Recently there has been a lot of talk about child soldiers, and with that talk comes the tough question of whether or not they should be granted amnesty. There is plenty of evidence for both sides of the argument, but by far there is more reason to believe that they should be granted amnesty.
First, one of the major reasons why child soldiers should be granted amnesty is that they often have no choice but to fight. Sometimes the children are given a ‘choice’ to fight or leave safety, however as Ishmael Beah said during an interview with Harry Smith, that appeared on CBS “Sunday Morning”, “That may seem like a choice to some but as soon as a few left they were shot down.” This shows that when they are brought in the are forced to fight or die.
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Being the victim of your own crime or even another's should be punishment enough without extra persecution. One of the children who was convicted of a crime that they were also the victim of is Omar Khadr, and is situation is described by Andrea Persaw in The Daily Beast “As I sat watching the sentencing hearing at Guantanamo Bay of Omar Khadr, a former child soldier, I wondered how his being detained here for eight years without trial could actually be used against him,”(Prasow, 2010). It states later that he was charged with violation of the laws of war, but he was also injured in the firefight when the incident happened. There are many other cases like Omar, where a child was put into service and was the victim of a crime, and the children should not be prosecuted because they committed a crime, when they were forced to and often a victim of countless others. People on the other side may counter this by saying that they still committed a crime and therefore should be punished, I agree with this claim up to a point, they should be persecuted, but they should be exempt if they have been harmed because of the
Child soldiers are a problem that not many people think about anymore because people may believe that they are not a relevant issue.Child soldiers are still a very relevant and important issue. With terrorist groups like the infamous ISIS recruiting children.Former Child soldiers deserve amnesty because they don’t have a choice when becoming a soldier, they will make use of their second chance, and not all child soldiers are killers.
Children aren’t mature enough to make life or death decisions. All child soldiers should have a chance to be forgiven. “Others enlist ‘voluntarily’, usually because they see few alternatives.” ("From Cradle to War." Amnesty International. Amnesty International USA, Web. 3 May 2016.) Children aren’t wise enough to make the decision, and deserve a chance to be forgiven, just like an immigrant has a chance to become a citizen. And even though once someone is killed, they are permanently dead, the children who kill don’t really know what they’re
Child soldiers are victims to an unfortunate outcome when viciously stolen from reality and their childhoods. Drugged, brainwashed,and armed these kids are taught at an impressionable age that in war it's kill or be killed. They are given no other option than to participate in this war, so child soldiers should be granted amnesty.
Child soldiers should not be granted amnesty because in some cases the soldier is in control of his or her actions. In paragraph 4 of “ Prosecuting Child Soldiers For Their Own Safety” it says “But there are cases of child soldiers clearly in control of their actions. “ who were not coerced, drugged or forced into committing
These Children are being exploited from their families and then taking into custody. Human service reports that children are being brutally recruitment, by being taken away and often being harassed by older people. This is a society impact, this is a big problem, for the global impact, which can work together to reintegrate, child soldiers back to society to make them, a productive individuals. All around the world every child has dream of going to school and learning about everything, but in some states that's not the case they are compelled to become instruments of war kill, and to be killed. Child soldiers are being forced to give violent expression towards adults, they are often thought that adults are the main enemy and they are always thought that they are alone in this
For many years, countless children have been used in wars. These kids are forced by their scheming commanders with drugs, false obligations, and threats. They are told to kill innocent people, destroy homes and buildings, act as spies, and so much more. According to child-soldiers.org, “two million children have been killed in conflict. Over one million have been orphaned, over six million have been seriously injured or permanently disabled and over ten million have been left with serious psychological trauma.” Child soldiers endure many unimaginable sights, sounds, and actions that are very harmful to their young, developing minds. While child soldiers are accountable for many crimes, they should still be given a second chance instead of
Child soldiers should receive amnesty Amnesty is freedom from prosecution,when they are forgiven of what they did during war time. Overall it becomes clear that they do awful terrible things such as killing people,setting up an ambush and more. But most of the time they are taken from their families, brainwashed, drugged and forced to kill. Also punishing the child soldiers makes it easier for the commander, and it ruins and takes away their life while in the war and after the war, if they get out.
Can you imagine every day being drugged, beaten, and threatened into doing something horrible such as killing someone? I am talking about the life of a child soldier. Every day thousands of kids are being forced into their country's army and now they are killing many people. So the main question is should we grant them amnesty or not? Some may not agree with me
Some say that these children will never change and will always want war and therefore they should be prosecuted. But these children had no idea what they were doing, they were drugged, threatened and afraid. Some child soldiers are tortured and raped(Leaphy 1). Also “if a child under 15 is considered too young to fight, then he or she must also be considered too young to be held criminally responsible for serious violations of IHL while associated with armed forces or armed groups”(Should Child
The thought of a child behind bars for war crimes is atrocious. People may see it as justified though. Those people see it as fair to have a child that was manipulated and drugged into fighting be faced with the crimes they had contributed to. On one side of the argument, child soldiers should not be granted amnesty because most are fully aware of what their doing when enlisting. On the other side, child soldiers should be granted amnesty. More often than not children have no say in whether they enlist or not and once recruited the children become brainwashed from the usage of drugs and alcohol. Systematic drug taking is especially reported among West African-based militia movements. In fact, some authors consider hallucinatory drug intake
Child soldiers should be given amnesty because they were drugged under the influence to shoot. “Thousands of boys, some as young as 10 are purchased, kidnapped or terrorized into joining the country’s army.”(Gentlemen) Children aren’t at the age to be responsible when drugged. Children have the choice to live and kill or be killed. The people who use the child soldiers are drugging them to kill with little thought. Child soldiers should be given amnesty because they are influenced.
First of all, child soldiers should be given amnesty because almost all of them were forced or kidnapped. Do to the lack of knowledge at such a young age the ones who joined had no idea what they were getting themselves into. Hundreds of the children were forced into being a child soldier
There is a conflict going on around the world on whether child soldiers should be punished or given amnesty. In the continents of Asia, Africa, and the country of Columbia , armed forces are using children between the ages of eight to fifteen to fight in their military (Gettleman 8-9). Child soldiers should be given amnesty because they believed they would be safe at the military base, their punishment is a psychological trauma, and they did not know any better because they were drugged.
The issue of if child soldiers should be granted amnesty or not is not a simple yes or no deal. While most of the time child soldiers should be given amnesty, there are also many situations where people don’t see it fit to give them amnesty. There are many factors to consider in this very controversial topic.
Now, you may be asking, what is a child soldier? Well, a child soldier is a kid from around nine to 16 years of age who is forced to go into the army, taken and shaped like clay into unrecognisable killing machines. Some kids choose to join them because of the illusion of better living conditions. Most are forced into it. Clearly, these children are the victims, and should be given amnesty.