The issue of child soldiers has come to light in recent times with a previous child soldier, Omar Khadr, being controversially released from Guantanamo Bay, a notoriously severe prison. Child soldiers should not be convicted and prosecuted for their actions, and should instead be re-integrated into modern society. This is because some of these child soldiers were born into circumstances where terror acts were common and that these innocent, young children went to a military base for security and safety, but were forced into the war. Now some argue that these children still committed the acts and that that’s the long and thick of it, but despite this, it is also the case that when taken as a whole, the mentality that these children were subjected to in the military was ‘kill or be killed’.
One example of a child being forced into unfortunate war-like circumstances against their will is the case of a man named Omar Khadr. Born to a high-ranking Al-Qaeda terrorist, Khadr was placed in jail after entering a firefight, during which he threw a grenade that killed a US Army soldier. Khadr had no choice in joining a terrorist force as a child, as his father had taken him to several Al-Qaeda training camps when he was ten and fifteen years old. Khadr, “only 15 at the time of his apprehension,” (Prasow, 2010) but 30 now, has been through several jail systems and has another two years to serve in prison. Being prosecuted as a child soldier has stolen his teenage years and his 20’s, and he may never be able to lead a normal life ever again.
Secondly, some child soldiers are forced into service, but not by their parents or family line. As we can see in ex-child soldier Ishmael Beah’s autobiography, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, he and his friends had arrived at “[...] Yele, a village that was occupied by the military. [...] we had finally found safety at Yele. The village was always full of lively chattering laughter,” (Beah, p100). This shows that in the beginning, a large number of the children soldiers went to the military base simply to find security. However, when opposing forces started closing in on the base, the children either had to fight for the military or leave the base for good. “If you do not want to fight or help, that is fine. But you will not have rations and you will not stay in this village,” (Beah, p106). “The man insisted that he didn’t want to be a part of our war, so I gave him his wish and let him go. [...] The rebels shot them in the clearing,” (Beah, p107). This evidence points to the thought that these children, with no parental guidance or support, had to make a tough decision: kill or be killed. After being forced into the army, these poor, innocent children are forced to take some very bad drugs, like brown-brown (a mix of gunpowder and cocaine) and marijuana. These drugs calm the children down and make them hallucinate to the point where they do not believe that they are doing anything wrong or violent.
The third and final reason as to why these children should not be prosecuted is because regardless of how these children came to be in the military, they were brainwashed into thinking that they had done nothing wrong. One piece of evidence suggests “child soldiers are not morally responsible for the actions they perform [...] once recruited, the children soon become brainwashed through the use of drugs and alcohol,” (CSIC, Unknown). This text shows that violent thoughts are planted into these innocent children's minds through the use of cheap brainwashing techniques.
While some may argue that these children committed these acts, whether they were the children’s acts or not, they fail to realise that these soldiers are still just that: children. As we can see from several pieces of evidence in the past, children can be easily manipulated, and can be quickly trained to enforce the orders of others without thinking twice, especially if these orders are given by someone they trust. This can be detrimental to the rehabilitation of children, when they have “been "marinating" in the [...] views of elder statesmen of terrorist groups” (Prasow, 2010) while in prisons. This evidence points to the thought that if children are to have a second chance in life without being feared by the general public, being in a prison can ruin their possible future.
As these pieces of evidence have been unpacked and examined, it becomes quite clear to see that child soldiers should not be prosecuted as these children are forced into service, born into a family that is involved in these affairs, or brainwashed. Furthermore, prosecuting and jailing these children is clearly detrimental to their possible reintegration into society, and ruins any chance of them leading a normal life.
Bibliography
- Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. Print.
- Prasow, Andrea. "The Child Soldier on Trial at Guantanamo." Human Rights Watch. N.p., 27 Oct. 2010. Web. 13 June 2016.
- "Child Soldiers- Summative Essay." Child Soldiers: Invisible Children. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 June 2016.
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