https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_nGMonU_PCqejZLdHF1aURYYTg

Sending an email about child solders to UNICEF

Final Draft Child Soldiers

Dear To However It May Concern at UNICEF,

My name is Ali Eldakhakhny. I'm a student studying at The American International School of Muscat. I'm learning about how child soldiers should be dealt with after a war has finished that they have been involved in. For years the use of children in both conflicts between states and civil wars has been evident. Children are forced by commanders through false promises, drugs, and things which you can’t even imagine, to kill innocent civilians, other children, and even their own families. Universally, the use of child soldiers has been frowned upon as both unacceptable and abhorrent. Despite this, in the last ten years over two million children have been killed, over one million orphaned, over six million have been left seriously injured or permanently disabled and over 10 million have been diagnosed with psychological trauma. However, the question still remains whether or not child soldiers should be held accountable for their crimes. In other words, should all child soldiers be given amnesty, no matter their war crimes? I think yes, and I know that you agree with me. But don't just give them amnesty. I think you should give them more. Just bringing them back to their village is not enough. Most times their villages are broken up, and most times their families are dead. So give more to them, by giving them a proper home to stay in, with clean water. Or even just a proper education. So I would strongly advise that you should do more than just give amnesty.

I know that giving every child soldier amnesty is a no-brainer for you. But what you do with them after is what will benefit or drawback their life. It's also about how much time it takes. These child soldiers after a war need to be immediately dealt with. Or their circumstances will just get worse than they already are. For example, former child soldier Omar Khadr was placed as a threat to this world. He had killed many people on purpose, like military personnel he was working with. So for the result of these actions, he was put in jail at the age of 15, and he was not let out until the age of 24. That's 9 years of his life wasted. Now some may argue that he is a threat, and that is a valid point, but was that really worth it? For him spending so many years in incarceration robbed him of a chance at a normal life or rehabilitation. Because these child soldiers grow up only seeing and participating in the war, they don't know any better. They need someone like a therapist or a psychologist to help them know what a normal childhood is like. So the quicker you can help these child soldiers, the better.   

These child soldiers are forced to do whatever they are told by their leaders in war. If they don't follow the leader's commands, they have a risk of even dying. For instance, Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier, saw many of his fellow child soldiers be shot right in front of him for not following commands. Also, these kids constantly get abused, like, in countries like Congo DR and Myanmar, there are many girls between the ages of 9 and 13 that have a high chance of getting sexually abused and exploited. But it is also a problem for the boys, as they get physically abused by their leaders. Overall, these child soldiers just don't live a healthy life and must be given chances to live in more healthy conditions. Because as they live in horrible conditions, and get physically abused, they get affected later in life. So the longer there in these conditions the worse they will be when they grow up.  

According to “UNICEF helps reintegrate former child soldiers into local communities” you are helping child soldiers. But only back to their local communities. For example, kids in Congo DR got to go back to their local communities after the war they were in. But the problem with that is most child soldiers in countries like Uganda and Somalia don't have a chance at going back to their villages, as in there probably destroyed. So you are a big organization, which has done some big things. Giving these kids amnesty is great. But as I mentioned earlier, providing them with shelter, clean food, water and most important, an education. Most of these child soldiers probably grow up without having an education. An education is a key to any success. If these kids get an education, you as an organization can show that no matter the things these kids have been through, they can still live a happy and peaceful life. But all of this starts with organizations like you, without you things like these are not possible.

Thank You for taking the time to read my message to you to get more things applied to these child soldiers who have been given amnesty and get these things to them quickly. I sincerely hope that you will keep these child soldiers as a top priority in your mind, so you can help to become what they should become.

Sincerely,

Ali Eldakhakhny,

A Language Arts student, The American International School of Muscat

Rough Draft For Child Soilders

Dear To However It May Concern,

My name is Ali Eldakhakhny. I'm a language arts student at the school TAISM in Muscat, Oman. I'm learning about how child soldiers should be dealt with after a war has finished that they have been involved in. For years the use of children in both conflicts between states and civil wars has been evident. Children are forced by commanders through false promises, drugs and things which you can’t even imagine, to kill innocent civilians, other children and even their own families. Universally, the use of child soldiers has been frowned upon as both unacceptable and abhorrent. Despite this, in the last ten years over two million children have been killed, over one million orphaned, over six million have been left seriously injured or permanently disabled and over 10 million have been diagnosed with psychological trauma. However, the question still remains whether or not child soldiers should be held accountable for their crimes. In other words, should all child soldiers be given amnesty, no matter their war crimes? I think yes, and I know that you agree with me. But don't just give them amnesty. I think you should give them more. Just bringing them back to their village is not enough. Most times their villages are broken up, and most times their families are dead. So give more to them, by giving them a proper home to stay in, with clean water. Or even just a proper education. So I would strongly advise to you that you should do more than just give amnesty.

    

I understand that giving amnesty to every child soldier is hard. It is also a valid point that there are times where these child soldiers go out of there minds and do horrible things. For example a former child soldier Omar Khadr, was accused of many crimes as a child soldier. One of them being killing high military personnel. I will admit this man has done many horrible things. But he must be given amnesty. Ever since at the age of 15 when he was put behind bars in Canada(where he was born) he has been stuck there, and the Canadians don't want to let him out any time soon. But he should be let out, immediately. Child soldiers have to go through circumstances at a young age that not most children have to go through. They are raised only knowing about war and that's it. They watch it, they participate in it, they live with it. They don't know what a normal childhood is like. So somebody like Omar Khadr might have done some unacceptable things. But he doesn't understand what an ordinary childhood is like. No matter if you're a child soldier who has killed 0 people, or has killed 40, you deserve amnesty and more. All these child soldiers should be given second chances in life no matter what. Because everything they have done has been not their faults, but others.

These child soldiers are forced to do whatever they are told by their leaders in war. If they don't follow the leaders commands, they have a risk of even dieing. These kids live in horrible conditions, there get abused, and many other things. They don't have a chance at other ways at life, most likely their parents, siblings, or anybody else in their family is died. You can see these leaders as slave owners, why. Well just like slave owners they force their slaves to do whatever they tell him to do, and if they don't they get punished. And just like slaves they are born thinking what is happening to them is right. Which means child soldiers and slaves didn't understand that what was happening to them was horrible. So don't blame child soldiers, blame leaders of these army's who make them grow up to these kind of people who don't understand what a childhood actually is.

According to “UNICEF helps reintegrate former child soldiers into local communities” you are helping child soldiers. But only back to their local communities. For example kids in Congo DR got to go back to their local communities after the war they were in. But the problem with that is most child soldiers in countries like Uganda and Somalia don't have a chance at going back to their villages, as in there probably destroyed. So you are a big organization, which has done some big things. Giving these kids amnesty is great. But even better, providing them with shelter, clean food and water. Most important, an education. Most of these child soldiers probably grow up without having an education. An education is key to any success. If these kids get an education, you as an organization can show that no matter the things these kids have been through, they can still live a happy and peaceful life. But all of this starts with companies like you, without you things like these are not possible.

Thank You for taking the time to read my message to you to get more things applied to these child soldiers who have been given amnesty. I sincerely hope that you will keep these child soldiers as a top priority in your mind, so you can help to become what they should become.

Sincerely,

Ali Eldakhakhny

A Language Arts student, The American International School Of Muscat

Dear United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF),

     For years the use of children in both conflicts between states and civil wars has been evident. Children are forced by commanders through false promises, drugs and things which you can’t even imagine, to kill innocent civilians, other children and even their own families. Universally, the use of child soldiers has been frowned upon as both unacceptable and abhorrent. Despite this, in the last ten years over two million children have been killed, over one million orphaned, over six million have been left seriously injured or permanently disabled and over 10 million have been diagnosed with psychological trauma. However, the question still remains whether or not child soldiers should be held accountable for their crimes. In other words should all child soldiers be given amnesty, no matter their war crimes?

     

Omar Khadr is a Toronto-born Canadian, captured by American soldiers after a firefight in Afghanistan in 2002 when he was 15 years old.

In my perspective all child soldiers should be given amnesty, no matter their crimes. Now some people might believe that not all child soldiers should be given amnesty because if there crimes. Which can be a valid point, in which there are times where these child soldiers go out of there minds and do horrible things. For example a former child soldier Omar Khadr, was accused of many crimes as a child soldier. One of them being killing high military personnel. I will admit this man has done many horrible things. But he must be given amnesty. Ever since at the age of 15 when he was put behind bars in Canada(where he was born) he has been stuck there, and the Canadians don't want to let him out any time soon. But he should be let out, immediately. Child soldiers have to go through circumstances at a young age that not most children have to go through. They are raised only knowing about war and that's it. They watch it, they participate in it, they live with it. They don't know what a normal childhood is like. So somebody like Omar Khadr might have done some unacceptable things. But he doesn't understand what an ordinary childhood is like. No matter if you're a child soldier who has killed 0 people, or has killed 40, you deserve amnesty. All this child soldiers should be given second chances in life no matter what. Because everything they have done has been not their faults, but others.

These child soldiers are forced to do whatever they are told by there leaders in war. If they don't follow the leaders commands, they have a risk of even dieing. These kids live in horrible conditions, there get abused, and many other things. They don't have a chance at another ways at life, most likely their parents, siblings, or anybody else in their family is died. You can see these leaders as slave owners, why. Well just like slave owners they force their slaves to do whatever they tell him to do, and if they don't they get punished. And just like slaves they are born thinking what is happening to them is right. Which means child soldiers and slaves didn't understand that what was happening to them was horrible. So don't blame child soldiers, blame leaders of these army's who make them grow up to these kind of people who don't understand what a childhood actually is.

Outline For Child Soldiers Letter

Intro{ Bring up all supporting points and some extra facts as well}

Supporting point{ still deciding what point}
Supporting evidence for point
Give idea of other side, then rebut that

Transition

Supporting point{ still deciding what point}
Supporting evidence for point
Give idea of other side, then rebut that

Transition

Supporting point{ still deciding what point}
Supporting evidence for point
Give idea of other side, then rebut that

Transition

Supporting point{ still deciding what point}
Supporting evidence for point
Give idea of other side, then rebut that

Transition

Conclusion{Restate ideas, add a useful quote at the end}

Amnesty for Child Soldiers

Amnesty is a very complicated thing for child soldiers. I think it should be given to them if they come back to the government after escaping. Just for the simple fact, in example, in Uganda these kids are getting there ears, noses, even lips cut off of them. These kids are getting abused. So after they try to escape from the government, they try to go back home to there parents, the people they once were with. Then got taken away from. But some of the problems returning back home is that, for example, Philip Ludara, Gulu's distrtict coordinator for the Concerned Parents' Association said, "You're trained how to torture. You're trained how to kill. It's all you know," he says. "Fitting into the community is a big challenge." Also your returning to bad conditions, most likely worse that the government controlling you, not the way your being treated, but the way your being fed, housed, etc. Im not saying the government can do those things amazingly, but they can do better than most of these poor families in Uganda. But overall, Amnesty should be provided for child soldiers because they don't understand what there doing, there being forced into it. They should not be held accountable for a war crime, because anyone n this situation deserves a second chance.