Why Do Child Soldiers Deserve Amnesty

To begin with, child soldiers deserve amnesty because they don’t choose or are manipulated into becoming a child soldier.When children are put into a war most of the time they don’t have a choice or are manipulated into thinking what they are doing is okay.One

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

Letting children soldiers receive amnesty would show that the government doesn’t enforce the law for everyone. In the United States, children who have committed a crime can take responsibility for that act at the age of fourteen. Shouldn’t the same law be in place for people who have fought in a war over fourteen? Aren’t they committing a crime too, like killing soldiers. In Child Soldiers it says, “...Many believe that child soldiers are mere replicas of child criminals; child criminals are prosecuted...If a child can be convicted for murder under these domestic laws there should be no exception for child soldiers just because their crimes occurred in wartime.” This shows that children soldiers should not be forgiven because everyone should have equal consequences for equal acts, which means children soldiers should not be given

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.

One significant piece of evidence to support the claim that child soldiers are both the victims and be given amnesty is Ishmael who is a former child soldier who has been given amnesty and he tells others about his experience as a child soldier. He was taking refuge in a camp and forced to be a soldier. Before, he and other child soldiers went on missions they were given drugs and he does not remember much of what he had done. This piece of evidence supports the claim that child soldiers are the victims and should be given amnesty, because it shows that they do not have a choice in becoming a soldier and are given drugs so they are not are thinking clearly and they don’t know what they are doing.

Imagine being taken from your house and your family and being forced to fight in a war. This is what some child soldiers have to go through. Not to mention after they are taken they have to risk their lives and be forced to kill. Some are even as young as 5. Child soldiers should receive amnesty if they were young when they were taken, were forced, and show remorse after they were rescued and understand what they did.

As reported by Forbes.com 300,000 child soldiers are active in conflicts around the world. 40% of armed forces (including national armies, militias, gangs, terrorist organizations and resistance forces) in the world use children. They are then scared and change completely. Whether it is attitude or physically, the children are changed because of the horrible impact the grown adults on the little adolescents.These child soldiers should be given amnesty because they are brainwashed and manipulated, forced against their will, and are intimidated more easily than adults.

First, the children should be given amnesty because the soldiers are brainwashed and forced to fight. From the article, What We Can Learn from Child Soldiers, it says, “Child soldiers forced into military service… in the first few weeks of being abducted… they know what they are doing is wrong, but the more they kill people, the more they rape or do other things like that, their brain and moral compass switch off.” This quote shows how the children change from the time they are recruited to when they are in a fight and are killing people. Can you imagine a child as young as the age of ten

Imagine you are woken up one night to find a group kidnappers who are taking you away to serve in the military, and having to watch the killing of your parents right in front of you right after. This is what some young children, who are now soldier, had to experience. Vision.org states that “UNICEF reports that the LRA has abducted children as young as 5 but mostly between the ages of 8 and 16, often after killing their parents in front of them. The young “recruits” are then forced to march to southern Sudan. Those who can’t carry their loads or keep pace with the others are killed. Those who attempt escape are severely punished.” It is obviously not their fault that this is happening, therefore child soldiers should be given amnesty. Their commanders frequently drug them, there are countries funding certain militaries that allow child soldiers. This allows their commanders to keep drafting children. Finally, they are brainwashed during

The first reason child soldiers should be given amnesty, is because since they were being forced into being soldiers by having their lives threatened, they were scared for their lives and were scared to go against the orders of the people who were forcing them. Some would argue that the children were being brainwashed and were being told that what they were doing was the best and only option for them. And since they are little and do not know any better, they agreed, not understanding what they were about to do. An excerpt from the story, What We Can Learn From Child Soldiers, says the following, “They were told

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

Most importantly, child soldiers shouldn’t be granted amnesty because they slaughtered people. A particularly compelling example of this is when a military commander said “If you tell them to kill, they kill.” in an article written by Jeffrey Gettleman (Packet page 6). This

Children have been forced to fight in the army, in the middle of a war. Ages 9-13 are given deadly weapons in a innocent hand for war matters. Whatever the general says, they do. Most of these children are threatened with their lives, or threatened with their loved ones lives. No matter what, they have to listen to the generals command. Even though these children committed horrible acts during their time in war they should be given amnesty or legally forgiven by the United Nations. Others may have their own opinion on this situation but these child soldiers should be given amnesty.

They lack the mental maturity and judgement to express consent or to fully understand the implications for their actions…”. This quote from “Should Child Soldiers Be Prosecuted for Their Crimes?” By JOHANNESBURG perfectly explains why child soldiers should not be persecuted for their crimes. They were not yet mature enough to comprehend what they were doing when they were killing people. Take the not yet mature mind of a child, and mix it with the awful drugs they had to take, and there is no way that the child soldiers were thinking on their own. Once the child has gone through treatment and is free of drugs and a bit more mature in the brain, they are nowhere near the mindset that they were in while they were fighting. It is almost like the child during battle, and after battle, are two totally different people. Therefore, this clean and more mature person should be granted amnesty, and not be persecuted for his or her

Did you know that up to thirty percent of child soldiers are female? This is because they have a higher risk of being sexually abused, including rape. They are also given to the commanders as wives. In some parts of the world, such as Yemen and South Sudan, there is tremendous dispute over the subject of child soldiers. The history of child soldiers go back to WW1 and WW2. When the number of German soldiers started to drop during the war, Nazi leaders began to enlist children as young as twelve years old. The Asians also did the same when they were battling against the Japanese in WW1. In Africa, child soldiers are still used today. Child soldiers should receive amnesty because they were fighting for their just cause, they fear the consequences