Picture this, a helpless, 8 year old boy from a Somali barrack dressed in a soldier’s uniform with a rifle in his tiny little hands, aiming to shoot an innocent civilian right in the head. Our world continues to push aside the problem of child soldiers. Child soldiers all over the world are forced to fight in wars. Forced to kill. Forced to kidnap more children to become the next generation of child soldiers. The children are being forced to drink liquor and do drugs around the barracks. The entire regime uses child soldiers to take countless lives. The regime uses and takes advantage of these innocent children. The children often have little to no choice whether or not they enlist in the military. While the number of conflicts involving child soldiers has dropped since 2004 from 27 to 15, human-rights experts estimate that more than 200,000 children worldwide are still being used as combatants. We must stop this growing problem before more innocent lives are lost. First off, I believe that child soldiers should be considered victims because the children have to go through many bad consequences. Many children have been abducted by the RUF in recent weeks to carry military and stolen goods. Also, the army uses drugs and alcohol to make the children more obedient, ” Once the children are recruited, they become brainwashed through drugs and alcohol” (http://childsoldiersinvisiblechildren.weebly.com/child-soldiers--summative-essay.html:). Reflecting on this, we see that the children are victims because they are forced into getting brainwashed and they are forced away from their families to do something most of the children don’t even want to do . Also, the children are forced by their commanders through false promises and other things we can't even imagine. The children are forced to have to kill innocent citizens of their country and some are even forced to kill their own family members. Also, their commanders promised the children that anything they could steal including houses, cars, clothes, and food. “ False promises were given- that they would be paid in U.S. dollars, that they would get a house in Monrovia, or cars. This was a major thing that caused random killings; you get the property, if you get rid of the owner" (http://childsoldiersinvisiblechildren.weebly.com/child-soldiers--summative-essay.html:). All of these things makes the children become very dangerous at a very young age. The child soldiers are victims because they are often forced into fighting in the wars. Most of the time , the government forces the kids to go to basic training and then to fight in their war that they are already losing. The government shows up and tells the kids good things about the war and why they should fight so they would join them. They just say what the kid wants to hear. If that doesn't work then they forcefully take the kids and force them into the military. This makes the kid’s life miserable. The country’s government thinks that taking the kids from their parents is the right thing to do, but all they get is more deaths because of their poorly trained child soldiers. Forcing them into fighting makes them worse soldiers because they don't actually like what they are doing. This ruins their lives and is something they will remember for the rest of their life. Last off, child soldiers should be considered victims because their commanders lie to them in order to get them to sign up to be in the military. The children are brainwashed and forced to kill people that they don't want to kill. Their commanders never mention to them all of the unbearable things that they are going to have to do. This is very unfair to the children. Also, their commanders fail to help the children understand what they are getting into when they sign up to go into the military. This is evidenced by “Furthermore, many children join without carefully thinking through their decision. At the time they might believe that recruiting would lead to a safer life as necessities such as food, water and shelter would be available; actually fighting in war would not cross their mind” (http://childsoldiersinvisiblechildren.weebly.com/child-soldiers--summative-essay.html:). In conclusion, the many children that are being forced to kill innocent citizens and family members is becoming a growing problem. Child soldiers are victims and people need to realize that and take a stand against it. These poor children have to go through horrible consequences just to make their commanders happy. Countless lives are lost every day. These wars that children have fought in will have lasting effects on them from physical to mental. Child soldiers are victims not perpetrators.
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AuthorI am Caitlin Baudier. Archives
March 2017
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