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Child Soldiers Criminals

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Child Soldiers: Criminals or Not? In Mevlude Akbulut-Yuksel’s article "Children of War", the author addresses the uses of child soldiers as war tools and the long term horrific outcomes that result from it. Akbulut-Yuksel discusses how the effects of using child soldiers during World War II not only had a negative regional affect but negatively affected some aspects of the entire world in regards to "human capital formation, health, and the labor market" (Akbulut-Yuksel). Recently, with the increase in the use of child soldiers as war methods in poor, underdeveloped third world countries, the question of what criminal liability should be held against these children is more prominent. Many people strongly believe that children involved in war …show more content…

Children are easy to influence and are susceptible to numerous proposals and notions at their age. As Jézéquel and Singh stated, "With child soldiers, their lack of awareness and reduced insight into the consequences of their behavior make them less responsible and more fearless than adults" (qtd. in Brits and Nel 467). Children who are recruited and forced into fighting at a young age usually are under control of adults or their superiors. They, at that time have very little to no free will, and are often times threatened or drugged in order to comply too heinous acts they would not usually …show more content…

These children are often time themselves kidnapped from their own homes or off the streets and have nowhere to go but to a recruiting army. Megan Nobert writes in her doctoral dissertation, “Children at War: The criminal responsibility of child soldiers” Although a large number of countries have signed and ratified the UNCRC, very few have actually implemented the document. This failure could be attributed to a lack of resources available to poorer countries of the world, which prevents them from implementing a number of the measures necessary to protect children from poverty, labor, and a life lived on the streets. (Nobert 4) These children that are all alone in search for acceptance and care feel as if the only place they can get it from is recruitment groups. The excerpt below taken from Megan Nobert 's academic journal "Children At War: The Criminal Responsibility Of Child Soldiers provides a first person perspective of the life of a child soldier, one can see that the children are enticed by the realization that they will have a "family" as well as superiors and leaders that will look out for

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Furthermore, Skeptics may say they volunteered to eliminate hundreds of lives. To demonstrate, it says “Many children occupy command positions in their armed group/military and are responsible for planning or ordering the commission of war crimes and human rights abuses.” ( Dave, 2016). Although children volunteered or were told to hold these positions they had no choice. If they would’ve had said no they could’ve been killed or tortured to death.

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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”

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791 Words | 4 Pages

Snatched from their families, with guns pointed at their heads, they are forced to kill. Beaten and drugged, they lose all moral values. They are brainwashed into believing that killing is required to survive. These people are children, innocent victims, who need rescue. First of all, child soldiers are treated very poorly - like machines - to perform one task: kill.

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Dismissal of a Childhood More than 250,000 children have been captured and forced into a cruel war. (“Child Soldiers”). Unfortunately, the ban on child soldiers has not yet reached worldwide. There are more than multiple reasons why children should not be linked to war. The thoughts, actions, and ideas that are implanted into child soldiers' brains can be more than harmful to them for the rest of their lives.

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Child soldiers have been a major issue in countries all over the world for a very long time. For example, Afghanistan is recruiting children to become a part of the Taliban, one of the largest terrorist groups in the country. A theme presented by Ishmael Beah in the book A Long Way Gone: memoirs of a boy soldier is that when all is lost, there is always hope. He went through brutal drugs and a dark childhood while he was in a civil war but he still was able to push through it and find happiness.

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“Tens of thousands of children are estimated to be recruited and used by armed groups. In 2019 alone, more than 7,740 children, some as young as six, were recruited and used as soldiers around the world, according to the United Nations. Most are recruited by non-state groups.” (Wuilbercq). There are more than seven thousand forty children that were child soldiers in twenty nineteen alone.

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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

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Although this might seem unrealistic, it is a reality for thousands of pre-adolescents around the world. Many places such as Sierra Leone have recruited hundreds of children to fight in wars. Some families die due to the violence, while other children are taken or come willingly and are brainwashed and drugged into thinking that what they are doing is normal. They refer to their commanders as father

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Many young children under aged have been taken in by the government. They are being held captive tell they are drugged enough and brainwashed to go out and kill or to be killed. They are forced to train to kill under the influence of drugs and they are hardly aware of what they or doing. Child soldiers should be given amnesty because of the absents of their minds and them not being able to process what they are doing. These children are often seen as targets because they are under aged and not able to take responsibility for their actions so they are targeted to be able to kill without punishment.

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Lost Innocence Contrary to popular thinking, child soldiers are not always as innocent as they seem. In fact, a large number of child soldiers escape their crimes because of the belief that they are victims when frequently they are the perpetrator in this detailed situation. In fact, Many child soldiers quickly adapt to the unhealthy lifestyle, are not held accountable, and fail to resist, yet they are dangerously and wrongfully allowed to be released into society. One main reason that child soldiers are not as innocent as they seem would be how quickly they adapt to the unhealthy lifestyle. In one article, the author describes how fast the children’s innocence is lost and how children accept the style of brutality.

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The Problem of Child Soldiers “Since 2010, there’s been a 34% rise in the number of children living in conflict-affected areas, plus a staggering 170% rise in the number of reported grave violations committed against children in conflict.”(“Child Soldiers: Childhood's End”). This quote relates to my thesis statement because it shows the percentage of child soldiers that are in danger at a very young age and the rate of children in danger is still on the rise. Child Soldiers are young children that are put into war zones and danger zones at a very young age and have no control over what is going on. In A Long Way Gone the children got brained wash but doing drugs and not knowing they were, and being killed at too young of age by also being introduced to violence at too young of an age.

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But, some children do willingly join the armed forces in order to work for their country. These child soldiers are often persuaded into harming their families to make sure that they are not capable of leaving the army and returning to a

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In the article, "Child Soldiers Should Be Prosecuted", the text says "Children are often forced into fighting and have little choice over whether or not they enlist. After that, they are following orders of adults rather than acting on their own free will. The recruiters of child soldiers also use drugs and alcohol to make children

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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.

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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.)

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