Stop killing children in South-America

Nabil Missaoui Aristizabal Start Date: Jul 19, 2017 - End Date: Sep 1, 2017
  • Cultural Exchange
  • Educational/Research Trip
  • Leadership/Training Program
  • Argentina
  • Colombia
  • Mexico
  • Brasil
  • Puerto Rico
  • Cuba
  • España
  • República Dominicana
  • Estados Unidos
  • Paraguay
  • Uruguay
  • Chile

My Travel Story

by: Nabil Missaoui Aristizabal Start Date: Jul 19, 2017 - End Date: Sep 1, 2017
  • Cultural Exchange
  • Educational/Research Trip
  • Leadership/Training Program
Child soldiers are children (individuals under the age of 18) who are used for any military purpose. Some are in their late teens, while others may be as young as four. They are not only boys – many are girls.

Some child soldiers are used for fighting – to kill and commit other acts of violence. Others are used as cooks, porters, messengers, informants or spies, or in any other way their commanders want. Child soldiers are also used for sexual purposes.

Military organisations that recruit children find them easier than adults to entice or force into service. In general, children are more compliant and easier to manipulate.

Some children choose to join a military organisation as a route out of poverty, for protection, or as a way of making up for the loss of family or a lack of education.

In the chaos of armed conflict, children are often separated from their family. These children are particularly vulnerable to all kinds of abuses, including recruitment by military organisations.

There are three ways in which we and other organisations work to reduce the harm caused to children by military recruitment:

Campaign to prevent child recruitment (this is our priority as Child Soldiers International).
Support reintegration: the return of child soldiers to their families and communities.
Hold to account those who have used children for military purposes.

  • Argentina
  • Colombia
  • Mexico
  • Brasil
  • Puerto Rico
  • Cuba
  • España
  • República Dominicana
  • Estados Unidos
  • Paraguay
  • Uruguay
  • Chile