Warlords seek out children, vulnerable and effective minors to commit atrocities. “They don’t see the danger“says Chema Caballero, advisor to an NGO in Africa and writer.
Many are like Jean. He lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo and tells us how one morning, like so many others, he went to the river to play with his friends and ended the day playing a much more real and dangerous game. “They took us to the forest, they beat us, taught us to kill, smoke cannabis and kidnap people“, he reports.
It’s that easy to create a new machine ready to kill. Like him, there is more. The use of child soldiers in conflicts is not new, but something is wrong. The latest ‘Save The Children’ report is resounding: right now, 330 million children are at risk of being recruited by armed groups, three times more than in 1990.
Not even a global pandemic has managed to stop the wars, which have even increased. COVID has made minors even more defenseless. Fortunately, Jean was lucky and managed to put the spiral of violence behind him. Now you have get your look back.
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
