The number of children involved in armed conflicts has increased significantly over the past decade. In 2001 it was estimated that 300,000 children were serving with armed units around the world (of which 120,000 in Africa, 120,000 in Asia/Pacific and 30,000 in Latin America and Caribbean). While many are older children, aged 15 or more, there has been a dramatic trend towards recruiting younger children. The presence of children fighting in both government forces and opposition armed groups has received publicity in Sub-Saharan Africa, first in West Africa, and more recently in Central Africa. However, both teenagers and younger children have also been involved in fighting units in other parts of the world, most notably over many years in Sri Lanka.
The deployment of children in the front line exposes them to the risk of death and of serious injury, notably because they take more risks than adults. As well as risking injury, their involvement in killings and atrocities encourages their perception that violence is normal, and leaves some traumatized and many with difficulties in readapting to ordinary life. Even children attached to armed units who are not directly involved in fighting miss out on their education and other opportunities to develop social and economic skills, and are exposed to a variety of other risks, including HIV/AIDS and, in the case of girls, pregnancy and early motherhood.
Some children join armed groups voluntarily, while others are encouraged to do so or are forcibly abducted. ILO Convention No. 182 (1999) prohibits the worst forms of child labour and defines the “forced or compulsory recruitment” of children below 18 for use in armed conflict as one of these worst forms. Other international standards prohibit the recruitment of any children under 18 into non-government armed groups, and, while international standards allow States to recruit 16 and 17-year-old volunteers into their forces, some States have banned the recruitment of children into their armed forces altogether.