Children at war in DRC © Amnesty International

The grotesque abuse of children for military purposes survives seemingly beyond the powers of development strategies or human rights law. Children are vulnerable to this most extreme form of labour typically in countries suffering longstanding civil conflict, in regions of extreme poverty and a complete breakdown of central authority. The proliferation of lightweight but deadly small arms of sophisticated modern design - a child of 10 can be trained to strip down a Kalashnikov - enables a cheap, unquestioning and expendable army to be conscripted from children. Warlords abduct or purchase child soldiers from their families with impunity.

The UN says that, despite the release of tens of thousands of child soldiers in the period since 2004, there remain 24 countries in which recruitment takes place involving a total of 57 armed groups. Residents of camps for refugees and internally displaced persons such as those in Darfur and Chad are particularly vulnerable. The result is an estimated total of 250,000 children in military service, including girls whose interests tend to be neglected in action plans.

There may be as many as 70,000 child soldiers engaged by government and rebel armies in Burma, the country named as the worst offender. Other countries regularly criticised by human rights groups include Sri Lanka, Uganda, Nepal, and Philippines. These countries and others are now under pressure to sign the “Optional Protocol” to the CRC which would compel new laws and reintegration of child solders into normal life. In 2007 58 countries signed up to the Paris Commitments and Principles, a set of practical steps to protect children from involvement in armed conflict.

A crucial step forward in international measures to end the use of child soldiers was registered in 2007 with the conviction of 3 warlords by the war crimes court for Sierra Leone. The International Criminal Court already considers the recruitment of children under age 15 for military purposes to be a war crime and in 2006 issued charges against a militia leader from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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