Child Soldiers
Around the world, children are singled out for recruitment by both armed forces and armed opposition groups, and exploited as combatants. Approximately 250,000 children under the age of 18 are thought to be fighting in conflicts around the world, and hundreds of thousands more are members of armed forces who could be sent into combat at any time. Although most child soldiers are between 15 and 18 years old, significant recruitment starts at the age of 10 and the use of even younger children has been recorded. » Read more
Take Action
The Convention on the Rights of the Child sets forth basic standards which individual nations agree to pursue on behalf of children. With 193 nations having ratified it, the Convention is the most widely adopted human rights treaty in history. The United States is the only nation that has not ratified the Convention, other than the failed state of Somalia. » More actions
Human Rights Goals
Restricting U.S. Military Assistance to Child Soldier Perpetrators
On April 19, 2007, U.S. Senators Durbin (D-IL) and Brownback (R-KS) introduced the Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2007 (S. 1175). This bill restricts U.S. military assistance to governments that are implicated in supporting the recruitment or use of children in government armed forces or government-allied armed groups as a means to help end this practice. S. 1175 also urges the United States to expand its efforts to help remove and rehabilitate children from armed forces and groups around the world and work with the international community to bring to justice armed oppositional groups that have kidnapped children for use as soldiers. Please join our campaign to support this important initiative.
For more information, check out the:
Q&A on the Child Soldier Prevention Act | Petition to Send to U.S. Senators | Online Action and Background | Photo Exhibit
» Increasing the knowledge and understanding of the issue of child soldiers
