Reports indicate that child soldiers have been utilized in more than 85 countries and 36 conflicts. Today, there are approximately 300,000 active child soldiers (McKnight, 2010). Trends in media typically portray child soldiers as an “African phenomenon”, but research shows the issue is more widespread. Child soldiers are utilized in conflicts in Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Sudan, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Angola, Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and the Phillippines, to name a few (Honwana, 2009; He, Zheng, Yang, Lin & Xia, 2009). As soldiers, children act as messengers, human shields, combatants and cooks. They also face physical and sexual assault, are forced to kill for initiation purposes, succumb to repeated rapes and are forced to engage in drug abuse (Betancourt, Borisova, Soudière & Williamson, 2010; Mazurana & McKay, 2004). The extent to which children are utilized in armed conflict is staggering. According to Human Rights Watch (2004) youth comprised nearly half the soldiers in Liberia. In Sierra Leone approximately half the soldiers were children, 25% of whom were females (Wessels, 2005; McKay & Mazurana, 2004). In 2003 it was found that the Burmese government was exploiting an estimated 50,000 children for use in combat (Wessels, 2005). To highlight the reach of armed conflict, Thompson (1999) provides staggering figures. In Mozambique, 30% of the population was displaced, or 5 million people, 47% of the schools shut down and approximately 1 million people died. In Angola, “the conflict outlasted the Cold War, two peace processes and three UN missions. It left at least 500,000 Angolans dead and displaced millions more” (McMullin, 2011, p.745).
Child Soldiers in Angola
Youth In Conflict 