S
Sophia
Guest
10
An estimated 300,000 children, some 12 or younger, are currently serving as soldiers or guerilla fighters in conflicts around the globe.
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/mar132004/f3.asp
Little soldiers
When war's writ runs deep
Children abducted or recruited to fight in wars suffer horrific atrocities and many are beaten and sexually abused, reports Reuters from London quoting Belgian researchers.
Young soldiers are forced to kill other children or even members of their own family, and girls are given to senior staff to act as wives.
" think
his is the first time someone has investigated their experiences, Ilse Derluyn, of Ghent University in Belgium, told Reuters.
An estimated 300,000 children, some 12 or younger, are currently serving
r
as
soldiers or guerilla fighters in conflicts around the globe. Derl
uyn and her colleagues interviewed 301 former child soldiers who had been abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel movement in northern Uganda. Their research is published in The Lancet medical journal.
Most of the children she spoke to had been soldiers for more than two years. The abduction of children is the main method of recruitment of the LRA.
Half had been seriously beaten, nearly 40 per cent had killed someone or had abducted other children, 77 per cent saw someone being killed and 35 per cent of the girls had been sexually abused.
Six per cent of the child soldiers witnessed the murder of their own father, brother or another relative. Nearly 40 per cent had killed someone and two per cent w
ere forced to kill a family member.
One former Ugandan girl soldier who had been abducted in 1996 described how she was forced to murder a boy who had tried to escape.
He was recaptured and
I
had to kil
l him, by beating him to death with sticks, she said.
The girl
admitted looting villages, abducting other children and said she gave birth to a son fathered by an army commander and later had to abandon the baby. Most of the children suffered from post-traumatic stress, but Derluyn said they all show remarkable resilience.
An estimated 300,000 children, some 12 or younger, are currently serving as soldiers or guerilla fighters in conflicts around the globe.
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/mar132004/f3.asp
Little soldiers
When war's writ runs deep
Children abducted or recruited to fight in wars suffer horrific atrocities and many are beaten and sexually abused, reports Reuters from London quoting Belgian researchers.
Young soldiers are forced to kill other children or even members of their own family, and girls are given to senior staff to act as wives.
" think
his is the first time someone has investigated their experiences, Ilse Derluyn, of Ghent University in Belgium, told Reuters.
An estimated 300,000 children, some 12 or younger, are currently serving
r
as
soldiers or guerilla fighters in conflicts around the globe. Derl
uyn and her colleagues interviewed 301 former child soldiers who had been abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel movement in northern Uganda. Their research is published in The Lancet medical journal.
Most of the children she spoke to had been soldiers for more than two years. The abduction of children is the main method of recruitment of the LRA.
Half had been seriously beaten, nearly 40 per cent had killed someone or had abducted other children, 77 per cent saw someone being killed and 35 per cent of the girls had been sexually abused.
Six per cent of the child soldiers witnessed the murder of their own father, brother or another relative. Nearly 40 per cent had killed someone and two per cent w
ere forced to kill a family member.
One former Ugandan girl soldier who had been abducted in 1996 described how she was forced to murder a boy who had tried to escape.
He was recaptured and
I
had to kil
l him, by beating him to death with sticks, she said.
The girl
admitted looting villages, abducting other children and said she gave birth to a son fathered by an army commander and later had to abandon the baby. Most of the children suffered from post-traumatic stress, but Derluyn said they all show remarkable resilience.
