Stahili, Child Soldiers Initiative and the Talsky Center launch country reports on children in armed conflict

Stahili, the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative, and the Lori E. Talsky Center for Human Rights of Women and Children at Michigan State University College launched a series of reports on the use of children in armed conflict in 12 countries – Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Colombia, South Sudan, Somalia, Central African Republic, and Mali. The reports, which are updated twice a year, serve as a companion to the Dallaire Initiative handbook and provide context for security sector actors and others who work in or on those countries.

Despite international conventions, the use of child soldiers by state armies and armed groups continues to be a disturbing trend worldwide. Child soldiers are not only fighting on the frontlines but serving as bodyguards, servants, porters, messengers, spies, lookouts, and cooks, among other roles. In all countries, women and girls are specifically targeted for human rights violations. Children are killed and maimed and forced to flee their homes. Schools and hospitals are under attack in a number of countries. These are but a few of the grave violations committed against children in armed conflict.

Read more in our reports here.