Argumentative Essay On Child Soldiers

Imagine this: in your present day life, you have just finished a regular, boring, old day in school. You have sat through the same classes, learned the same subjects, and now you are ready to head home. You hoist your heavy backpack over your shoulder and begin the long walk to the parking lot. When you get there, you see your parents’ car, open the door and get in. This might be one of the most ordinary processes in the world to you. However, not every child is as fortunate to have a car, a backpack, afford to go to school, or even have parents. For some children in Asian and African countries, war, death, and violence are as ordinary as going to school. Most of these children are child soldiers. The act of using child soldiers in armed combat
This human rights issue occurs mainly in Asian countries like Afghanistan and African countries like Sudan, where violence and war is a way of life for many children; ages of about eight years old, all the way to about sixteen years old. The child soldiers complete various tasks, all with numerous risks. While some children take part in armed combat, others have been used as messengers, spies, lookouts, suicide bombers and for most girls, sexual slaves. All these tasks and actions come with significant consequences. For example, over the last ten years, two-million children have been killed by fighting in the army, over one-million have been orphaned, over six-million have been seriously injured or disabled, and over ten-million were traumatized by the experiences they have been through. In addition, it has been observed that children who have served in the army have a lot of difficulties adjusting and being rehabilitated into society (“Children in Conflict: Child Soldiers” 1). In conclusion, the negative effects that these children suffer is an unacceptable human right issue and should be stopped if the future of these children is truly being considered and if their best interests are actually in
A lot of the children used in the military were abducted by soldiers and beaten into submission. Many were stripped from their homes this way. In the area around Gulu, Uganda, ten-thousand children have been abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army in the last fifteen years (“Children in Conflict: Child Soldiers” 1). This violation does not only occur in Gulu, however. In areas of South Sudan, the same action has been occurring as well. According to the research conducted by BBC News, “Hundreds of boys in South Sudan have been kidnapped and forced to become child soldiers, the United Nations children’s agency says.” This statement corresponds with the eighty-nine child kidnappings that Unicef reported in 2015. In the same location of South Sudan, the UN claims to have seen boys as young as twelve-years-old carrying guns and suspects that twelve-thousand children have been used as child soldiers in 2014 alone. The reasons for the use of child soldiers is evidently clear because of the waging civil war that is occurring between the president of Sudan and the rebels led by the former vice-president. “The campaign group, Human Rights Watch has accused both sides of using child soldiers,” BBC reports. According to all of this information, abductions and kidnappings of children have been happening for years in various places across the