It is estimated that at least 1 in every 10 soldiers in the world’s armed conflicts is a child. These young soldiers include not only those who carry weapons, but also children in supportive roles, including cooks, spies, couriers, guards or sex slaves.
In Latin America, Colombia is the country with the most child soldiers. Although it is difficult to determine the actual number of child soldiers in Colombia, experts estimate there to be between 8,000 and 13,000. It is also believed that at least one in four combatants is under 18 years old and that minors comprise up to 30% of certain combat units.
Colombia's left-wing guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries use thousands of child soldiers despite international regulations prohibiting the practice. For instance, Article 38 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989, prohibits the recruitment of children younger than 15. The Convention’s Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict (2001) allows for governments to recruit children aged between 15 and 18 under certain conditions, however it prohibits the practice for all other armed groups. Likewise, Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court makes it a war crime to conscript or enlist children under the age of fifteen years into the national armed forces or using them to participate actively in hostilities.
Here's short video that profiles Madeleine, a former child soldier from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who was interviewed by Al-Jazeera TV earlier this year. I decided to post this clip since it raises another important issue affecting child soldiers, the exploitation of girls in armed conflict.
Additional resources:
- Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
- Fundación Imaginación (Colombia)
- Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict
- War Child International
- Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
- Paris Principles on children involved in armed forces and armed groups (2007)
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