Most child soldiers under 15 are to be found in non-governmental military organisations. Most child soldiers under 18 have been recruited into governmental armed forces. Four to five million have become physically disabled. Approximately 10 million children suffer from psychic damage caused by armed conflict. Child soldiers have seen people killed and have experienced the terror of possibly being killed themselves.
Child soldiers do very badly when they participate in war.
They are deprived of their most basic rights to survival and development. War does not spare children. Child soldiers are often victims of severe emotional disorders with symptoms such as anguish, apathy, nightmares, depression, concentration difficulty, hyperactivity and refusal to eat. They are scarred for life. Child soldiers do not forget the cruelties they have experienced.