Child soldiers...

Over 250,000 children are actively serving in armed conflict in TWENTY countries around the world.

Their health, their lives, and their childhoods are sacrificed.

Many female child soldiers are forced to serve as sex slaves of military commanders.

Albeit numerous child soldiers are in non-governmental armed opposition groups… governments in TEN (of these 20 countries) are implicated in child soldier use. “The U.S. government provides military assistance to nine of them… U.S. tax dollars should not be used to support the exploitation of children as soldiers. Moreover, US weapons should not end up in the hands of children.”

There is a very touching video about Ishmael Beah who was one of thousands of children forced to serve as a child soldier in the Sierra Leone Army.

This video calls for the U.S. to use their influence to cut military aid to countries using child soldiers. You can view it at: http://hrw.org/campaigns/crp/child_soldiers/index.htm

To see the countries that child soldiers are currently serving in, visit: http://hrw.org/children/child_soldiers_map.html

The proposed Child Soldier Prevention Act (S1175) is:
"bipartisan legislation… the bill would restrict five categories of US military assistance (International Military Education and Training, Foreign Military Financing, Foreign Military Sales, Direct Commercial Sales, and Excess Defense Articles) to governments… until they end any involvement in the recruitment or use of child soldiers. The bill would not automatically cut off these military assistance programs; governments taking concrete steps to end child recruitment and demobilize child soldiers would remain eligible for assistance directed solely towards the professionalization of their forces for up to two years before any prohibition on assistance would be imposed. This bill will provide clear incentives for governments currently implicated in the recruitment and use of child soldiers to end this practice and demobilize children from their forces. It also encourages the United States to expand funding to rehabilitate former child soldiers and work with the international community to bring to justice rebel armed groups that kidnap children for use as soldiers.”

If you are inspired to take action, you can write or phone government representatives, write your local newspaper, educate yourself, and spread the word to family, friends, classmates, colleagues, etc.