Imagine you are in the military. Fighting for your country's freedom when you see a small child no more than ten years old firing an AK-47 at your fellow troops. The child’s shooting is chillingly accurate. The thoughts of what has this child gone through? and why are they even in this position of military enforcement? Race through your brain. The child is then captured. Three months later you are in a massive court room face to face with the same child you saw fighting with a gun almost the size of him sitting anxiously awaiting his trial to start. Now here is the big question, should this child be given amnesty or not? Child soldiers should receive amnesty because it was not the child's fault, the fact that they were drugged, and their role
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Their family has died or their homes have been demolished. For example in the article To What Extent Should Child Soldiers be held Accountable for their Crimes? It writes “More often than not children have no say in whether they enlist or not and once recruited the children become brainwashed through the use of drugs and alcohol. The drugs and alcohol make the children become more compliant enabling them to commit atrocities which they never would have before.”. And then in the article Hope for Uganda's Child Soldiers? Written by Laura Blue and Jonathan Woodward it says “... the rebels' world-renowned campaign of terror, which included cutting off the lips, ears and noses of civilians as they fought the government.” As well, in the article called Children in Somalia Facing War Crimes it states “Al-Shabab is also using increasingly threatening recruitment methods, luring children with the promise of phones and money or conducting raids on schools or abductions in public areas.” All of these excerpts from these articles have one thing in common; the commanders took part in forcing these children into war. Forcing them to commit crimes that later will get charged for even though it wasn’t the child’s intentions to do …show more content…
In the article Hope for Uganda’s child soldiers? It says “The LRA's long, bloody campaign is the legacy of the assumption of power two decades ago by President Yoweri Museveni, a southerner who helped end the string of bloody reigns by northerners such as Milton Obote and Idi Amin.” and then later in the same article it states “Uganda has hinted it will offer amnesty to Kony and other rebel leaders as a bargaining chip — just as it has allowed surrendering fighters to return home freely in the past.” Finally the interview with Ishmael Beah he says “ … you begin to look up to the commander as sort of a father figure..”
Certainly it could be said that these children should not be given amnesty because they had no remorse when killing people. While this is a valid point it fails to account for that they grew up thinking that killing people was appropriate. Omar Khadr was a child soldier and he was then prosecuted for his crime and he said this “"I don't wish people to love me, I don't wish people to hate me, I just wish for people to give me a chance," From the article named Guantanamo’s Child Omar Khadr . Meaning that he wanted to let the officials know that he isn’t entirely to blame for
Their family has died or their homes have been demolished. For example in the article To What Extent Should Child Soldiers be held Accountable for their Crimes? It writes “More often than not children have no say in whether they enlist or not and once recruited the children become brainwashed through the use of drugs and alcohol. The drugs and alcohol make the children become more compliant enabling them to commit atrocities which they never would have before.”. And then in the article Hope for Uganda's Child Soldiers? Written by Laura Blue and Jonathan Woodward it says “... the rebels' world-renowned campaign of terror, which included cutting off the lips, ears and noses of civilians as they fought the government.” As well, in the article called Children in Somalia Facing War Crimes it states “Al-Shabab is also using increasingly threatening recruitment methods, luring children with the promise of phones and money or conducting raids on schools or abductions in public areas.” All of these excerpts from these articles have one thing in common; the commanders took part in forcing these children into war. Forcing them to commit crimes that later will get charged for even though it wasn’t the child’s intentions to do …show more content…
In the article Hope for Uganda’s child soldiers? It says “The LRA's long, bloody campaign is the legacy of the assumption of power two decades ago by President Yoweri Museveni, a southerner who helped end the string of bloody reigns by northerners such as Milton Obote and Idi Amin.” and then later in the same article it states “Uganda has hinted it will offer amnesty to Kony and other rebel leaders as a bargaining chip — just as it has allowed surrendering fighters to return home freely in the past.” Finally the interview with Ishmael Beah he says “ … you begin to look up to the commander as sort of a father figure..”
Certainly it could be said that these children should not be given amnesty because they had no remorse when killing people. While this is a valid point it fails to account for that they grew up thinking that killing people was appropriate. Omar Khadr was a child soldier and he was then prosecuted for his crime and he said this “"I don't wish people to love me, I don't wish people to hate me, I just wish for people to give me a chance," From the article named Guantanamo’s Child Omar Khadr . Meaning that he wanted to let the officials know that he isn’t entirely to blame for