The U.S. Department of Labor is teaming with a global Christian aid agency to combat the plight of child soldiers.
Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao unveiled a $13 million initiative to offer education and rehabilitation for former child soldiers.
Chao presented the plan at a May 7-8 Washington conference that was co-sponsored with World Vision.
“The plight of child soldiers offends the world’s sense of decency and the code of conduct of civilized nations,” Chao said.
An estimated 300,000 children are currently fighting in more than 34 conflicts around the world, according to World Vision.
In the past 10 years, the agency estimates that 2 million children have been killed in armed conflicts while 6 million have been disabled and 20 million have been left homeless.
Children are often recruited or abducted against their wills to fight, sere as spies or guards, lay or clear land mines or work in prostitution rings.
Starts at age 7
Some children are as young as 7 or 8 years old, while most are between 10 and 15 years old.
Advocates say the children are left with devastating physical and mental trauma.
“The atrocities these children have seen – and many have been forced to commit- are nothing short of appalling,” said Bruce Wilkinson, World Vision’s vice president for international programs.
The $13 million program, which will help a variety of agencies, will spend $7 million to help former child soldiers in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Colombia.
An additional $3 million will go toward education for former child soldiers in northern Uganda, and $3 million for former child soldiers in Afghanistan.
Last December, the United States ratified the United Nations-spoon-sored Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, which sets a minimum age of 18 for direct participation in conflicts.
(RNS)
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