Sierra Leone: Childhood - a casualty of conflict

Index Number: AFR 51/069/2000
Date Published: 30 August 2000
Categories: Africa, Sierra Leone

More than 5,000 children under the age of 18, both boys and girls, have fought as combatants in Sierra Leone's internal armed conflict. This report contains interviews with the children themselves and details the recruitmentand treatment of these child soldiers by the military and armed opposition groups. It also looks at the measures that have been taken to rehabilitate the children and examines the responsiblity that other countries bear for supplying military assistance to both the government and rebel forces. Amnesty International calls upon both the Sierra Leone government and the international community to end the use of child soldiers.