Funday Times

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Child Soldiers Released
Last week, in the South Asian country Sri Lanka, more that 1,300 child soldiers were released. The Sri Lankan rebel group known as the Tamil Tigers has been using child soldiers in its struggle against the Sri Lankan government.

The group either kidnaps the children or bribes them to join militias. International organizations—especially the United Nations—have been trying to end the use of child soldiers, considering it to be a violation of human rights. Therefore, when the rebel group released the children, many people around the world were relieved. Nevertheless, there are still many concerns about the future of these children.

It will be difficult for the children to return to a normal life, because of the horrible experiences that some of them have had. Many have been out of school for a long time, and can no longer excel at studies or find work. Often times, their families are poor and cannot afford to take care of them once they return.

Because of these difficulties, many people fear that the challenges of returning to a normal childhood will actually drive some of these children back to the life of the militias. In fact, there are reports in Sri Lanka that the rebel Tamil Tigers are already encouraging the children to return to fight.

It seems that many of the children that were released were not even accounted for. That means that there may be even more children working as child soldiers in Sri Lanka than previously thought. Around the world, many children are forced to fight for adults.

The United Nations reports that there may be more than 300,000 children forced to engage in military style fighting in 35 countries around the world at any given time. This is a terrible problem because it means that younger generations are exposed to hatred and violence at a very early age, before they have a chance to learn about the issues that cause the conflict. Furthermore, they never have the chance to learn about nonviolent ways to solve problems.

Some other countries that have used children in armed conflict are: Sudan, Sierra Leone, Congo, Colombia, Uganda, Cambodia, El Salvador, Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda, and many more.

Visit http://www.un.org/special-rep/children-armed-conflict/ to read more about children and armed conflict, with questions and answers from the United Nations. —Written by Betsy Mesard

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