Cradle Robbers

When you have a child your foremost instinct is to protect that child from the world until he or she is ready to venture into it on their own, even then you are hesitant.  But what if you live in a third world country and the dangers of the outside world are knocking down your door every day?  How is a mother supposed to protect her children with bullet holes in the sheet metal used as walls? All the time kids are used as soldiers around the world some as young as eight years old, and are dying to protect their country by force.  These children are abducted from schools, streets, even their homes.  They are stripped of the innocents and are forced to grow up in the blink of an eye.  They are placed in combat situations, used as spies, messengers, porters, servants or to lay or clear landmines. Girls in particular are at risk of rape and sexual abuse.  As said here in one of the ten facts of children soldiers   there is a simple reason armed groups use child soldiers: children are easier to manipulate. They don’t eat as much food, don’t get paid and don’t have a highly developed sense of danger, making it all too easy to send them into the line of fire.  All over the world people are making an effort to stop child soldiers but are it enough?  "We're seeing a strong international consensus emerging that the use of child soldiers must be stopped, but the practice on the ground hasn't caught up,"Says Jo Becker, childrens rights advocacy director for New York-based Humans Rights Watch, a member of the coalition. "Violators need to know there will be consequences if they continue to use child soldiers." "It is not enough for the UN Security Council to pass resolution after resolution without ensuring that these are followed up with concrete action," says Henri Nzeyimana, the coalition coordinator in Africa's Great Lakes region.