“I want to start my life again”
“I want to start my life again”, International Crime Court tweeted a story of a former child soldier, captured at the age of 12 & forced to commit crimes.
Part of the crimes on trial animation series, telling the survivor stories of some of the world’s worst crimes.
The organization Child Soldiers International reported that between 2012 and 2017, there were 29,128 verified cases of child recruitment in 17 countries.
The recent study on terrorism found that among the major groups that armed extremist groups target to recruit from are young people living in geographically isolated and depressed areas, economically poor individuals, orphaned children of conflict, and idealistic-fundamentalist youth.
Children are often recruited for the simple reason that they are easier to manipulate or coerce, are more obedient to figures of authority, and are fearless (especially when drugged).
Often, they put the opponent in a moral dilemma: Should you shoot a nine-year-old with an AK-47 trained at you?
A few years ago, a 16-year-old boy was killed in an armed encounter. UNICEF called to task both the New Peoples’ Army (NPA) and the military for violating the rights of the child, the NPA for recruiting him and the military for shooting him.
Explaining its side, the military said that in a firefight, the general rule to survive is to neutralize anyone holding a weapon in a firing position. In the mayhem of an armed encounter, differentiating if the opponent is a child or an adult, especially if he is firing at you, is very difficult.
