Child Soldiers: Are They Justified?

Child soldiers being used around the world related to interventionism which is a policy of non-defensive activity undertaken by a national, state, or political jurisdiction to manipulate an economy or society. This is the case because nations liek the United States are aware of what is going on and are trying to stop nations from recruiting child soldiers. People around globe are trying to stop this from happening since they understand that thesekids arebeing turned into ruthless, emotionless, and dangerous individiuals as opposed to growing and learning as they should.

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

First off, child soldiers are often forced to be recruited. “Often they are abducted at school, on the streets or at home.” ("From Cradle to War." Amnesty International. Amnesty International USA, Web. 3 May 2016.) Almost all child soldiers are forced to do things as a soldier that they wouldn’t actually do, such as hurt or kill others. So although some child soldiers want to hurt or kill, most don’t want to. So obviously, most child soldiers are forced to do bad things that they don’t want to do, and wouldn’t do if they hadn’t become a soldier.

Are you aware that right now, at this very moment, there is a group of young boys ages 8-13 who are clenching a gun being ordered to kill against their will? It’s understood that others opinions about the dangers of child soldiers being free are only because they don’t want to risk anything but, isn’t life all about taking risks? You risk your life leaving the house, and breathing. Also, countries should not prosecute child soldiers for the crimes they committed during wartime. There also should not be an international minimum age of criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Here are three reasons why they should not be prosecuted or held responsible. Also that there should not be an age limit. One. Children are afraid, young, and clueless. Two. Children are 99.99% of the time drugged, forced, and brainwashed. “Children are often brainwashed and drugged before they are forced to fight. Their vulnerability can allow warlords to make them into cold-blooded killers” (O'Neill 1 ). Three. Children are independent, lonesome, and they want/need a family. One that gives them love.

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.

The children in the war were in a kill or be killed situation. The children didn’t have a choice except to follow orders from their commanders or they would get killed. They had to fight and kill others to stay alive. A quote from the article “Child Soldiers” (To what extent should child soldiers be held accountable for their crimes?) states, “Furthermore, many children join without carefully thinking through their decision. At the time they might believe that recruiting would lead to a safer life as necessities such as food, water and shelter would be available; actually fighting in war would not cross their mind.” This quote proves that child soldiers are victims because the only reason that some joined was because they had to or else they would die. Also because when they joined they didn’t really know what was going to happen and they didn’t know about the all of the mass killings that would occur. They were just focused on staying alive and getting the basic necessities that they needed like food, water, and shelter. If they wouldn’t have joined then they could have died from hunger or the harsh weather. They chose to defend themselves by joining the

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.

It’s estimated 300,000 child soldiers are still in the world today in at least twenty countries. Sierra Leone was just one of them. Forcing AK-47’s on children in the midst of war (1991-2002.) Adults once forced to be a child soldiers still have vivid, traumatic memories from their brainwashed childhood. They have their innocent childhoods taken away from being on the front lines of combat & have to grieve for the separation from their family. It’s key for everyone to understand what children are going through in other countries not as fortunate as yours.

These are the words of a 15-year-old girl in Uganda. Like her, there are an estimated 300,000 children under the age of eighteen who are serving as child soldiers in about thirty-six conflict zones (Shaikh). Life on the front lines often brings children face to face with the horrors of war. Too many children have personally experienced or witnessed physical violence, including executions, death squad killings, disappearances, torture, arrest, sexual abuse, bombings, forced displacement, destruction of home, and massacres. Over the past ten years,

Since they are forced to leave their homes, kids miss out on getting an education, spending time with family, making friends, and enjoying peaceful, carefree lives. Being recruited into war changes their childhood forever. They live in fear of getting killed or harmed, and have to murder other people themselves. If they don’t, they risk getting shot or abused by commanders. An article on hrw.org (2004) states that many children are “victims of killings, rape and sexual assault, abduction, torture, forced labor and displacement at the hands of the warring factions.” This reveals that when children are forced into war, they no longer get to enjoy the fun and simple childhood everyone deserves. Rather, they must live up to adult responsibilities and perform abhorrent crimes. In addition, these children are often given many drugs to make them more inclined to kill. An article on vision.org (2008) talks about a child soldier rehabilitation camp director that has reported that kids “would do just about anything that was ordered” while on drugs. The use of drugs in young people dangerously affects their overall health and alters their minds substantially. Also, Child Soldiers International notes that child soldiers “run a high risk of being killed or maimed.” This clearly describes the health and future of these children as they are forced into war. As can be seen, recruiting kids into war negatively affects their physical state and their

These children basically only have the choice to either die or kill. In the article “Summative Essay; Child Soldiers Victim or Perpetrators” the author shows, “From the drugs to the alcohol, these children are placed under horrific circumstances which are preposterous. They kill to stay alive and those who try to escape are killed.” This is important to notice because this proves these kids don't have a choice besides kill or be killed, they have no other

An article titled, Should Child Soldiers be Prosecuted for Their Crimes, helps to prove this point:“If a child under the age of 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.” This quote clarifies that if a child is considered too young to be in the army, then he must also be considered too young to be held criminally responsible for any actions that they committed while in the army. This is completely fair when looked at it this point of view: Ordinary children were taken away from their homes and were forced to either kill or be killed. The children who decided to live had to go through abusive training and had to witnessed the multiple deaths of the people who they were close to. They lost all of their trust for other people.

Some believe that these children should be prosecuted because of the horrific acts they have committed. The author of Child Soldiers reveals that not all child soldiers are abducted and forced into the military. Some of these child soldiers chose to go into the military. For example, the author states, “Children often become child soldiers in acts of patriotism and in want to avenge the deaths of their family members. Furthermore, it would be false to proclaim that all

Child soldiers are victims of cruel recruiters who take advantage of their innocence, forcing them to commit acts that no child should ever experience. They are given drugs to brainwash them and make them unaware of what they are doing (Helping to heal child soldiers). The only things they know are the orders they’re given, orders that they can either follow or be killed (Child Soldiers: Victims or Perpetrators). Child soldiers should be given amnesty as it is unjust to prosecute a child for actions they were forced to commit while under the influence of drugs. Instead, rehabilitation should be provided to give these children a second chance.

Children recruited into the armed forces in these countries are forced by their commanders to commit atrocities against other soldiers and villagers. They may also suffer through punishments themselves. Commanders have been known to force their child recruits to witness and/or commit abuses against their own families or captured prisoners (“Coercion and Intimidation of Child Soldiers to Participate in Violence” 1). For instance, child soldiers recruited into Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army have been forced to tie their parents to trees and club them to death or be killed themselves (Taylor 1). Physical