-Caveat Lector-
ABCNEWS.com
Tuesday June 12 9:58 AM ET
41 Nations Using Child Soldiers
By SUSANNA LOOF, Associated Press Writer
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) - More than 300,000 children -
some as young as 7 - are fighting as soldiers in 41 countries,
an
international children's rights group said in a report
released
Tuesday.
They are being used as front-line fighters, minesweepers,
spies,
porters and sex slaves, according to the report by the Coalition
to
Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. Children are often forced to
guard
the oil and diamond fields that finance African insurgencies.
``Every child with an AK-47, however small they are, as long as
they
can hold up that weapon, is turned into an effective killer,''
coalition
spokeswoman Judit Arenas said at a news conference
Tuesday.
The London-based coalition includes several human rights
groups,
including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and
World
Vision International.
Governments recruit children to fight because of ``their very
qualities as
children - they can be cheap, expendable and easier to condition into
fearless killing and unthinking obedience,'' the
report said.
Though the number of child soldiers worldwide has not changed
much
in recent years, the number of countries where they are used
has
increased to 41 from about 30 three years ago, Arenas said.
Africa's wars involve more than 120,000 children, the report
said, while
Myanmar, the southeast Asian country also known as Burma, has the
world's highest number of child soldiers - 50,000.
Rebels in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea use child
soldiers,
and children are fighting in conflicts in Macedonia and Colombia, it said.
The use of child soldiers has decreased in the Middle East and
Latin
America as conflicts there have ended.
Mohammed, 17, was forcibly recruited to fight in Ethiopia when
he was
15. He recalled a 1999 battle in the report.
``It was very bad. They put all the 15- and 16-year-olds in the
front line
while the army retreated. I was with 40 other kids. I was fighting for 24
hours. When I saw that only three of my friends
were alive, I ran back,''
said the boy, who was identified with
only one name.
Even countries not at war have problems, Arenas said. Children
of
Kurdish descent in Sweden and Turkey are being recruited to
return to
their ancestral land and fight for Kurdish independence,
she said.
Most child soldiers are 15 to 18 years old, but cases of
soldiers as
young as 7 are listed in the report, the first global
survey of its kind.
Child soldiers are often given drugs to make them fearless. A
14-year-
old rebel soldier in Sierra Leone said those who refused the drugs were
killed, according to the report.
The U.N. General Assembly adopted a protocol in May 2000 calling
on
governments to prevent troops younger than 18 from taking part
in
combat. The United Nations says 79 countries have signed the
treaty,
but only six have ratified it.
In 87 countries, including the United States and the United
Kingdom,
youth are recruited into government armed forces, paramilitaries, civil
militia and non-state armed groups, though
they are not necessarily
used in combat. The United States allows
voluntary enlistment at 17.
-
--
Best Wishes
Times have changed:
America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is
the well-wisher to freedom and independence of all. She is the
champion and vindicator only of her own. - John Quincy Adams
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
