Child Soldiers Argumentative Essay

Something that a lot of people don’t know is that 14 countries and 40% of armed forces contain child soldiers, most in the Middle East. Child soldiers are kids most commonly between the ages of 8 and 14 who fight in war with their armies.They are typically used as cooks, spies, messengers, or are made to enact violent crimes. The argument about whether or not these kids should be given amnesty has grown very serious because both sides bring up very good points. Despite that, I strongly believe that child soldiers should be given amnesty because they are not morally responsible for their actions, enlisting themselves is their only option for survival, and being in war causes them psychological trauma and mental disabilities.

One reasons child

This is true because a lot of times young children have no families, no schooling, no money, and therefore no shelter, food, or water etc. Since kids need all of these things to survive they look to war as a better option because it is the only place that provides these necessities for free. In “Child Soldiers: Victims or Perpetrators” it says “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. However, once they are recruited the children become over reliant on their commanders for shelter, money, water, drugs and alcohol that they find an extreme difficulty to leave” (Invisible Children). In order for the children to survive they need these necessities and the only way their commanders give it to them is if the children oblige and follow the rules which sometimes means to follow through with crimes. In all, children could die without these necessities, so sometime war is their only options and therefore kids should not be punished for trying to survive. Additionally, in “Armed and Underaged” by Jeffrey Gettlemen it says “Children do not have many options in Somalia. After the government collapsed in 1991, an entire generation was let loose on the streets. Most children have never been in a classroom or played in a park. Their

All too often, children are brought into the army and left there for years. When they are done with the war, these children commonly suffer severe trauma and mental disabilities from the horrific conditions of war. 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). Child soldiers should not be prosecuted and instead given forgiveness of their crimes, because from war, they are already in such terrible a state and shouldn’t be punished further by going to jail. Instead, they should be rehabilitated in order for them to regenerate back into society. Also, in a interview on The Hour by former child soldier Ishmael Beah he says, “I will never be able to forget any of what happened to me... I still have nightmares, I still have flashbacks, but I know I’m not there I’m here and this healing still continues.” Beah talks about how the experience of being in war as a child is unforgettable in a negative way. He says he still has nightmares and flashbacks and constantly reminds himself that it is over and he is not in war anymore and therefore he continues to heal. If child soldiers are prosecuted, though, and thrown into jail, they have no happy reality to return back