Quick Summary Child soldiers were recruited during the Sri Lankan civil war that lasted from 1983 until 2009.  Rebel group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which fought for a separate Tamil state named Tamil Eelam in the northern and eastern regions of Sri Lankan, recruited child soldiers, as did the paramilitary group Tamil Makkal [...]

Quick Summary Thousands of children have been recruited to fight in the multiple military groups in Sudan.  Sudan has been subject to two civil wars as well as the war in Darfur in the last century, and fighting is among several groups of varying ethnic and religious backgrounds.  A majority of these military groups, including [...]

BY MELISSA TONG, RESEARCHER A background and history of the use of child soldiers in Liberia. Liberia has gone through two civil wars in the last few decades, with the Second Liberian Civil War coming to an end in 2003.  Multiple warring ethnic groups have recruited and used child soldiers, including the Liberians United for [...]

Quick Summary The ongoing Somali Civil War, which began in 1991, brought with it a huge humanitarian crisis that has decimated the ability of the country to function.  The conflict among clans, government, and anti-government forces, along with militant Islamic groups, has resulted in an extremely poor country with no central government that has control [...]

Quick Summary For over 20 years, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), a military regime, had ruled Burma.  On March 30, 2011, the SPDC was dissolved and replaced by a new government led by the Union Solidarity and Development Party, also backed by the military.  Since coming to power, it has led several reforms [...]

By Melissa Tong, Researcher
A background and history of the use of child soldiers in Uganda.

By Melissa Tong, Researcher
A background and history of the use of child soldiers in Democratic Republic of Congo.

By Melissa Tong, Researcher

A background and history of the use of child soldiers in Burundi.

By Melissa Tong, Researcher
A background and history of the use of child soldiers in Colombia.

By Melissa Tong, Researcher
A background and history of the use of child soldiers in Afghanistan.