CHILD SOLDIERS

At any one time, more than 300,000 children under 18 - both girls and boys - are fighting as soldiers in more than 30 countries worldwide. In more than 85 countries many more under-18s have been recruited into government armed forces, paramilitaries, civil militia and other armed groups. Millions of children worldwide also receive military training and indoctrination in youth movements and even in their schools. Many governments and armed groups claim to use children because of a …

…stop. It is hard for us to imagine ourselves, or our brothers and sisters, being forced to torture or kill our parents, our grandparents, or our friends, but this is happening now to many children around the world. Although no one should have to experience the horrors of being a soldier, it's especially important that no child should have to. For a child to have to fight and kill is the ultimate loss of innocence.