Child Soldiers

Child soldiers are a phenomenon of postcolonial warfare in underdeveloped countries. They are a vivid expression of poverty in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where many children are not able to see a viable future for themselves. This worldview makes children willing to join the army and makes it easier for military units to recruit children to fight. For these children, serving as soldiers in an unknown army for aims they often do not understand is, in many cases, the only way to escape poverty. Soldiers in many of these wars use AK-47s as assault weapons, and because they are simple to use it is relatively easy to train children to shoot with them. The children then become victims of warfare as well as victims ...