Why do children join combat?

Children living in poverty lack many of the rights that we take for granted: access to education, good health care, a safe home and community in which to grow, a loving family, and the right to be registered at birth.

These children are easy victims for abuse, exploitation and marginalization.

Abduction and force
Children in many war-torn countries continue to be abducted from their homes and forced into militias or armies.

Poverty/Lack of education/Break down of family and social network
While thousands of children are kidnapped and forced into combat, many others between the ages of 14 and 18 volunteer to join armed forces.

What would you do to feed yourself and your siblings if your family could not? Poverty and lack of access to education and work opportunities can push both girls and boys into roles as child soldiers. Armed forces usually offer children the hope of payment, enough to motivate them to enlist.

What would you do if you were being forced into a marriage or if you were suffering from sexual abuse? Girls who want to escape domestic violence and arranged marriages often enlist in armed forces because they think they have no better alternatives.

Desire for revenge/Search for power and recognition/Social pressure
What if you witnessed your entire family being tortured and killed? Children sometimes enter into combat to try to protect or avenge their families and communities. They may also seek protection for themselves. Many enlist to fight for social justice or because of pressure from their families.

Child soldiers are thrown into lives no child should have to endure.
Children who volunteer into armed forces are not thinking about their rights, but about survival. Being a child soldier is a job, an opportunity, a chance to eat, an offer of stability: a way to escape poverty.

Think—What would make you volunteer to be a child soldier?


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