For many former child soldiers the reintegration part of DDR (disarmament, rehabilitation and reintegration) can be the most traumatic. They are often no longer accepted by their communities and their families, and are sometimes feared or even reviled. According to psychologist Michael Wessells, a professor at Columbia University and author of the book Child Soldiers: [...]

According to the Democratic Voice of Burma, on September 21, a 13 year old boy was forced at knife-point to join the national army. A week after the kidnapping, the boy’s mother located her son at a military recruitment base in Utyinthaya but was unable to rescue him, a military officer citing official procedure. There [...]

According to a recent interview on Radio Free Asia with Jo Becker, known child soldier expert at Human Rights Watch, Burma has shown little improvement in their use and recruitment of child soldiers. According to Becker, U.N. Security Council’s Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict has had difficulty locating and aiding child soldiers in [...]

Yesterday, an article in the New York Times highlighted the new report on child soldiers by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers – in section A of the paper (page 18). A quote: The number of conflicts in which children are used as soldiers has dropped sharply in the past four years, [...]