Child soldiers - is using children in wars ethically correct? what rights do they have? are they being respected?

I chose to talk about this argument because I have known a victim of this injustice, and I would like to valorise his rights. A phenomenon that is becoming way too much frequent is the so called ‘Kid Soldiers’. These are exactly kids: from five to seven-teen years old that are forced to fight. They cannot oppose themselves because they are practically kidnapped by other soldiers, many times kid soldiers in fact that are forced to do this job. Mainly children that are victims of this great injustice are orphans probably and no one with them in their lives. The smallest kids, sometimes aged even four, do not even understand what is happening around them, since they have not been given an education, and their first education is in fact the military one, which he will not forget and engage in his mind, becoming sometimes violent, a sort of human- robot programmed to fight. Obviously, not many are concerned about this problems, I bet not many of you imagine yourselves in Iraq perhaps or in any other war, you probably have never really faced war, all the damage it causes, what it really is like to be in it. Death is all around you, but probably this is not a problem for the kids either, they are used to it, these are the first images of their child hood. Not the beautifully coloured walls of a kindergarten and a happy teacher with a wide smile on her face. The images, actually are totally different: Death coloured scenery, blood poodles all over, vomit and many times corpses or only pieces, an arm, a head, a leg, but these children are used to it. They cannot even dream of seeing a smile, they absolutely do not know what the word happiness means, what the word peace means, and do not even know the existence of the word ‘love’. They are taught to fight not love, what is the world going to be like if our future is in the young’s hands? Have you ever thought about this? So we absolutely have to change this situation. As I said before I actually know one kid that is now about my age and has been adopted, his name was Celestin, he is now 14 and lives in a family with three brothers. He is happy now, he has finally learned ‘love’, he has a family that loves him and loves his family. Isn’t this much better than a child that feeds on violence? Celestin once talked to me about his experiences, not only him but a teacher in school frequently talks about stories he actually saw with his own eyes, one about a boy in war, his face, his look, his eyes with no expression really. Celestin’s story instead is quite strong, rich of violence but it is the truth: the scenery he described of his village after the war was of a small town which’s school had been completely destroyed, by Celestin and some other soldiers that had been forced to handle a Batzuka and completely shoot the school down, Celestin does not know how many children he had killed in that moment, he did not feel guilty although, because he knew that it was his job. It might seem strange to us but it was. Slowly coming back to a ‘ normal life’ as we would describe it Celestin says: I see the faces of the people I have killed, they follow me, until they catch me and kill me’. Celestin also said that all the other kids that slowly were captured were treated really violently if refused to kill. Celestin has fought in Congo, but there are many children round the world victims of violence, of this injustice for example in Uganda, In sierra leone, In south Africa and really many other countries. If you want a new love  generation, help to ‘fight’  for children rights, for a world of love without violence. In conclusion I finish my essay saying that I personally would not want to fight in a war, kids in fact should only be given an education and some help for the family they live in so they could be maintained. Not only but children’s rights as human rights should be respected absolutely and strictly prohibited to force children in war or in any other type of commerce such as sexual abuse on under age girls, all injustice on children should be fought against, because children are the new generation, the new love generation.