Should Child Soldiers Be Forced To Kill Essay

When most people think of a twelve year old child, they think of someone in middle school worried about making friends and fitting in. For many children in war-ridden countries in Africa, they have a much different reality. They are forced into becoming soldiers, given narcotics, and told to kill certain targets and people. Child soldiers are enlisted at very young ages, put onto the front lines, and forced to kill. That is why the children involved are victims of this terrible process, and should not be treated as criminals. First of all, these children are enlisted into these armies at dangerously young ages. In many countries in Africa and across the world, young children are being forced into rebel and corrupt government militaries. According to New York Times and the United Nations, “The Somali government is using hundreds of children, some as young as 9, on the front lines.”(Gettleman 6). For most young children, their brains are still developing, and the constant warfare and vicious imagery can be very damaging to a brain. These young children should be in school, gaining an education to help them in their future lives. Instead, these innocent children are forced to become killing machines and to take mind-altering narcotics, which have countless negative effects on their maturing minds and bodies.
The vast majority of child soldiers were forced in some way to kill. In some areas, child soldiers are manipulated to kill. According an an African military commander, “Child soldiers are ideal. They don’t complain, they don’t expect to be paid-and if you tell them to kill, they kill.” In other areas, child soldiers are given narcotics like cocaine and marijuana and then put onto the battlefield and told to kill. These dangerous drugs cloud their reasoning and common sense, and essentially put them at the will of their commanders, who force them to mercilessly