...Child soldiers have hurt and harmed many people and therefore don't deserve amnesty. First there is no possible way to tell if they are going to be good citizens or if they are going to become the next terrorist attack on the U.S. These kids are trained to be killers and liars so we can't tell if they are truly good or if they are telling one big lie. Even though some people may say that these kids are being forced at gunpoint to kill. But, even as this may be the case for some they are still killing people and they are at a young age, when they create their habits. Finally if we do decide to grant them amnesty we will be hurting them lots more then we are truly helping them. It will encourage the captors and commanders to take more child...
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...The issue of whether we should give child soldiers amnesty has been debated many times throughout the years. It is an important issue because people don't want children out on the streets who know how to kill people in many different ways. Children as young as nine could be out there and know how to use a gun. A variety of arguments have been put towards this issue. Ultimately, these children should be given amnesty. Commanders are getting child soldiers addicted to drugs and alcohol and bending them against their will. "More often than not children have no say in whether they enlist or not and once recruited the children become brainwashed through the use of drugs and alcohol." (“Child Soldiers:...”) These children do not have a choice and are being forced to drink and do drugs. Sometimes, the drugs make them want to stay. "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." (“Child Soldiers:...”) They do not understand what's happening to them and they can not make it stop....
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...Most people have been pressured into doing something they don't want to, everyone has made a decision to do something because they think it is needed, helpful, or their calling. The inevitability of death that is caused by the use of child soldiers shows that the kids who are soldiers should not be granted amnesty unless there is obvious proof that these kids can take part in a society safely. The majority of kids who are child soldiers want to be child soldiers. Thousands of kids are joining the militia as volunteers. “Many children volunteer to become soldiers in wartime out of a desire to avenge the death of their families.”(child soldiers, prosecution). There are kids who join their country's army who feel entitled to do so because...
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...Some children in parts of Africa are forced to become child soldiers and kill, but they don’t deserve amnesty for the lives they’ve taken. These child soldiers had been on very influential drugs, but killing other people isn’t tolerated in other countries, other villages. Yes, these children had been on serious drugs, that does not disregard the lives they have taken. An amount of children had been forced to become soldiers, some believe they deserve amnesty just because they had been on serious drugs. These children had been on high amounts of cocaine, so they couldn’t control what they were doing. Omar Khadr had been a child soldier, but does not deserve amnesty for the things he did, and what he says about it. Khadr had killed many Americans, and he brags about killing them too. These child soldiers do not deserve amnesty for what they have done. Even though these child soldiers were on serious drugs, that does not excuse the lives lost due to their actions. These children that are soldiers aren’t different from child criminals. Even though these killers are children, that doesn’t dismiss the fact that they had killed many people. Allowing these child soldiers immunity from prosecution denies victims justice. If these children get immunity, the victims’ families might feel betrayed because these children can commit a crime and get away...
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...Child soldiers essay draft Some children all over the world each day are forced to do things that they do not want to do to stay alive. They ask themselves questions every day such as, will I eat today? Where will I sleep? Am I going to kill anyone? Any child who has been through this deserves amnesty when they are drugged, abused and forced to do things they do not want to do to stay alive. But more thought should be put into child soldier amnesty cases when they choose to become a soldier and are old enough to understand what they are doing. Children between the ages of nine and fifteen are taken into captivity, drugged and abused because of simple mistakes that they make as a soldier. According to an article written by UNICEF, many...
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...Although it is clear that child soldiers deserve amnesty, there is still a minor exception that needs to be accounted for. If child soldiers volunteered to enter the rebels, and entered the group from free will, then they should not get amnesty. These children use the excuse of being pressured into the army, but lots of child soldiers do choose to enter the army. Children who “are not forced to be soldiers volunteer themselves because...they are under the impression that volunteering will provide a form of income, food, or security, and willingly join the group”(11 Facts About Child Soldiers). Many of these children join the rebel group because they believe it will make everything better. They had the choice to stay out of the trouble, and...
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...18 Stripped of a Childhood Somewhere in the world, there are thousands of soldiers fighting for their rights and beliefs. These soldiers are not heroic figures, or even part of the military. They are drugged children, being sent out with weapons and being forced to kill. The issue of whether or not child soldiers deserve amnesty has been a debate that has been going on for years. Fourteen countries throughout the world have used these children as suicide bombers, slaves, and sources of military, for many decades. Many have been rescued from this ordeal, but, “estimates suggest that as many as 300,000 child soldiers are active in conflicts around the world,” (Chatterjee, paragraph 2). Child soldiers deserve amnesty, since they are kidnapped,...
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...thousands of child soldiers are put on the front lines each day. Their lives put at risk for values most of they don't even believe in. We don’t allow child soldiers in the U.S., let alone, capturing and beating children to become soldiers. Child soldiers have been around for hundreds of years. Why has it taken us so long to notice that we should do something. So why have we let other countries capture kids and use them on the battlefield? Ten-year-olds in the U.S. are running around on the playground, playing cars and enjoying childhood while other ten-year-olds are being scarred for life with gruesome images of war. Child soldiers are robbed of their childhood and of their childlike qualities; one of the...
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...Child soldiers responsible for capital crimes should not be allowed amnesty unless it has been proven that they were forced to become a soldier. If given immunity, victims would not receive justice. Victims would have to live knowing the killer of their friend or family member did not receive punishment. Also, many of these children become soldiers because they chose to. Some of them plan missions and war crimes. If there is no consequence for being a youth fighter, given the fact they received immunity, commands will recruit and use more of them. This will just increase the numbers of child soldiers. Child soldiers do not deserve amnesty, they need to be held accountable for their actions. Additionally, forgiving child soldiers denies victims...
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...on trial at Guantanamo, a cruel military prison where its prisoners are treated harshly. The boy had been abused and brainwashed in the Middle East, as his home was on a battlefield. After experiencing a heated discussion, he illegally threw a grenade, killing few participating in the argument. His name was Omar Khadr, a child soldier. In some parts of the world, such as the Middle East, there is tremendous dispute over child soldiers. Child soldiers join the military and are valuable assets, as their minds can be easily intimidated. Child soldiers can be as young as eight, and they serve in government forces. They fight in the front lines, participate in suicide missions, and can act as spies, messengers, or lookouts....
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...many other countries in the world there are still children being recruited to war. (according to Reliefweb) In fact, child soldiers are used for fighting. For instance, kids are forced to take part in wars, forced to kill, and commit other acts of violence. In addition,the children are used as cooks, porters, messengers, informants, spies or anything their commanders want them to do. Many people believe that child soldiers should not be given amnesty, however, I believe that these juveniles should because they are forced to take part in the military, are also not old enough to know how to make the right decisions. Also these adolescents do not have 100% control over their...
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...Imagine you’re in a battlefield during a war and all of the sudden you see at least 60, 14-6 year old kids charging at you with guns. Do you shoot them or give them amnesty? Child soldiers should be given amnesty because it traumatizes their lives, they’re just kids, and they need a positive environment instead of punishment. While some might argue-no they shouldn’t be given amnesty, they forget that in the text it says that they were beat, drugged, and manipulated into joining the war. Child soldiers should be given amnesty because they are too young to be in war but it depends on if they were willing or not. Some of the children chose to join because they thought it was right for them to fight for their country. the others were beat, drugged,...
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...Child Soldiers in many countries are forced to go and fight in wars because they had done something wrong before they should be given amnesty because they had to be drugged and go and fight in war. There are people who don’t believe they should be given amnesty which sounds horrible because they were forced by their parents and groups. These child soldiers should be given amnesty because they were forced to go and fight in war even though they had just messed up once. Many child soldiers are 16 years old or younger which means many of these kids are forced to take drugs and kill people at a age that many are still learning things like to read and write. They have been forced to go and join terrorists groups. On the other side there are...
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...and only duty, not to mention that these are children no more than 10 years of age. The United Nations defines a child soldier as, “Any person under 18 years of age who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity.” Since the past 15 years, child soldiers are being used used in almost every region of the world. Unlike most children, who go to school, they’re abducted from their...
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...millions, of soldiers, still alive today, who were forced into war as children. Because many of these child soldiers were forced into warfare and had no choice but to partake in the violence, they should be granted amnesty by the United Nations. Additionally, many readers believe that these soldiers are too young to be held accountable for the actions they were forced into. Furthermore, these warriors had only two options when facing tough situations: cooperate with their commanders or be brutally murdered for not fighting. Perhaps the most important piece of information on this topic is the fact that child soldiers had no choice but to comply with orders given to them. Oftentimes, they “are pushed by their adult commanders into perpetrating atrocities” through threats of mistreatment, torture, or even the murder of loved ones (Johannesburg, paragraph 8). In more extreme cases, if the children refused to fight, they were seen as ‘worthless’ or ‘inferior’ and killed. Moreover, child soldiers were taken advantage of by their chiefs through deception. Even further, they were often scared into believing that daily fighting, murdering, and death were the societal norm for everyone, which is a foggy perception of the world....
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