According to a U.S. State Department survey, an estimated quarter of a million children, some as young as 6 years old, have been enlisted as soldiers in many different armed conflicts around the world. These children have been used in armed insurgencies like the Khmer Rouge, the Shining Path and Palestinian liberation groups, which are fought in conflicts against the government and people of thieir countries, as well as in the regular armies of some countries such as Cambodia, Colombia, Peru, Uganda, Angola and Sudan. Children under the age of 18 should not be involved in hostilities, as this violates the universal rule that children should have no part in warfare. International law, however, states that countries shall not recruit anyone under the age 15 into the armed services and that age 16 is the minimum age for involvement in combat. International Law should recognize 18 years as the minimum age for recruitment (compulsary or voluntary) into any kind of armed forces and armed groups and for any kind of participation in hostilities, and should sanction countries who do not comply.
Child soldiers are currently being used combatants in the most of the armed conflicts going on around the world. This fact has not been widely publicized because the issue of the child soldier is primarily an invisble one. Most countires violating International Law by using child soldiers deny their existence, falsify their ages and numbers and keep these children away from the public view and media exposure by sending them to remote conflict zones. As a child soldier grows older, the "child" in the soldier disappears and the adult soldier takes the place of the former child soldier.
Child soldiers are generally recruited, or forced into military service because their are not enough adults available or willing to serve as soldiers. Many children are kidnapped or forced to join in order to prevent harm to their families. Armed conflict generally contributes to an increase in the number of childre in the military. War disrupts normal life and causes educational options to shrink or disappear. This results in miltary recruits getting younger and younger. For example, in Afghanistan, 90 percent of children lost access to schooling during the 1990's. As a result, the Afghanistan military is now made up of approximately 45% children. Many of these children, below the age of 14, have been sent into armed conflicts. In other countries, such as Sierra Leone, poverty sends the children voluntarily into the military. This is one way ot obtain regular meals, clothing and medical attention. According to one recent study, "many mothers have remarked on the joy of seeing their ten-year-old dressed in a brand new military attire carrying an AK-47. For some families the looted property that child soldiers brought home further convinced them of the need to send more children to the war front to augment scarce income."
But children do not really have the ability to fully understand the reality of military service and involvement in armed conflict. They are influenced by their parents, peer groups, schools, religous communities and their devlopmental processes. Many children have witnessed executions,massacres and the destruction of their home and death of their families. Revenge is one very strong motivation to join the military. Adults in these countries that use child soldiers forget that most children lack the capacity to judge what is in their best interest, so that a child's "decision" to join can be rejected as an excuse by those adults who would like to use the children for their own gain. Even if a child is recruited for a support position and not for use in armed conflict, the child cannot escape the risks and hardships primarily associated with combat. Children often serve as porters carrying heavy loads, or are used as messengers or lookouts. While these roles may seem less dangerous that combat, the fact that children are used in these roles makes all children suspicious and has been the excuse for killing young children in a community.
Involving children as soldiers has been made easier by the use of inexpensive light weapons. As recently as a generation ago battlefield weapons were still heavy and bulky. Modern guns are so light that children can easily use them and so simple that they can be stripped and reassembled by a ten year old. While the majority of child recruits are boys, girls are also used as combatants and may be forced to provide sexual services or, as in Uganda, are "married off" to rebel leadres. This makes it impossible for the girl to return to thier communities, as their families may be unable to accept the treatment they sexual mistreatment they have undergone. Without any other alternatives, many girls end up as prostitutes or die of sexually transmitted diseases. For both boys and girls, the most severe lon term consequence of serving as a child soldier is on their moral development. Their morals are dominated by fear and violence, and they have a distorted view of right and wrong. It is difficult for them to return to a normal life when the fighting ends.
The Convention of the Rights of the Child requires that every child is entitled to receive protection and care necessary for his or her well being. Children must be protected from all forms of mental and physical violence and abuse. Each country is responsible for ensuring "to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child." If simple human decency is not enough to compel governments to care for thier children, they should consider that the inability of the children to integrate back into society will contribute to more future conflicts. Clearly, the most obvious action a government should take would be to outlaw the recruitment of childre under the age of 18. Child soldiers currently serving in armed forces should be demobilized and helped to re-integrate into society.
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