Child soldiers day 4

Dear UNICEF

Hello my name is Sara Al Awam and I go to the American International School of Muscat in Oman. In my language arts class we are currently learning about child soldiers.  The topic of child soldiers seems to be an extremely conflicted subject, on one hand there is the view that points out that child soldiers are perpetrators, and the second view is that they are victims. Personally I think that child soldiers are victims because these youths are brainwashed, drugged and manipulated to do anything their commanders tell them to do. The good question is what happens to these kids after they have been picked up, are they immediately forgiven, are they punished? Is the correct way to handle these kids by giving them instant amnesty and risk them never learning their lesson.

Child soldiers are usually targeted for being easily manipulated (you probably already know that). Everything that they hold dear is usually destroyed in front of there eyes. These kids eventually get desensitized and distant from reality and common human morals. since kids as young as eight are targeted as child soldiers they have not yet reached the level of maturity to know if what they are doing is wrong. These children lose their family's and their siblings and are witness death and killing. Their homes and villages get torn to rubles. If you have nothing and no one a child is obviously going to go to the nearest available thing similar to a family. these children also lack basic supplies like food water and shelter so they have no choice but to participate in violence (story of child soldier we read about)s.

On the other hand these kids participate in the act of murder and violence. But are they responsible for their actions? or are the people who force them and manipulate them into war is it their fault? In my personal opinion the children should not be held responsible for their crimes and mistakes because children are easily manipulated and are forced to do something a normal child would never choose to do. I feel like these children should go to rehab but the people rehabilitating the children should emphasize the fact that what they did was wrong, but they should still tell the children that what they did the kids are not responsible for.

child soldiers day 3

Dear _______

Hello my name is Sara Al Awam and I go to the American International School of Muscat in Oman. In my language arts class we are currently learning about child soldiers. The subject of child soldiers seems to be an extremely conflicted subject, on one hand there is the view that points out that child soldiers are perpetrators, and the second view is that they are victims. Personally I think that child soldiers are victims because  these kids are brainwashed, drugged and manipulated to do anything their commanders tell them to do. The good question is what happens to these kids after they have been picked up, are they immediately forgiven, are they punished. my view on instant amnesty is that will these kids ever learn their lesson if they are forgiven? and if we punish them we don't really know if these kids deserve the punishment.

Child soldiers are usually targeted for being easily manipulated (you probably already know that). Everything that they hold dear is usually destroyed in front of there eyes. These kids eventually get desensitized and distant from reality and common human morals. since kids as young as eight are targeted as child soldiers they have not yet reached the level of maturity to know if what they are doing is wrong. These children lose their family's and their siblings and are witness death and killing. Their homes and villages get torn to rubles. If you have nothing and no one a child is obviously going to go to the nearest available thing similar to a family. these children also lack basic supplies like food water and shelter so they have no choice but to participate in violence.

On the other hand these kids participate in the act of murder and violence. But are they responsible for their actions? or are the people who force them and manipulate them into war is it their fault? In my personal opinion the children should not be held responsible for their crimes and mistakes because children are easily manipulated and are forced to do something a normal child would never choose to do. I feel like these children should go to rehab but the people rehabilitating the children should emphasize the fact that what they did was wrong, but they should still tell the children that what they did the kids are not responsible for.

Personally I think that the people who should be held responsible for the actions of these children are the people who got them into this in the first place, if it weren't for them these kids would live a normal life and have a family to influence them into making correct choices but without anyone these people influenced these children that makes them responsible to whatever wrong thing these kids do.