Essay On The Effects Of Substance Abuse On Child Soldiers

Words: 894
Pages: 4

Each day thousands of young children are stuffed with drugs and shoved out the door with a gun in their not fully developed hands. They march across battlefields ready to fire bullets at anyone, just because some twisted adult has forced them to do so. These children can barely spell machine gun, yet they are forced to use it against family, friends, and anyone who comes between them. It is not the children’s fault that it has come to this. Therefore, they deserve amnesty if before or after their mental therapy they feel remorse for the crimes they have forcibly committed.
Many adults suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after they fight in war. So imagine the scarring and mental trauma that will permanently damage the children who are forced to assault the innocent. Especially the young kids who have no choice but to fight, “...radical Islamic insurgents are plucking children off soccer fields and turning them into
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It is not fair if we condemn someone for an event that they had no control over. Also, these kids have been greatly mistreated and deserve a chance to a new life, “Prosecutions do not allow the opportunity to rehabilitate child soldiers and instead prioritise the rights of the victims over the child, even though the child himself will probably have suffered abuse as well” (Child Soldiers, Prosecution). If before or after the child has been rehabilitated, and they honestly feel remorse for what they have done, they deserve to be set free and start a new happy life. “Truth and Reconciliation Commissions and Disarmament, Demobilisation and Rehabilitation programs are a better way of helping child soldiers come to terms with what they did and can be re-integrated into society and rehabilitated” (Child Soldiers, Prosecutions). Child soldiers deserve a shot at forgiveness and an opportunity to heal from all the psychological