Support the Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2007
Limit US Military Assistance to Governments Using Child Soldiers

Today, an estimated 250,000 children are serving in armed conflict in 20 countries around the world. These “child soldiers” include boys and girls, sometimes as young as eight years old, serving in government armies, government-linked militias, and armed opposition groups. They serve in all aspects of contemporary warfare as spies, messengers, guards, cooks, porters, security officers, and too often, as front-line combatants. Many female child soldiers are forced to serve as sex slaves or “wives” of military commanders.

Although many child soldiers are found in non-governmental armed opposition groups, the State Department reports that governments in ten countries are implicated in child soldier use. The US government provides military assistance to nine of them.