Persuasive Speech On Child Soldiers

A child named Akbar, only 16 years of age, is one of the few escapees from a war-stricken country. How do you think he was able to flee? Do you think sheer luck saved him by evading bullets from hundreds of guns? Or did he brutally slaughter every soldier he saw? Not everyone knows about these child soldiers. In general, for some parts of the world, there are kids holding guns and killing adults. For people like the family of Sgt. Christopher Speer, the idea of child soldiers are of the utmost importance. Child soldiers are one of the most controversial topics in the world. They try to seek refuge in our everyday life because there are no laws to determine what to do with them. You might have even seen a child soldier in your life, whether
One reason that child soldiers should be prosecuted is the fact that these ruthless children are dangerous to other people around them. According to The Guardian, a well known news company, reports have shown that there are about 28 million child soldiers in countries at war. Imagine how many are going to flee those countries. Imagine how many are already here. It is hard to think about how a small 12 year old boy could be able to wield an AK-47 and willingly kill people, but it is happening right now. In fact, Invisible Children said, “Over the course of the past decades child soldiers have been responsible for some of the most brutal acts in wartime, such as rape, mutilation and mass killings of innocent civilians”. Many professionals agree with this statement as DebateWise, an organization that explains sides of arguments, has written in their “Child Soldiers Should be Prosecuted” argument, “Child soldiers are often ordered to commit abuses against their own families and communities”. If a child can commit such atrocities to their beloved friends and family, what kinds of terrible things could they do to cities of innocent people if they were given amnesty?
Child soldiers are not so different from child criminals, if not worse (child criminals meaning the type of children who are sentenced to juvenile detention facilities). However, although child criminals are prosecuted for their actions, child soldiers have the ability to gain amnesty. DebateWise comments on the topic by writing, “If a child can be convicted for murder under national law they should also be held responsible for international crimes”. This is a logical argument that many courts around the world have overlooked. In fact, IRIN, a news service for emergencies, states in their “Should Child Soldiers be Prosecuted for Their Crimes?” article, “The age of criminal responsibility varies from … 7-16”. However, IRIN also quotes from the Children and Justice During and in the Aftermath of Armed Conflict, “If a child under the age of 15 is considered too young to fight, then he or she must also be considered too young to be held criminally responsible”. This contradicts their previous statement as only child soldiers the ages of 15 and 16 can really be prosecuted, while child criminals can be prosecuted from the age of 7. DebateWise closes their argument subtopic saying, “There should be no exception simply because the crimes occurred in wartime”. If wartime is such a deciding factor in court, then would child criminals who have murdered before also receive amnesty? It just does not