Child Soldiers
latest news & developments
Trafficking in Africa a threat to securing a continent fit for children
Children on the continent are trafficked, sexually exploited, forced into marriage, recruited into armed forces and made to beg
Safeguard the rights and welfare of Africa’s children
About 50% of the continent’s children have experienced violence – emotional, sexual, physical and the added dangers of war
Education can help child soldiers reintegrate into society
A child-rights-based approach to education in disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programmes gives children the tools for healing, belonging and participation in…
DRC’s former child soldiers face tough return to civilian life
Many of the former child combatants are overwhelmed by the horrors they have witnessed in a part of the country that has been ravaged by violence for more than 25 years
There are better ways for SA to assist South Sudan than military cooperation
South Africa risks becoming complicit in South Sudanese abuses
Past shackles Liberia’s girl soldiers
What happened to all the girls who fought in Liberia’s brutal civil war and are now grown-ups? How do they get on with their lives?
More than 80 child soldiers rescued in Congo
About 82 children have been rescued from an armed group in the southeastern DRC and are being reunited with their families.
DR Congo province in push to save child soldiers
Desperate to save children from being used as soldiers in the DRC, residents of the ‘Triangle of Death’ have launched a campaign to end the practice.
Children bear brunt of CAR crisis
Sporadic armed clashes, looting of orphanages, recruitment into armies, and widespread school closures have made life perilous for CAR’s children.
Global arms trade contributes to use of child soldiers
Amnesty International has called for states to adopt an Arms Trade Treaty to mark the international day against the use of child soldiers.
The ‘purest apprentices’ caught up in Mali’s dirty war
Rebel groups have recruited young boys to fight the messy war in northern Mali, a conflict that now includes 2 500 well-armed French soldiers.
Eritrean tyranny fuels mass exit
Draconian military conscription rules in Eritrea mean children as young as 12 can be forced into duty. Dan Connell reports.
Outcome anticipated against Congolese militia boss
The ICC will hand down judgment in the trial of Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga who is accused of enlisting child soldiers under 15 to fight.
International justice for Africa?
If you do not understand the politics, you do not understand the basics of the concept.
Children in war: the lost millions looking for a voice
Millions of children lost in war around the world miss the right to feel a parent’s love more than anything else.