Name: Sujeeth Karri
Date:
Imagine, you’re a nine year boy running through the streets. On the other the side you see another boy, maybe the same age. But, the difference is that you are running through a foreign war land, and he is running home. In your hand is a fully loaded semi-automatic. In his, a stick. The only one thing you were told to do is kill! Kill anyone that doesn’t look familiar to you. Anyone! Even if they are innocent. You might be wondering why a child that should be playing with his friends on playground, is running through a warzone a gun? Well this child is a child soldier. Child soldiers are any children under the age of 18 who are recruited by armed groups and used as fighters, cooks, suicide bombers, human shields, messengers, spies, or for sexual purposes. In the last 15 years, the use of child soldiers has spread to almost every region of the world and every armed conflict. Though an exact number is hard to define, thousands of child soldiers are illegally serving in armed conflict around the world. Some children as young as the age of 8 are forced to serve. Child soldiers should be given amnesty, or given an official pardon, because they have been drugged so they get brainwashed, they live in very poor conditions that are forcing them to go to these military camps, and they don’t know any better.
First, many child soldiers are given drugs and get brainwashed, so they can blindly follow the order to kill. A good example of this can be seen in the