Stop the arms trade
Child soldiers and the arms trade
Lack of control on the arms trade is resulting in conflict, poverty and human rights abuses worldwide. Without strict control, small arms and light weapons continue to fuel violent conflict, state repression, crime and domestic abuse.
Unless governments act to stop the spread of arms, more lives will be lost and more human rights violations will continue to take place.
Learn more about the arms trade
Get the facts
o 300,000 child soldiers exist worldwide
o Around 1,000 people are killed every day by small arms
o By 2020, the number of deaths and injuries from war and violence will overtake the number of deaths caused by killer diseases such as malaria and measles
o Around 600 million small arms and light weapons exist in the world today and 8 million additional arms are produced annually
o 88% of reported conventional arms exports are from the five permanent members of the Security Council - China, France, Russia, UK and USA
The plight of child soldiers
As armed conflict proliferates around the world, increasing numbers of children are exposed to the brutalities of war. In many countries, boys and girls are recruited as child soldiers by armed forces and groups.
Children are susceptible to recruitment by manipulation or may be driven to join armed forces and groups because of poverty or discrimination. Often they are abducted at school, on the streets or at home.
Once recruited or forced into service, they are used for a variety of purposes. While many children participate in combat, others are used for multiple roles including as spies, messengers, porters, servants or to lay or clear landmines. Many children are also abused sexually.
"I was trained for six months in Kigali and learnt how to use weapons. During the training, many children died. It was awful."
Jacques, 15 years, Rwanda
Children who are used as soldiers are robbed of their childhood and are often subjected to extreme brutality. Stories abound of children who are drugged before being sent out to fight and forced to commit atrocities against their own families as a way to destroy family and communal ties.
Such children are exposed to the worst dangers and the most horrible suffering, both psychological and physical.
Worldwide, more than half a million children under 18 years of age have been recruited into government armed forces, paramilitaries, civil militia and a wide variety of non-state armed groups in more than 85 countries.
At any one time, more than 300,000 of these children are actively fighting as soldiers with armed government forces or political groups.
Get the facts about AK-47s
o An AK-47: lightweight and easy for children to handle.
o With new weapons that are lightweight and easy to fire, children are more easily armed, with less training than ever before.
o The proliferation of, and ease of access to AK-47s and similar assault rifles around the world, is contributing to suffering on a massive scale.
o The AK outstrips its nearest rival, the M-16 assault rifle, by 10 to 1 in terms of numbers produced
o An AK-47 can be bought for as little as US$30 in parts of Africa
o There are an estimated 100 million AK-47s in the world
o AK-47s are found in the state arsenal of at least 82 countries
o The AK-47 can be fired at a rate of 600 bullets per minute
o It is estimated that 50-60% of weapons used in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo are AK-47s or its derivatives.
To read the original article from Amnesty International, click on:
Amnesty
Lack of control on the arms trade is resulting in conflict, poverty and human rights abuses worldwide. Without strict control, small arms and light weapons continue to fuel violent conflict, state repression, crime and domestic abuse.
Unless governments act to stop the spread of arms, more lives will be lost and more human rights violations will continue to take place.
Learn more about the arms trade
Get the facts
o 300,000 child soldiers exist worldwide
o Around 1,000 people are killed every day by small arms
o By 2020, the number of deaths and injuries from war and violence will overtake the number of deaths caused by killer diseases such as malaria and measles
o Around 600 million small arms and light weapons exist in the world today and 8 million additional arms are produced annually
o 88% of reported conventional arms exports are from the five permanent members of the Security Council - China, France, Russia, UK and USA
The plight of child soldiers
As armed conflict proliferates around the world, increasing numbers of children are exposed to the brutalities of war. In many countries, boys and girls are recruited as child soldiers by armed forces and groups.
Children are susceptible to recruitment by manipulation or may be driven to join armed forces and groups because of poverty or discrimination. Often they are abducted at school, on the streets or at home.
Once recruited or forced into service, they are used for a variety of purposes. While many children participate in combat, others are used for multiple roles including as spies, messengers, porters, servants or to lay or clear landmines. Many children are also abused sexually.
"I was trained for six months in Kigali and learnt how to use weapons. During the training, many children died. It was awful."
Jacques, 15 years, Rwanda
Children who are used as soldiers are robbed of their childhood and are often subjected to extreme brutality. Stories abound of children who are drugged before being sent out to fight and forced to commit atrocities against their own families as a way to destroy family and communal ties.
Such children are exposed to the worst dangers and the most horrible suffering, both psychological and physical.
Worldwide, more than half a million children under 18 years of age have been recruited into government armed forces, paramilitaries, civil militia and a wide variety of non-state armed groups in more than 85 countries.
At any one time, more than 300,000 of these children are actively fighting as soldiers with armed government forces or political groups.
Get the facts about AK-47s
o An AK-47: lightweight and easy for children to handle.
o With new weapons that are lightweight and easy to fire, children are more easily armed, with less training than ever before.
o The proliferation of, and ease of access to AK-47s and similar assault rifles around the world, is contributing to suffering on a massive scale.
o The AK outstrips its nearest rival, the M-16 assault rifle, by 10 to 1 in terms of numbers produced
o An AK-47 can be bought for as little as US$30 in parts of Africa
o There are an estimated 100 million AK-47s in the world
o AK-47s are found in the state arsenal of at least 82 countries
o The AK-47 can be fired at a rate of 600 bullets per minute
o It is estimated that 50-60% of weapons used in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo are AK-47s or its derivatives.
To read the original article from Amnesty International, click on:
Amnesty
posted by Pax Christi @ Saturday, December 09, 2006
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