Child Soldiers

An estimated 300,000 children, some as young as nine years old, are recruited or forcibly abducted to serve in nearly 75% of all armed conflicts worldwide. Recruiters favour children because they are easily brainwashed, arouse less suspicion on covert operations, and are replaceable. They are used as porters, cooks, human shields, minesweepers, and sexual slaves, and are often forced to commit atrocities, including raiding villages, mutilating, raping, and killing.

Conscription of children occurs predominantly in rebel groups, but some governments also continue to use them. Around 40% of child soldiers are female, used for domestic duties and as wives for soldiers. Children face enormous struggles when they escape and experience trouble reintegrating in their communities, often confronted by social stigma.

International measures are in place but they are failing to eliminate the recruitment of child soldiers – and thousands of young lives continue to be torn apart by war.