Child Soldiers
Children and teens, as is well known, don’t have the same respect for their own vulnerability that a more seasoned adult does. They are more likely to be trusted by their target, and their innocence makes them a more volatile media focus when their target uses deadly force against them.
Adults, with ambitions for power, wealth, and control over others, are exploiting the innocence and media sensitivity of children to further their aims. They don’t care about the harm they are doing. It is a human rights issue that modern armies, celebrities and international organizations struggle to find a solution for.
This is one of the reasons I wrote the science fiction story Another Man’s Terrorist, to draw more attention to this aspect of terrorism and how it robs a child of their childhood, their future, and often their lives. Children are used as targets, human shields, soldiers, and propaganda tools the world over, to perpetuate the political issues and aspirations of adults. I hoped that by writing a fiction story about it, and getting it published, could help people get to know more about this terrible tragedy.
Other fiction stories about child soldiers:

Guarding Antoine -- written and narrated by Roger Haller (.wav file, download may take several minutes)
Online Articles, Groups and Blogs:
Child Soldiers — Alarming Global Situation
Fact and Fiction About Child Soldiers
A Long Way Gone: The True Story of a Child Soldier by Ishmael Beah
International Organizations:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/children
Related Articles
- Taliban Using Child Soldiers (newser.com)
- South Sudan to end child soldiers (bbc.co.uk)
- 95 Countries Have Signed Child Soldier Principles, Why Won’t the U.S.? (humantrafficking.change.org)
- Southern Sudan to purge thousands of child soldiers from army ranks ahead of independence vote (foxnews.com)
- Rope Enough: Just “Child Soldiers” Playing, Right? Double-Plus Bloody Wrong. (themoderatevoice.com)
- Southern Sudan: Free All Child Soldiers (humantrafficking.change.org)
- Child soldier from Uganda tells of great escape from LRA (guardian.co.uk)
- Southern Sudan to purge child soldiers from army (thegrio.com)
- Child asylum-seekers targeted in Home Office budget cuts (independent.co.uk)
- Southern Sudan to purge thousands of child soldiers from army ranks (theglobeandmail.com)
A most impressive and sobering collection Bill. As you know from my contribution above, this subject is close to me as well. I have a few others in this vein, from different perspectives as well.
Thanks for linking us to your blog! 🙂
Hello!
I just came across your website linking to mine.
Thanks for including me in such a great post.
Kudos on your site.
Thank you for this. There needs more attention focused on the heinous crime of child soldiers.
I have written about child soldiers in Colombia:
http://www.talkingaboutcolombia.com/excerpts