Child Soldier Seeking Asylum

He was a child victim himself — recruited by force at 11. Rehabilitation, not prosecution, is the only just response.

You advocate for the asylum seeker. He was kidnapped at age 11, drugged, and forced to fight under threat of death. The UN defines child soldiers as VICTIMS, not perpetrators. His brain wasn't fully developed — children under 14 cannot form criminal intent under international law. He escaped at 17, educated himself, and has lived peacefully for 8 years. Prosecuting child soldiers creates a perverse incentive for armed groups to use children BECAUSE they're disposable. He needs protection, not punishment.

The victims deserve justice. Asylum cannot be a shield for people who committed massacres, regardless of their age at the time.

You represent the victims' families. This man participated in the massacre of a village — 47 people died, including 12 children younger than he was. Some of his victims' families are still alive and live with the trauma daily. 'I was a child' doesn't bring back the dead. Other child soldiers from the same group refused to kill and accepted punishment instead — he chose to participate. International criminal tribunals have prosecuted people for crimes committed as minors. Granting him asylum while his victims got death is an obscenity.