Each November, the phrase “Lest We Forget” conjures images of young men and women, courageously giving their lives in war so that others might live in peace. But there are other combatants alive today who desperately need to be remembered: child soldiers.
Although international law prohibits the recruitment and use of children under the age of 18 in armed conflict, an estimated 300,000 children are fighting in wars today—some as young as seven.
The story of one of these children, a 15-year-old girl from Uganda, is chilling. She was abducted from her home at night and forced to fight for the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group that has been battling government forces for two decades.
Interviewed by Amnesty International, she said: “I would like you to give a message. Please do your best to tell the world what is happening to us, the children. So that other children don’t have to pass through this violence.”
Lest we forget.
Here are three facts to remember about child soldiers.
1. Approximately one third of child soldiers are girls.
These girls are subjected to frequent sexual assault, given as “wives” to commanders, forced to bear children and made to fight alongside the boys as combatants.
"All I want is to go home and go back to school. I want to forget what happened to me in the bush."
—15-year-old Sharon Achaya who was abducted by members of the Lord's Resistance Army. Sharon has since been rehabilitated at World Vision’s Children of War Rehabilitation Center.
2. Poverty drives children to “enlist.”
Not all child soldiers have been abducted. Poverty compels some parents to offer their children for armed combat. The promise of regular meals attracts children, too. Some children join local militias to protect their families, only to be recruited into larger conflicts. Others, especially youth, are lured by the ideology of religion, liberation and other causes.
“I joined the army to get food for my mother, my brothers and sisters.”
—a 15-year-old boy who was one of 4,500 children in the Rwandan Government Army during the country’s civil war. (Source: UNICEF)
3. Children are impressionable.
This is a main reason why armies recruit or abduct children into their ranks. Kids can be easily manipulated into becoming ruthless and unquestioning tools of war. The proliferation of lightweight weapons has also made it easy for children to bear and use arms.
“They give you a gun and you have to kill the best friend you have. They do it to see if they can trust you. If you don’t kill him, your friend will be ordered to kill you.”
—a 17-year-old Columbian boy who joined a paramilitary group at age 7 (Source: Human Rights Watch)
To make a donation toward World Vision’s Children of War Rehabilitation Center in Gulu, Uganda, click here.
Click here to read a review of A Long Way Gone, a compelling account of a boy soldier, and several other thought-provoking books.
