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
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