Children are being used as front-line fighters, minesweepers, spies and porters-even as sex slaves. A London-based coalition of several human rights groups announced in mid-June that more than 300,000 children are fighting as soldiers. By UN definition, anyone under the age of 18 is a child. Most child soldiers are 15 to 17 years of age, but there are documented cases of some as young as 7.

The coalition's report presented details of children being given drugs to make them fearless. A 14-year-old "soldier" in Sierra Leone testified that children who refused the drugs were killed outright.

An Ethiopian youth told of being recruited when he was 15. Speaking of his 1999 battle, he said: "It was very bad. They put all the 15- and 16-year-olds in the front line while the army retreated. I was with 40 other kids. I was fighting for 24 hours. When I saw that only three of my friends were alive, I ran back."

How tragic it is that children are not allowed to be children. God speed the day when He will "judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore" (Micah 4:3).

Source: "41 Nations Using Child Soldiers," by Susannah Loof, AP, June 12, 2001.