child soldiers

Seaborne says the children are especially vulnerable to sexual violence and many could be forced to become child soldiers in the conflict.

James Elder, a spokesman for Unicef in Sri Lanka, calls the centre a genuine attempt to help child soldiers learn how to be civilians.

Because many communities feared and hated the child soldiers who would be returning, careful sensitization work was needed.

Reports emerged this year that the U. S. -backed Somali government enlisted child soldiers in their fight against rebel Islamist fighters.

It has convicted people for the use of child soldiers, for "forced marriages" (as distinct from rape) and for sexual slavery.

Take suicide bombing, which child soldiers have carried out in the Palestinian territories, Iraq, Sri Lanka, and Chechnya.

Laying down the gun and reintegrating into society is a particularly difficult process for former child soldiers.

Child soldiers often suffer from malnutrition, hard physical labor, and exposure to the elements and are in poor physical condition.

It would also be the first prosecution for charges related to recruiting child soldiers.

Many child soldiers are not armed combatants. They include messengers, porters, spies, and sex slaves.

But now, of course, we're finding child soldiers in Afghanistan, in Somalia, in Iraq and some of the new wars.

Face to face with child soldiers in battle, Western military forces are often befuddled as to what to do.

But the remote regional commanders still I think have child soldiers. But the U.

But they're also assailants. Child soldiers are cheap and efficient weapons in asymmetric warfare.

A similar body for Sierra Leone won the first conviction for sex slavery (and another over the use of child soldiers).

What has changed is our awareness of child soldiers, boosted by monitoring, reporting, and even Hollywood spectacle.

Ex-child soldiers returning to their home region, often with scant education or skills, may grow up into sadistic adults.

Some eight million were slave laborers, child soldiers or prostitutes.

Child soldiers also were given a choice between access to education or skills training.

In Colombia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, child soldiers have taken to the battlefield.

Forced labor, trafficking in persons, use of child soldiers, and religious discrimination are all too common.

Part of the case against Mr Lubanga was based on video accounts by child soldiers of the horrors they saw.

Even after the conflict ends, the plight of child soldiers is not over.

They have also done a lot of de-mining and have helped disarm tens of thousands of fighters, including child soldiers.

There is clear evidence from rights groups in Burma that the military has child soldiers, said Aung Myo Min.

In DRC, child protection groups estimate the number of child soldiers could reach around 30, 000, De Burca says.

The former president is facing 11 charges that include murder, torture, and using child soldiers.

Child Soldiers Are No Match for Western Militaries.

Most of these child soldiers witnessed terrible atrocities; many took part in inflicting them.

The government established a Commission in 2004 to oversee the demobilization and reintegration of child soldiers into civil society.

Wars employing child soldiers, such as those in Angola, Liberia, and Nepal, have ended; the numbers have surely shrunk to match.

UNICEF says there are still an estimated 1, 000 child soldiers in Burundi and more continue to be recruited by rival armed factions.

Wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Liberia have become especially infamous for their use of child soldiers.

Rehabilitation programmes for child soldiers in Uganda

IN THE NEWS - South Sudan's Army Promises to Free Child Soldiers

Many former child soldiers still hustle on the streets of Monrovia;

Demobilization of Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone

Child Soldiers Demobilized in Burundi

New lives for released former child soldiers

IIPT; Forum on the Demobilization of Child Soldiers and the Protection of Human Rights;

Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers;