Child Soldiers In The Military

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In the arousing argument over child soldiers, the two sides have defined themselves as believing child soldiers to be victims of war or child soldiers to be perpetrators of war. It has been heavily debated whether these soldiers should be given amnesty, or whether they should be held accountable for their crimes. Though it is a valid claim to believe that child soldiers should be given no legal forgiveness, the belief that they should be given full amnesty is a much stronger claim, for they had no choice in the harm they might have inflicted upon others, many of them had been recruited by force, and the main focus should be on rehabilitation for child soldiers, not persecution. One of the first reasons why child soldiers should be granted …show more content…

As stated in an informational article on differing opinions about child soldiers, “Most children are forcibly recruited and even when they enlist they may not have thought carefully about their decisions or made an informed choice.” This shows how many children are kidnapped from their homes to join a corrupt army, and forced to endure the hardships of war at such a young age. They can not be held accountable for acts that they were forced into, and the only logical outcome in this argument is that all child soldiers are given amnesty. Although it can be argued that there are quite a few child soldiers that made the conscious decision to join the army, these soldiers were often misinformed, and only seeking to enlist for the offer of food, protection and a place to live after possibly losing their family and home to the raging war. Choice is an important thing, and once it is taken away, you cannot convict a person as if they still had that option to …show more content…

Child soldiers should be given complete amnesty for they had no choice in their decisions to kill others or even join the army in itself, and they were treated terribly during their experience. Granting these children the amnesty they deserve will hopefully bring more attention to the ongoing problem of the use of child soldiers and help to end these inhumane acts of violence on