Yoon-Jae Hong

Kat Massengill

Information Analysis Research

February.07.2016

Living a Different Life

 

 

 

 

     

 

According to the Independant, a world wide news webpage, in 2012, there were about 300,000 child soldiers in 20 different countries (Ten Facts). 300,000 children taken to fight as a child soldier. Forced to be a part of a criminal organization. Risking their lives just to live a little longer. Children as young as five are a part of a criminal community. Not because they want to, because they have to. This issue of the child soldiers is not a brand new issue, it started before WW I. There are a large amount of numbers of child soldiers. Unicef has noted that in 1988 there were about 200,000 child soldiers that were forced to combat. From 1988 to 2012, every year about 4,200 child soldiers were increasing. Child soldiers should be given amnesty and not be punished. The reasons being, children are forced to join, child soldiers should be given a second chance, and all child soldiers are not meant to kill.

     Child soldiers should be given amnesty because these child soldiers are forced to fight at a young age. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, a protocol done by the U.N., has noted that under the age of 18 children may not participate in war. This protocol has been signed by 162 countries and 21 countries has not signed this protocol. The number of countries that signed the protocol outnumber the countries that has not signed the protocol, which makes this protocol an actual international law. This shows the kids have no choice, but to go illegal for many reasons. According to Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier from Sierra Leone, has said in an interview with Josh Rushing, an award-winning broadcast, that his mother, father, and his two brothers were pointed gun at right in front of him (Strombo). After that, he was taken from the commanders to a military base and got fed drugs. He had lost his family and witnessed his commander pulling the trigger on his family. He was either to kill or to get killed. He was left alone and he had to make that decision at the age of twelve. Getting fed drugs before the brain was fully developed made Ishmael Beah harder to control himself. Then he started relying on the commanders and the other child soldiers he fought with, because of the drugs which made him addictive. Living as a child soldier not knowing what to do, losing their families, losing their friends and eating whatever they are given, is not a right way to live. When child soldiers like this are forced to become a child soldier they should be given amnesty.

     Child soldiers should be given amnesty because they have not gotten a second chance to live. “When

I was packing my bags I felt no fear. All I knew is that I was not going back to that place” was said by Polline,

a former child soldier from Uganda. Poline was kidnapped by Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group in

Uganda, became a “wife” of one of the commanders, and got pregnant at the age of sixteen. Soon, her health

became worse after time and she got sent to the hospital. In the hospital a nurse heard her tragic story and

helped Polline escape the rebel group. She did not want to go back to that horrible place again. By the help

of the Ugandan Embassy she went back to Kampala, the capital of Uganda, and wanted to go back to school.

She knew what to do after she had escaped. She was waiting for that second chance to come to her and she knew it was coming. Now, she is talking to many decision makers, significant, and many important people who help the world change around the world. Another example of this is from Ishmael Beah again (Strombo). After that moment there came a chance for him to escape from the rebel group too. From a speech done to the U.N. he had said that he felt so awful awful about what he did and felt horrible for the things he had done. This shows that these child soldiers do understand the meaning between right and wrong. When they get a second chance after a tragic moment it could be a learning process. A quote that Polline said was, “If you are not educated, you are nothing.” This shows that she understood what she had to do after the escape.

     All child soldiers are not used just for killing. The Child Soldiers International, a web page about child soldiers, has noted that child soldiers are also used as porters, couriers, spies, guards, suicide bombers, human shields, or to perform domestic duties, such as cooking and cleaning (Who Are Child Soldiers?). Many children that are forced join a rebel groups are not all just to shoot guns at other people. Some go to wars as human shields. Commanders put children less than 18 years old, out at the front line and watch them be killed. According to the Daily Mail UK, an online newspaper, ISIS has kidnapped 500 children, brainwashed them, and made them all suicide bombers (Drury). After these children get brainwashed the commanders will teach them only about bombing. They would not know anything, but how to activate the bomb that they have on their body. Majeb, a sixteen year old former child soldier in Syria, has told the Human Rights Watch, an international organization on human rights, that he was taken with some 12 year old kids (Trianni). He said that they were taught about weapons. They would practice shooting outside the mosque and whoever hit the target got a reward. These children are doing something similar things, like chores. The commanders tell them to shoot at a target and if they hit it they are rewarded. The commanders train them nicely, as the children like it, but actually he doesn’t even care, because they are children who are just going to die soon.

     People may think that child soldiers should not be given amnesty, because they kill millions of people. However, some of these child soldiers are forced to do that, or else they are killed. What about the children that volunteer? The child soldiers that volunteer have reasons they want to join. Their families could have been killed during a war, so they would need money, protection, and food. That is why these children volunteer to be child soldiers. The Independent has noted that child soldiers get paid as little as 25 pounds, which is about 36 dollars a month (Ten Facts). These children need money, food, shelter, and protection to survive. They have tried leave the country or get some help, but when that does not work it leaves them with a last solution, to become a child soldier. These child soldiers get brainwashed and get fed drugs, so they can listen to the commanders. Getting brain washed and resting their minds are not good for little children. Forgetting how they got there, knowing nothing about what happened, and just relying on someone that is right in front of them.

     Child soldiers are taken away from their families almost everyday, or by hundreds in a day. They are getting brainwashed, fed drugs, and taught how to use weapons. Then they are used as suicide bombers, human shields, being sexually abused, and more. After people know this they are still asking the question, “Should child soldiers be given amnesty?” Now, this question should be no longer mentioned of people's mouths anymore. How would they feel if they were forced to be a child soldier and die in a combat or be prosecuted after being threatened by the commanders? Losing their families, not being able to live without drugs, and being brainwashed. It is not the child soldiers that have the bloody hands it is the commanders that do. Overall, it becomes clear that child soldiers should be given amnesty, because childrens are forced to join, they should be given a second chance, and all child soldiers are not meant to kill.

 

Works Cited

“Children as Soldiers.” Unicief.org. Unicief, n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2016. <http://www.unicef.org/sowc96/2csoldrs.htm>.

CNN. Pictures of Teenage Suicide Bombers without Even a Hint of a Beard Have Began to Be a Common Sight on Social Media as ISIS Repeatedly Target Younger Recruits. Dailymail.co.uk. Daily Mail, 13 Jan. 2016. Web. 7 Feb. 2016. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3395916/Boys-snatched-families-ISIS-reveal-ordered-kill-parents-trained-child-soldiers-legs-broken-refused.html>.

Drury, Flora. “500 Children Kidnapped by ISIS Are Being Brainwashed into Becoming Suicide Bombers or Child Soldiers, Iraqi Official Reveals.” Dailymail.co.uk. Daily Mail Online, 2 June 2015. Web. 26 Jan. 2016. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3107010/500-children-kidnapped-ISIS-brainwashed-suicide-bombers-child-soldiers-Iraqi-official-reveals.html>.

Nallan, Kishore. “Abolish Child Labor.” Power to the Poster. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2016. <http://www.powertotheposter.org/>.

“POLLINE’S JOURNEY.” Warchild.org.uk. War Child, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2016. <https://www.warchild.org.uk/features/from-child-soldier-to-global-campaigner>.

Strombo. Ishmael Beah -- Child Soldier. Youtube.com. YouTube, 1 May 2007. Web. 23 Jan. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K4yhPSQEzo>.

“Ten Facts about Child Soldiers That Everyone Should Know.” The Independent. N.p., 23 Dec. 2012. Web. 23 Jan. 2016. <http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/ten-facts-about-child-soldiers-that-everyone-should-know-8427617.html>.

Trianni, Francesca. “Watch: Syrian Children Talk About Life As Child Soldiers.” Time.com. Time Inc., 22 June 2014. Web. 23 Jan. 2016. <http://time.com/2902332/syria-child-soldiers/>.

“Who Are Child Soldiers?” Child-Soldiers.org. Child Soldiers International, n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2016. <http://www.child-soldiers.org/about_the_issues.php>.