Role Of Child Soldiers In The Military Essay

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Imagine yourself as a child forced to carry an A.K.47 just to protect the lives of people you can not remember. Your mission is to kill an innocent family that the military believes are dangerous. You are high on drugs that the commanders made you take so you would not think twice about the murder you are about to commit. You try to remember why you are doing, it but the time comes to kill or be killed. You raise the gun and the group of people are dead. Child soldiers should be given amnesty for the actions they were forced to do because children are the perfect weapon, the children had nowhere else to go, and they may have a dangerous family background. 5/5 While some might argue that they joined willingly and enjoyed killing and should not receive amnesty they forget that in the text it says that they were drugged, brainwashed, and held at death. They were so high on drugs they …show more content…

According to “Armed and Underage”, “What’s more, children are often considered the perfect weapon: They are easily manipulated, intensely loyal, fearless, and most important, in endless supply.” Because children can be persuaded or forced to do what the military wants they will do anything because they are afraid to disappoint the adults. “Children are often desired as recruits because they can be easily intimidated and indoctrinated. They lack the mental maturity and judgement to express consent or to fully understand the implications of their actions...and are pushed by the adult commanders into perpetrating atrocities” (Somalia Child Soldiers facing war crimes). Since children do not have a fully developed mind, the adults can mold the children into anything they want them to be and in this case, killers. “You’re trained how to torture. You’re trained how to kill. It’s all you know” (Blue and Woodward). This quote is saying that the children are brainwashed so all they know what to do is the things that the commanders