ipl-logo

Argumentative Essay On Child Soldiers

977 Words4 Pages

Imagine being a 9 year old boy in Africa, living peacefully in your small hometown village. You lived your everyday life as a normal, fun, and loving child. However, this won’t last long. An army will soon sweep through your poor desert town, collecting all the little boys they can find to turn them into killing machines. This is the early reality for many child soldier victims all over the world. Desperate armies need new soldiers for their battles, and when they begin running out, they kidnap children. These poor, unknowing, and victimized children are forced to join into wars they have no connection to as soldiers. These child soldiers exist in awful conditions under the command of their armies, are kidnapped and purchased like slaves, …show more content…

“Kill or be killed” is what they are told by army commanders. These few words are ingrained into child soldiers' minds, so that they may never think of escaping the army they were forced into. Some child soldiers are even willing to kill each other upon discovering an attempted escape. That’s how much armies have brainwashed these poor children. According to the article “Child Soldiers: Victims or Perpetrators?” thousands of children are abducted by armies and forced to kill every year. This shocking news demonstrates the enormity of issues such as child soldier kidnapping and killing. If they refuse, the children are shot on sight. This illustrates the determination of armies to keep child soldiers under control with violence. Some armies will even reward child soldiers for killing an attempted escapee with a little extra food. This is just one of many factors that motivate child soldiers to kill. Therefore, by being forced to kill innocent people and commit other horrible crimes, child soldiers are established as …show more content…

The article “Child Soldiers Should be Prosecuted” found on Debatewise.org reminds us that many children have claimed to have volunteered to become soldiers to obtain necessities for themselves such as food, clothes, or money. It is important to acknowledge that some of these children were understanding of what volunteering for the army meant, and decided to join anyway. However, It is my position that many child soldiers are victims because not all of them can be held morally responsible for their crimes. To keep kids brainwashed and fighting, armies feed them drugs and alcohol. Consequently, child soldiers forget their moral feelings of right and wrong and soon become killing monsters. Articles such as “Armed and Underage” by Jeffery Gettleman tell us that many ex-child soldiers had reported to having a sense of numbness to their crimes because of the drugs and brainwashing. This shows us some of the aftereffects armies had on their child soldiers. Therefore, child soldiers are victims of the horrible things that happened to them while under the command of their

Show More
Related
1413 Words | 6 Pages

First of all, child soldiers go to extremes for such little things like having to ask for thing to be given to them. In the book by Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone, an actual child soldier who is now rehabilitated shared his experiences through the war in Sierra Leone. It says, “We placed a bucket over the cook’s head and pushed him around the kitchen until he burned his hand on a hot boiling pot and agreed to put more milk in our tea,” (Beah, 2007). This demonstrates how dangerous they can be to innocent people, even those that are trying to help. They hurt those no matter what, for their own desires and sometimes they just do this for their own entertainment.

Read More
1303 Words | 6 Pages

A narrative analysis of former child soldiers conveys, "Abducted children are ritually terrorized, sexually exploited, forced to watch beatings, maiming, rape and killings"(O'Callaghan, Storey & Rafferty, 2012). These

Read More
764 Words | 4 Pages

Often referred to as “child soldiers,” these boys and girls suffer extensive forms of exploitation and abuse that are not fully captured by that term”

Read More
1011 Words | 5 Pages

Today there are thousands of child soldiers around the world. In these conflicts they are not only as a soldier but they are also used as suicide bombers for religion causes, spies, lookout and many more tasks where children are

Read More
939 Words | 4 Pages

The most important reason why child soldiers should be granted amnesty is because it is not their will to commit these crimes, it is simply being forced into act they would never commit unless their life was on the line. Emma Gordon, writer on E-international Relations Students says, “Children are often abducted at a young age, brutally initiated and forced to commit heinous atrocities, they are undoubtedly victims of these conflicts” (2011). Gordon uses the word “abducted” which shows that most if not all of child soldiers don’t chose to live that way. Additionally, the bulletin health

Read More
1603 Words | 7 Pages

In the article, “CHILD SOLDIERS AND THE GLOBAL AGENDA” it says, “Children need be the victims of war only if there is no will to prevent it.” This helps show how children should not be involved in war in the first place. They aren’t the ones who have started the war. It isn’t their fault in the first place so why are people punishing the children for their involvement when it wasn’t their fault. They expect the kids to serve time or to get a death sentence when it was adults like them who brought them into this mess.

Read More
658 Words | 3 Pages

Child Soldiers are victims. First, these children are being forced by commanders to fight in war. "They lack the mental maturity and judgment to express consent or to fully understand the implications of their actions… and are pushed by their adult commanders into perpetrating atrocities" (IRIN). The commanders are taking advantage of these innocent children because the commanders know how easily influenced the children are. These commanders making the kids significantly less innocent.

Read More
868 Words | 4 Pages

In the article Should Child Soldiers be Prosecuted For Their Crimes it says,“if a child is under the age of 15 is considered too young to fight then he or she must be considered too young to be held criminally responsible for serious violations.” This explains how that they are easily manipulated and targeted because they aren't legally responsible to take responsibility for their actions. Each child were held in hostilities and couldn't have to opportunity to not fight. Also in Should Child Soldiers be Prosecuted For Their Crimes a report within the article it says, “ The report says child soldiers should not be prosecuted simply for the association with an armed group of having participation in hostilities.” Children are targeted to be recruited to war because nobody can take responsibility for the

Read More
1416 Words | 6 Pages

Not only have these child soldiers have been through harsh conditions of training and taken away, but child soldiers should be given amnesty because they were easy to be manipulated or forced to do such crimes. The strategy that these training camps do to manipulate these child soldiers is placing drugs to their systems, to which can cause many to be confused or to not think rationally for what actions they take upon. The article, “A Former Child Soldier Shares His Story In New Graphic Novel,” Chikwanine shares his story of when he was a young child to where they have forced him from drugs to do a crime upon his friends. The text states, “There, a fighter drugged him with a mix of cocaine and gunpowder. Chikwanine was blindfolded and made to hold a gun, then told

Read More
490 Words | 2 Pages

If the United Nations gives child soldiers tests they can fake their remorse. Kids can be very manipulative and fake cry. Although these are possibilities they were threatened, kidnapped, and possibly terrorized and even raped. These kids were forced to do things they usually wouldn’t do because their horrible parents sold them like slaves to random militia commanders. Most likely these kids didn’t join by choice or if they did they were forced.

Read More
1646 Words | 7 Pages

An unhealthy obsession with guns, being drugged to make killings seem normal, and being undoubtedly loyal to commanders is only part of what a child soldier is. Child soldiers can be dangerous and make up many armies in war-torn countries. In much of the world, usually in unstable countries, when conflict breaks out, children can quickly be swept up and put on the front lines to fight. Children may carry ten-pound guns and use bullets twice the size of their fingers. Some children are old enough to understand what they are doing, and others have no idea.

Read More
1821 Words | 8 Pages

Have you ever imagined growing up on a life of drugs, war, crime, and seeing things that many adults won’t dare to ever see? In many countries around the world, this is what many children have to deal with. There is an occurring issue of people across Africa and parts of Asia using children as soldiers in war. They act and take upon the roles of real combatants, causing the people of the public to act in different ways. It’s been well documented that these children have used guns and war tactics, and committed various illegal and illicit acts of violence.

Read More
895 Words | 4 Pages

When I think of a soldier, I think of a strong young man fighting for his country. When I think of a child, I get the image of a young child playing outside with no worries in the world and no responsibilities. However, this is not true, as there are millions of children who have become child soldiers and have been displaced in the world. What makes children want to become child soldiers? Children become soldiers for their governments, as they recruit them.

Read More
1422 Words | 6 Pages

Assignment page Video Where many children all over the world merrily and freely live under the protection of the law, for others, this is a distant reality, they live in a world where they’re battling poverty, stripped of their childhood and basic human rights are expunged, they’re the innocent victims of conflict, and war is made to seem their one and only duty, not to mention that these are children no more than 10 years of age. They are put into a situation where it’s to kill or be killed. 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 in almost every region of the world. Unlike most children, who go to school, they’re abducted from their families and forced into becoming a child soldier, where living conditions are beyond imaginable.

Read More
857 Words | 4 Pages

In the world today, there is more than 25 countries who still actively use children in warfare. Child soldiers are human beings under the age of 18 who participate in military actions. They are evidently cheaper to maintain and to train than adult soldiers. They are also more loyal and obedient because the young respect their elders. It has been noted that estimately, 300 thousand children were recruited to fight and perform in war (Child Soldiers.)

Read More

More about Argumentative Essay On Child Soldiers

Related Topics

Open Document