs and alcohol. On the other hand, the child soldiers are committing the same crime as child criminals and should have the same consequence as them. Both criminals are killing so why don’t both of them suffer persecution? Children should not be exposed to this type of violence. If children are being put into battlefields at a young age, their future life may be filled with violence as well. As you can see, the lives of the child soldiers are at stake and we should give them amnesty so they can get the help that they need.…

    • 837 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays