I would like you to give a message. Please do your best to tell the world what is happening to us, the children. So that other children don't have to pass through this violence.
			A 15-year-old girl forcibly abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

Most child soldiers are aged between 14 and 18 years of age. Some enlist ‘voluntarily’ but with homes and villages destroyed, family killed – often in front of them, little educational or employment opportunities, they face no real choice. Joining up can be a means of survival.

The Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 by the Coalition to Stop the use of Child Soldiers found that tens of thousands of children remain in armed groups around the world.
Caritas Australia through its partners in Uganda support the Former Child Soldiers Rehabilitation program. The abducted children are taken to rehabilitation centres ran by Caritas partners, where they will be (where possible) reunited with families and provided with clothing.

Fact 1: The problem is most critical in Africa, where children as young as nine have been involved in armed conflicts. Children are also used as soldiers in various Asian countries and in parts of Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.

Fact 2: While there is no precise definition, the Coalition to stop the use of child soldiers considers a child soldier any person under the age of 18 who is a member of or attached to government armed forces or any other regular or irregular armed force or armed political group, whether or not an armed conflict exists.

Fact 3: Child soldiers perform a range of tasks including participation in combat, laying mines and explosives; scouting, spying, acting as decoys, couriers or guards; training, drill or other preparations; logistics and support functions, portering,
cooking and domestic labour; and sexual slavery.

Be a Voice: Write a letter to a member of parliament explaining the situation of child soldiers in developing countries, and encourage actions to be made to abolish the recruitment of child soldiers.

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