NEWS: Child Soldiers In Front Line

Children as young as nine years old are fighting in the front line of wars across the world. Governments and armed opposition groups have recruited children in their thousands training them to kill or using them as sex slaves.



Its a sad fact that children have been forced to fight in wars for centuries. Children have even been used as suicide bombers for causes that they probably do not understand.

Fighting in a war with enemy adult combatants must be hard enough, but it must be deeply disturbing to fight and kill children.

This is actually something that the US is censured for by the rest of the world. Our young men can enlist at the age of 17 (as my son did) and this is considered to be a child in many countries of the world -- countries whose citizens can't become soldiers until they are 20-21.

If we take a high moral ground here then we have to address the issue of our OWN child soldiers.

Originally posted by Byrd
This is actually something that the US is censured for by the rest of the world. Our young men can enlist at the age of 17 (as my son did) and this is considered to be a child in many countries of the world -- countries whose citizens can't become soldiers until they are 20-21.

If we take a high moral ground here then we have to address the issue of our OWN child soldiers.

I think that as long as you can legally enlist (depending on the Countries Laws) then you can make the choice yourself whether you want to join up. Its a thing we in the West seem to take for granted, that in most of the War torn, poorer Countries, you can be recruited against your will even as young as nine years old (as in the article).

In some Countries you have to join "Military service" between certain ages but even these are considered adults.

I just couldn't imagine the Junior School down the road- all the children being enlisted because we were at War.

The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers works to prevent the recruitment and use of children as soldiers, to secure their demobilisation and to ensure their rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

Please Visit: www.child-soldiers.org...