The recruitment of children under the age of 18 is a worldwide problem. Although the use of child soldiers is more prevalent in Africa and Asia, many countries across America and Europe still recruit children into their armed forces. And although most child soldiers are between the ages of 15 and 18, many are recruited from the age of 10 upwards, and the use of even younger children has been recorded. As soldiers, children become legitimate targets in situations of armed conflict. As well as becoming the victims of war-time violence and brutality, conflict has the disastrous result of transforming some children and young people into perpetrators.
Children are particularly vulnerable to recruitment.
They are targeted when there is a need for manpower amid diminishing availability. Current provisions to stop armed factions and governments using children are woefully insufficient. There has been growing concern internationally about the devastating problem of child soldiers, particularly since the release a year ago of Gra a Machel's United Nations study on the impact of armed conflict on children. But in spite of increasing awareness of the scale of the problem, the international community has failed to enforce even existing standards that have been set. Recruitment of under 15s is now a war crime over which the soon to be formed International Criminal Court will have jurisdiction.