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Child Soldiers Amnesty

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Should Child Soldiers be Granted Amnesty or Should they be Prosecuted? Although not everyone knows it, there is a huge tragedy that is, and has been, going on even at this exact moment. That tragedy is children being taken out of their ordinary lives, whether by force or not, away from their families and into battle. Despite how much these children went through in the wars, the question still remains: once the war is over, should they be granted amnesty, or be prosecuted? The answer to this comes from thorough research. Child soldiers should be granted amnesty because they are unaware of what they are doing, they need help rather than prosecution, and many are forced to fight.
The first reason why child soldiers should be legally forgiven …show more content…

When dragged into war, many children and their families are in poverty, because of the effects of the war and, in some countries’ cases, simply because of the life they have always lived. Or, because of the poverty they are in, they choose to join the military in order to be fed, given a place to sleep, and provided with easier access to water. In both cases, once the war is over, they remain in the same poor state they were in when they started, or likely even worse. Also, during the fighting, once the kids were drugged, they continued to rely on their commanders for drugs. And, because of the addiction they gained, they are now facing even more health dangers than just having the drugs alone. Child Soldiers--Victims or Perpetrators? states, ¨...rehabilitation should be the aim and not punishment. The Truth and Reconciliation Commissions and Disarmament, Demobilization and Reconciliation program, often abbreviated TTR and DDR, are far better ways of helping children recover and reintegrate back into society and out of war.¨ The article goes on to describe the problems with prosecution. It reveals that the prosecution process can be drawn from a lack of evidence and is sometimes rather selective. Thus, it would be far more effective and a better solution to give child soldiers war relief rather than be …show more content…

The side that argues prosecuting the child soldiers says kids were given the option to stay or leave, and most chose to stay. That is only partly true. It is true that they are given the option. Yet, the children indirectly forced to stay. Because they have become addicted to the drugs the warlords gave them, they are now dependent on them for those drugs and simply cannot leave, as it reads on debatewise.org. Also, Ishmael Beah points out that through the war, they have gained a connection to their commanders and fellow soldiers. For some, including Ishmael, it is the only family they have left. So, they may, indeed, choose to stay, but not for the reason the many believe. Instead of staying for the fighting, the stay for of family. Those who argue that child soldiers should be considered the perpetrators also say that if we grant amnesty to the soldiers, there would be no justice for the victims they killed. This is completely agreeable and understandable. It is agreeable that there should be punishment given in order to fulfill justice for the victims. However, in order for justice to be fully satisfied, the children should not be the ones punished, but rather, the warlords who wish to come to the US from their country of origin. The warlords drug the child soldiers and kill those who do not follow orders. They also force some to join. If child soldiers were

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