Child Soldiers Argumentative Essay

Jeffrey stated that “More than 200,000 children worldwide are still used as child soldiers.” This trend is reportedly present mostly in Africa, as generals need to be able to two people for every person that they lose. Moreover, it’s easy to teach kids to something that they can’t tell is right from wrong. After being trained these newly made warriors are trained to kill while being completely stoned or high on a cocaine-gunpowder mix that is given as a drug to them. The fault does not fall upon those trained to kill, but the trainees that put them up to such an awful

As I said in the first sentence, they are victims of the war they are fighting. The government that is prosecuting the children should be prosecuting the commanders. They using the children as soldiers and fall guys ( the people pay for the crime to other people made them

When you picture a child, do you picture a once innocent but now traumatized, once caring but now bloodthirsty child carrying a gun taller than himself. This is what a child soldier would look like. These kids are As of 2013, there are approximately 300,000 children serving in militaries or in radical groups around the world. They are either volunteered or have been taken by force into these militias, but most who volunteer have lost their family to the tragedies of war. These children are victims. Victims of abuse and victims of violence. They have been abandoned on the streets with nowhere to go but the military, the children are exposed to terrible things, and some of the girls who are in these fighting groups are being abused and harassed.

Child soldiers were forced to kill , they were promised a lot of things.” and forced by commanders through false promise , drugs..” this helps me understand that they were lied too. Also , child soldiers DID have choices because it says in the article , “ Furthermore, many children join without carefully thinking through their decision.” which helps me understand child soldiers got involve themselves. They didn’t know what they were getting themselves into.

Picture this, you’re a nine year old boy fighting against men and other young boys your age. You are stationed in the philippines, where you were also abandoned by your parents, as they fled to a safer place. You are brainwashed, taught how to clean, and reload guns in the first few weeks you are there. How would this make you feel? Kids as young as eight, are dealing with this problem, they are getting drugged and used to fight for their country. Everywhere they look violence is near and cannot be escaped. Child soldiers are threatened, brainwashed, and bribed in order to fight and they are used to get money, meaning the young kids are being sold. These children are also illegally forced to become child soldiers. The things these kids go through are horrifying to even

Child soldiers are not at fault for killing people. To support my claim, I have a quote from a commander in Chad, Africa. “They don’t complain, they don’t expect to be paid, and if you tell them to kill, they kill.” (Gettleman, 1) The quote is saying that since they’re young, they listen to the bigger people and do what they’re told, they don’t know any better. Most child soldiers just need a shelter and safety because everything they had is gone. The children are given drugs that cause them to kill people. These kids are brainwashed, and if anyone’s going to take the blame of these deaths, it’s the commanders. Most of the time the children will kill against their will, and they might even be sold by their family from hunger and poverty.

In an article “In Support of the "The Child Soldiers Accountability Act of 2007"; Hearing in the US House Judiciary Subcommittee”

These young soldiers seem to not be committed into committing war crimes, but one of their commitments is without a doubt, survival. However, in order for them to accomplish this, they unfortunately have to commit these terrible atrocities to not get killed. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of these children have little to no option whether or not they want to be serving, they are forcibly recruited. Jeffrey Gettle, author of article entitled Armed and Underage argues this idea well with his quote, “purchased, kidnapped, or terrorized” are some of the ways these girls and boys become child soldiers (2009). This quote demonstrates the types of way they are involuntarily placed in the army and when they are in the field, many types abusement become present like when they oppose given orders.

Article, “child soldiers: invisible children” says, “Take the case of the former Sierra Leone child soldier Ishmael Beah. After being caught in the center of a vicious civil war in Sierra Leone, Ishmael was forced to become a child soldier.” This shows us that the side of prosecuting children is not good, and how it can be wrong in most cases. Next, children have no say whether they enlist or not, because once they are there then they become brainwashed through the use of drugs and alcohol. Article, “child soldiers: invisible children” claims, “The drugs, often cocaine mixed with gunpowder, brainwash the children to the point where they would rather not escape from the horror unraveling around them.” This evidence shows that most of the time children don’t have control over what they do, so it’s not lawful to prosecute them. And last, children are taken as recruits because they are easily intimidated and indoctrinated. “Should child soldiers be prosecuted for their crimes” article written by unknown mentions that, “They lack the mental maturity and judgment to express consent or to fully understand the implications of their actions… and are pushed by their adult commanders into perpetrating atrocities” This information tells us that children don’t understand the things going on around them fully and therefor shouldn’t be prosecuted for being tricked, and forced into

Cregan & Cutherbert explains how, the lived experienced of child soldier is more complex than the polarized representation in the media (2014, pg. 93). In much of the media coverage, around responsibility of the child’s actions come up. Media fails to show child soldiers agency within these circumstance, and only show these children as vulnerable and helpless. Child soldier are forced into murderer however are labeled dangerous and disorderly (Denov, 2012,pg. 235). These depictions are highly racialized and imbued with stereotypes, depictions of child soldiers as ‘dangerous’ and ‘disorderly’ work to underscore the perceived moral superiority of the North compared to the ‘savage’ South (Macmillan, 2009).” As Denov suggested states, portraying child soldiers as largely threatening, and uncivilised, the bulk of international news reporting, and much of academic and policy-oriented discourse, has tended to ‘pathologies’ children in armed conflict (2012, pg. 236) . The media plays a central role in how society views child soldiers and it is important to be critical of this

Child soldiers is an ongoing issue worldwide. I was completely aware of this injustice however, I was not cognizant of the extent of this matter or where it was taking place. Before listening to Nicholas’s presentation I was mindful of the detrimental impacts war has on families, land, workers, and children. Some of these impacts may include the destruction of homes, loss of child or PTSD, depression and other mental illnesses that affect the way children think. In spite of this, I did not have a thorough knowledge of the severity of this situation.

From witnessing murders of their own family, to being kidnapped. It wasn’t the children’s choice to be a soldier (most of the time). If you have ever seen the movie, Mulan. You might remember when Mulan’s father was drafted into the army. He had no decision of choosing to serve or not to serve. Even though he could barely walk. That’s the reverse for a child soldiers, they didn’t get to live a long life. In fact, they haven’t had a childhood besides killing people. The children’s families are sometimes dead or participating in these violent acts. Imagine having your family killed and the rest taken away. It would be

Child soldiers are defined as "any person under the age of eighteen associated with an armed forced or group in any capacity"(Posttraumatic Resilience” 1096). This phenomenon, that is present on all global continents, affects 250,000 children per year and takes away a child's “fundamental human right to education, health and development” (Posttraumatic Resilience” 1096, Tienfenbrun 418-419). These children, who must struggle for survival, are regularly exposed to personality shaping abusive situations. This brings into question the dilemma of who is responsible for a child soldiers’ actions (420). Would it be the child or the individuals who made them?  Moreover, it also begs the question of how this may impact their reintegrate into society.

If a someone commits a crime, don’t you think they should pay for what they did? And yes l’m also talking about children, like the child soldiers. If your answer is yes, then i totally agree with you. But if your answer is no, then why not? Yeah … yeah … you might say “but they are just kids, they don’t know what they’re doing” or “ Children don’t know the difference of what’s right and wrong” But guess what? You’re totally wrong, here’s why. According to a research i made (Dailymail.com) said “Children know the difference between what’s right and wrong before they reach the age of two, Scientists have found that babies aged between 19 to 21 months understand fairness and can apply it in different situations”. Now you see? Children do know what they’re doing. In the next paragraphs i’m going to explain, why child soldiers should be prosecuted.

“Compelled to become instruments of war, to kill and be killed, child soldiers are forced to give violent expression to the hatreds of adults” (“Child Soldiers” 1). This quotation by Olara Otunnu explains that children are forced into becoming weapons of war. Children under 18 years old are being recruited into the army because of poverty issues, multiple economic problems, and the qualities of children, however, many organizations are trying to implement ways to stop the human rights violation.