Although child soldiers should get amnesty, there are some people who believe that child soldiers should be punished for their crimes. For example, Gregory Warner wrote an article about a former child soldier named Dominic Ongwen who is on trial for his crimes. Warner interviewed this child soldier and Dominic revealed what life was like for him and other children that were abducted with him. Dominic told stories of how other child soldiers who were “trying to impress Kony” came up with “increasingly sadistic innovations, such as cutting of the lips, ears and noses of their victims”(Warner 2). This explains how child soldiers would purposely do abominable things to try and impress their leader. Because this says the child soldiers did it on …show more content…
These terrible actions were simply just an act of survival, and not an insight into what a child soldier truly is. In an article, it says how child soldiers were hated by their captains, and would punish them to death if they did not to the bare minimum of killing. The article states, “His training lasted for just one week, after which he was ordered to loot and fight. "Now we have given you the power to kill someone, you must do it," he was told. "If you do not, we will kill you"”(Innocence lost: The child soldiers forced to murder). This portrays how the captors did not like the child soldiers, and expected them to do whatever they were told. This helps show how much hatred these captains had for the child soldiers, these child soldiers had to use those “sadistic innovations” to get on their captains good side. Once they were on this good side, they were safer than being hated by the captain. Also, Gregory Warner also descripted in his article how a prisoner under Dominic Ongwen supervision, was a front seat witness to all the horrible things Dominic …show more content…
On the other hand, another thing Gregory Warner failed to explain, was that while carrying out these orders, Dominic Ongwen was still a child soldier. He was still taking orders from captains, and still forced to do many things. These acts he committed on other children, were just orders he was forced to carry out. In the article “Coercion and Intimidation Of Child Soldiers to Participate in Violence” it says how child soldiers have no other choice then to follow the orders they are given, unless they want punishments as severe as death. The article states, “Many child soldiers are compelled to follow these orders under threat of severe punishment or death. To coerce children to participate in combat and commit atrocities against civilians, commanders not only use threats of violence against child recruits but also against their families as well as the possibility of torture and death at the hands of the enemy”(Coercion and Intimidation of Child Soldiers to Participate in Violence). This makes it clear how child soldiers are forced to carry out orders under threats of violence against them, their friends, and even their