300, 000 child soldiers

This is a picture of child soldiers marching in Angola, a country that was torn apart by a civil war and continues to struggle. It is one of over 30 countries that has either once or continues to recruit child soldiers, some as young as 7 years old. It is considered one of the worst forms of child labour.

Girls have also been increasingly recruited into armies. Some become sex slaves in addition to combat, however, boys are also exploited sexually. Children are sometimes dulled into submission by the use of narcotics and mental intimidation such as a fear of revenge and isolation. They often stay in the army because they have nowhere else to go and so become both victims and participants in war.

Africa has close to 200, 000 child soldiers in Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Chad, and Uganda. The Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army is estimated to have kidnapped over 25, 000 children for their army. Asian countries, Laos and Myanmar, openly recruit children into their armies. Sri Lankan rebel ground, the Liberation of Tigers of Tamil Eelam over 6, 000 children. Facing international pressure, LTTE has banned the recruitment of children.

Asia and African are not the only continents with this problem. The Middle East and Latin America (40% of the Bolivian army is under 18) have thousands of child soldiers being exploited.


There are organisations which exist to find and help these children, but the magnitude is simply too grand to imagine. Often times the children face huge difficulties in adapting to life without war as many were so young when they were taken, they received very little education, and no longer have contact with their families.

Red Hand Day on February 12th is an international day of recognition of the practice of children in conflict.

From the United Nations, since 1996:

• 2 million children have been killed in armed conflict
• 6 million children have been left behind physically challenged by war
• 12 million children are without any shelter