Argumentative Essay On Child Soldiers

They include messengers, porters, spies, and sex slaves. So great is the diversity of tasks that many advocates now prefer the less punchy but more accurate term, children associated with fighting forces.” (Gates para 5) Why should an undereducated child who hasn’t committed any crimes besides being involved in a war that they didn’t want to fight be prosecuted for anything. Another example of how some child soldiers aren’t killers comes from an article titled “Prosecuting Child Soldiers For Their Own Safety.” this article says that not all child soldiers murder but some cook or as said in the article “Most girls are forcibly abducted and given roles as cooks, porters, spies, “wives”, and in combat, says Susan McKay of the University of Wyoming, who has interviewed girl soldiers throughout central Africa.” (Leahy para 10) clearly not all children in combat have committed crimes but are rather victims and shouldn’t be prosecuted for being in the military but should be helped and given a second chance at their

Historically, there have been child soldiers even in the United States. Bugler John Cook, served in the U.S. Army at the age of 15 and received the Medal of Honor for his acts during the American Civil War (“Child Soldiers Are Unfortunately Nothing New”). However, the use of child soldiers has dramatically declined in western civilization during the 20th century. Surprisingly, the recent use of child soldiers in Africa is still seen in media today.

No one wants their childhood to be utterly destroyed or have their family taken away from them in the blink of an eye, without the chance to even say one last goodbye. The odd chance of that happening to us, here in America, is slim to none. In Sierra Leone on the other hand, along with many other parts of Africa, child soldiers are being put to use in armies. In A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, the recruitment of child soldiers, African living situations, and the psychological trauma endured by the children deals with the issue of child soldiers.

The use of child soldiers have become a normal contribution to armies, especially in countries such as Africa. Although, countries such as Afghanistan, India, and Libya have been using child soldiers since 2011. According to “Children in Conflict: Child Soldiers,” there has been 36 countries involved since 1998. Something needs to be done about this issue due to the fact that thousands of

Recently, two million children have died over the past ten years due to becoming a child soldier. A huge deplorable development that has extended recently is the increase of child soldiers. Children are constantly being used as soldiers for various reasons. In some countries, there are more child soldiers than they are adults because children are more compliant. Children have been exploited as soldiers because they are being recruited to do a violent action, it is difficult for them to, later on, assimilate back to their lives, and child soldiers are regularly used in developing countries.

They are more easily driven by threats and punishment, so it’s easier to turn them to one’s cause and keep them following that cause than adult soldiers. Children are also easier to keep than adults. They eat less food, and are often “are usually more tolerant than adults to harsh living conditions” (Child Soldiers 1). In addition, child soldiers are considered easily replaceable and therefore dispensable. They are used in reconnaissance, mine clearing, and for front lines fighting to keep the more

It is easy to see that child soldiers have been involved all around the world for centuries. Singer states “by the twenty-first century child soldiers had served in significant numbers on ever continent of the globe but Antarctica.” From 1998 to 2001 the countries that were active combatants were Mexico, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Macedonia, Algeria, Chad, Republic of Congo, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, East Timor, Philippians, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and lastly the Russian Federation. Noticeably a lot of these listed countries are African. Singer writes, “Africa is often considered to be at the epicenter

What are child soldiers? Child soldiers are people under eighteen who partake in either a regular or irregular armed group in any way. According to Warchild there are an estimated 250,000 child soldiers in the world and often as a part of their recruitment they are forced to either kill or maim a loved one so that they cannot go back home. In Ishmael Beah’s novel A Long Way Gone (Memoirs of a Boy Soldier) the author recounts his life as a child soldier fighting on the government side in Sierra Leone from age thirteen to sixteen. This paper will be attempting to answer the questions of why certain armed groups use children, why it is wrong to do so, and how people are taking a stand to stop it.

Children all across world are being exploited as child soldiers. Everyday kids younger the age of 10 are putting their lives on the line mostly by force. ¨Over the last ten years, 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.¨(Children In Conflict). A child soldier is a child with armed forces; they’re trained to fight, cook, be porters, messengers, informant spies, etc. Countries all across the world have been using children to fight, places like the United Kingdom, Africa, and Asia lean on children to do their dirty work regardless of what laws are put into place for recruitment age.

First off, child soldiers are held against their will to do dangerous tasks that they have no say in. In an article interviewing Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier, he states, "Somebody being shot in front of you, or you yourself shooting somebody became just like drinking a glass of water. Children who refused to fight, kill or showed any weakness were ruthlessly dealt with.”

Child soldiers are not recruited. Recruiting implies that the person being recruited actually has a choice. Child soldiers are not given a choice. They are plucked from their homes and forced to carry a rifle, take narcotics,

Over the last ten years, at least over two million children are forcibly serving in the military, with them only being 10 years old or younger. Another conflict is that child soldiers are being isolated in many parts of africa, and are being used by armed groups as an ongoing conflicts like south asia, asia, and the middle east. Some governments have also recruited children under the age of 18 into their armed forces. One of their biggest challenges is to have freedom in their own hands without having to break the law.

Child Soldiers is a major global issue which is affecting todays 21st century. Many Countries around the world are illegally operating child soldiers such as Burma and Sierra Leone currently there is a crisis as many more children are being subject to this cruel act. Many world media and Non-governmental organisations such as the guardian and Human rights watch have reported thousands of child soldiers in Myanmar Burma. The Convention on the rights of a child and the Universal declaration of human rights strictly prohibits children in armed conflict further the United Nations further prohibits children in armed conflicts. The International Criminal Court has previously dealt with Thomas Labunga a leader of the liberation forces of the Congo whom used children as young as 10 in his military . However these measures have not been effective as there are still children in conflict due to state sovereignty.

In the last ten years over two million children have been killed, over one million orphaned, over six million have been left seriously injured or permanently disabled and over 10 million have been diagnosed with psychological trauma (Invisible Children 1). Here, they are referring to the infamous child soldiers. The issue of child soldiers has a long history of positive and negative reviews, but in summary, child soldiers are put into war as unofficial soldiers. These kids are treated so terribly by their commanders and fellow soldiers that they can become a threat to society upon their release from battle. There is an ongoing debate amongst society regarding whether or not these child soldiers should be given amnesty or charged for their crimes.

Around 120,000 adolescent children are now engaged in conflicts throughout Africa (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 4). In Sudan, for instance, thousands of children, some as young as 12, were recruited against their will into separatist and government groups (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 5). Thousands more children have been enlisted into the armed forces throughout Asia and the Pacific. The most significant numbers are in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and recently, Cambodia. Myanmar, a country in Asia, has some of the most child soldiers throughout the world, with children being recruited into both non-government and government armed forces (“Child Soldiers: An Overview” 6). The number of child soldiers has been decreasing annually, but these children are still being taken against their will.