Child Soldier Position Papers

Teagan Hawes

Position Paper Bend 2 Essay

Imagine this: you are a young child who has lost everyone and everything, and the war in your country resulted in the death of your family. Your mother is gone, so there is no one to take care of you. With a gun at your head, the army general commands you to join his force--your choice is live or to die on the spot. So, you are forced to join the army. Believe it or not, this scenario happens everyday and not many people know it. “More than 90% of these children live in countries affected by conflict” (the guardian), which makes these children more susceptible to being abducted, kidnapped, or forced into joining the army. In the report, “Child soldier recruits double in one year in Middle East and North

A United Nations reporter says, “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.” The commanders become the child soldiers role models once they deceive them, and are in most cases, the reason they are still in the army. The children are obedient and scared to disobey the general, so they follow his commands. If the general encourages “perpetrating atrocities”, the children are at a feasible chance of listening and carrying them out. The generals are a big factor why children may commit acts of cruelty, so the children should not be punished for these actions. “...this could be an incentive for their commanders to delegate to them the dirtiest orders…Coomaraswamy said.” This piece of text from the United Nations report is showing how the generals will make the children do all of the inimical and dangerous work, and the work that will get them in the most trouble. The generals don’t care what consequences the children might face, because all they care about are themselves. Generals make the children do the harshest acts, because the children don’t have a say, and know the children will be too terrified of the consequences they will face if they don’t obey. If anyone should not be given amnesty, it should be the generals, for being

To begin, some will say that child soldiers should be prosecuted because they have caused harm to others, but rehabilitation should be the aim because of the horrors they have seen. Children have seen blood, bruises, bones, and dead bodies, haphazardly strewn freely among the battlefield--dead. They have seen men trying to murder each other right before their very eyes, and are aghast after what they have seen. What does this do to the minds of these innocent children who haven’t yet learned to be civil? The children are now scarred, and need to learn to cope with the violence they have been influenced by. If they are prosecuted, we would never know what would become of them in the future. For example, Ishmael Beah went on to become semi-famous after rehabilitation, when he was finally able to share his story as a child soldier with the world. In addition, many think that child soldiers could easily walk away from the war and were unnecessarily hurting others, but the soldiers were actually too loyal to the generals to leave. The soldiers become dependant on their commanders and generals for food, money, and once they are addicted, drugs. Food is essential for the growing children, and they feel only the commander can provide it