Child Soldier Persuasive Essay

“The saddest sight these days is the image of hundreds of thousands of children kidnapped and lured into being child soldiers from the age of eight.” These were the words of Roger Moore, a famous actor when talking about child soldiers. Unfortunately, we still see this same situation happening all around the world. Many children are being used as soldiers to fight in wars in many different places. The people who recruit them think it can give them a higher advantage since the enemy would think twice before killing a little kid. However, the actions and atrocities that these children commit while in war are being greatly questioned by the government and court officials. Some say that they should be given amnesty, the legal act of forgiving …show more content…
Many child soldiers have been “given drugs and alcohol to induce aggression and inhibit fear”. (Liberia) Since these drugs are powerful, they can make these kids completely unaware of their actions and the next day, they would not remember anything. Also, they make these kids more aggressive and fearful. Because of this, they commit these crimes, even if they had no intention of doing it in the first place. Another very important factor to have in consideration is the fact that many of these kids are manipulated into believing what the adult soldiers tell them. For example, Omar Khadr. Not only was he beaten by his interrogators but they “told him a fictional story of a young man sent to an American prison who was gang-raped and died of related injuries-implying that Khadr might face a similar fate if he failed to cooperate.” (Trial at Guantanamo) Khadr was only 15 when he was recruited as a child soldier. The people who trained him tortured him and told him that Americans were the enemy. Due to the fact that his interrogators twisted his rights from his wrongs, he thought he was doing the correct thing by fighting. So, in a way, he was not aware of the real damage he was