Rebuilding the Lives of Child Soldiers
Meet Dominic and Benjamin. When war came to Sierra Leone in 1991, soldiers forcibly recruited children of similar ages to serve as soldiers in the country's devastating civil war. The U.N. estimates more than 10,000 children were conscripted to service in Sierra Leone and that at any time there may be more than 300,000 children involved with fighting forces worldwide.
Seven years after the war's end, many former child soldiers were successfully integrated back to their families. Others still bear the scars of their experience, carrying depression and anxiety with them into young adulthood. Children who do not have opportunities for education and employment like Dominic and Benjamin are at risk of being pulled back into violence or conflicts in nearby countries.
Former child soldiers need programs aimed at allowing them to finish their education and have healthy, productive lives. Pledge to support these children and the organizations helping them to build lives of hope and opportunity.
The United Nations estimates that 10,000 boys and girls were forcibly recruited and made to serve as porters, cooks, messengers, soldiers and sexual slaves during Sierra Leone's ten-year civil war. And across the world, hundreds of thousands of children are facing emotional scars resulting from armed conflicts.
[Your comments]
That's why I pledge to work to end the practice of recruiting children into armed conflict situations and to support war affected youth and communities. I envision a day when these children are able to live hopeful, productive lives, and I will support programs and organizations that will help make that a reality.
