NARRATOR:They are invisible... Invisible because they roam distant battlefields, away from public view and media scrutiny. Invisible because no records are kept of their numbers or age. Invisible because their own armies deny they exist. Invisible because they simply vanish. Some are killed in battle, others are injured and abandoned.

They are the child soldiers.

ADM JOHN SHANAHAN: Welcome to "AMERICA'S DEFENSE MONITOR." I'm Jack Shanahan, director for the Center for Defense Information.

Children are no longer simply passive victims of warfare. Increasingly, children and adolescents can be found on the front lines of combat. Our program will explore this unfortunate trend and seek to understand the reasons why children are thrust into roles as combatants.

NARRATOR:It's often the innocent who suffer most in the violence of war. This reality is frequently mirrored in their play. Children's games may reflect personal experience, imitate adult behavior, or attempt to create a sense of control or safety in an unsafe world.

Over the last decade, an estimated two million children have been killed in armed conflict. Three times that many have been seriously injured or permanently disabled.

GRACA MACHEL: We all know that wars today are mostly targeting women and children.

NARRATOR:In 1993, Graca Machel, former First Lady of Mozambique, was chosen by the United Nations to conduct the first study of the impact of armed conflict on children.

MRS. MACHEL: You know, these internal conflicts we witness today, they destroy, first of all, the human being himself, in terms of not only in killing, but distorting values, destroying social and cultural institutions. They are wars where people are not spared, families are not spared, communities, schools, churches, hospitals, which means the whole environment for a normal development is completely affected.

NIGEL FISHER: The Graca Machel study, which was approved last November '96 by the General Assembly, really focussed attention on children as targets, as combatants, as players in today's conflicts. I think it was good because we tend to become very blase. We see pictures of children suffering. We see pictures of child soldiers, and then we turn over to another program.

NARRATOR:Canadian Nigel Fisher is the director for Emergency Relief Operations for the United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF.

MR. FISHER: The characteristics of internal conflict today, it's not war between formal armies, it's war between often informal militia, informal groups, and the war takes place right in the community. So, there is no front line because everywhere is the front line, and people are driven from their homes. People are targets. Civilians are targets just because they belong to the ethnic group of an opposing faction.

NARRATOR:More and more unarmed civilians are becoming targets of hostile forces. In recent decades, the proportion of war victims who are civilians has leapt dramatically from 5 percent to over 90 percent.

Caught in the crossfire, children and adolescents are often vulnerable to exploitation by warring factions.

Increasingly, the front lines, hospital beds and graveyards of poorer nations around the world are filled by children.

EILEEN O'CONNOR: Well, I think most of the kids that I've seen that have been recruited have been about the age range of 11, 12, 13, 14.

NARRATOR:Award-winning journalist Eileen O'Connor has personally witnessed the phenomenon of child soldiers in her work for CNN News.

Ms. O'CONNOR: And the trouble with using kids as combatants is that, in some ways, they can be much more aggressive and much more willing to pull the trigger, even though they're -- maybe because of their innocence. And also, they are not aware of perhaps any of the finer points or the grey areas of what the discussion is about, so they're quick to go to one side or the other, and they can be easily manipulated. And that's why, of course, that a lot of sides in combat right now use kids.

NARRATOR:Throughout history children have participated in conflict -- as drummer boys for armies or as assistant gunners on ships. The 20th Century saw children drafted as soldiers in both World War I and World War II, where young soldiers were often used as a last line of defense by the Germans and their allies.

In 1986, international attention was dramatically focused on child soldiers in their modern form, when the National Resistance Army fought its way into Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Observers were shocked to see four and five-year-olds in its ranks. Uganda's rebel army had an estimated 3000 child soldiers under the age of 16, including 500 girls.

MR. FISHER: The scope of the problem of children as combatants is part of a broader problem where you find in many of the wars today, especially the internal conflicts, children are no longer just bystanders and they're no longer accidental victims, but they are drawn into the combat.

NARRATOR:An estimated 250,000 children under 18, some as young as five, served in 33 armed conflicts in 1995 and 1996.

Dr. MIKE WESSELLS: This problem is worldwide. It is not limited to any particular continent. And, in fact, one could make a case that it's a problem right in the US, since in urban combat zones there are lots of children and youth that get drawn into lives as warriors.

NARRATOR:Dr. Mike Wessells is a noted professor of psychology in Randolph-Macon College in Virginia. He currently works with programs in Angola and Sierra Leone to heal the wounds of war in young people.

DR. WESSELLS: What you find is that in intrastate conflicts -- such as El Salvador, Guatemala, Mozambique, in Europe in the former Yugoslavia, in Northern Ireland, in Chechnya, if you take a look at Asia, you find Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Burma -- quite a number of countries have child soldiers being used on a large scale. In some countries, they comprise 10 percent of the fighting forces. That's true in Guatemala and in Liberia. If you take a look in areas such as Palestine, you find that as many as 70 percent of youth participate in acts of violence such as stone-throwing at Israeli forces.

NARRATOR:The overwhelming majority of the quarter-million child soldiers are found in the poorest nations, such as Afghanistan, Angola, Southern Sudan, and until very recently, Mozambique and Sierra Leone, all of which are among the ten poorest countries on earth.

Dr. KIRK FELSMAN: I think it's an issue that sometimes is prone to sensationalizing and focusses sometimes on younger children. And I think the reality of the problem is that we're talking about primarily adolescents, often young adolescents, but it's very significant.

NARRATOR:Dr. Kirk Felsman is a Harvard-educated psychologist and a senior adviser to the Save the Children Federation. He has been closely involved in the rehabilitation of child soldiers in Southern and Central Africa.

DR. FELSMAN: You know, you can start in some settings with the kind of poverty and the kind of impact that war has on communities. And when war affects am area, one of the first things that happens is those kinds of social networks are broken down and children and adolescents become isolated. And a lot of the services, whether it's education, or what have you that exist for them cease. And so, poverty often, and increasing poverty takes precedence and children are impelled for a number of reasons to get involved.

NARRATOR:Children are thrust into the role of combatants for a variety of reasons.

DR. WESSELLS: The primary means by which children are recruited is through force. For example, in countries such as El Salvador and Afghanistan, there's been a practice of press-ganging, wherein soldiers show up after school and literally line people up against the wall and pick and choose or load everyone on to a van. Typically, the children feel abandoned, fearful, horrified. And this is the beginning of a tyranny of fear and indoctrination that is designed to weaken the child psychologically and to make them highly compliant and subservient to their commanders.

NARRATOR:Forced recruitment was commonplace during the 1980-1992 civil war in El Salvador. It's estimated that 80 percent of the Salvadoran military, some 48,000 soldiers, were under 18 years of age. Many children joined rebel forces rather than be forcibly recruited into the Salvadoran military.

DR. FELSMAN: One of the most difficult issues is it's very hard to determine children's ages. You know, when you start looking at adolescents, you'll hear people say, "Oh, you know, she looks" or "he looks to be 18" or "looks to be 19." But in many of these situations, children don't have birth certificates, there aren't clear records. And children can be caught up in street sweeps, where military or other people will come through an area and collect them.

NARRATOR:In addition to forcible recruitment, some children volunteer for duty because they believe it's the only way to guarantee regular meals, clothing, and protection.

DR. WESSELLS: There are children who join for so-called voluntary reasons. But I think one has to be very careful to recognize that there is truly no voluntary joining, in the sense that the vast majority of children who join willing do so out of necessity or victimization, fear for security. Unaccompanied children who have no parents to protect them, people who are fearful that they will die of hunger or who have inadequate health care all may seek military activity.

NARRATOR:There are also children who have grown up with violence and see it as a permanent way of life.

Ms. O'CONNOR: In places like, for instance, Northern Ireland or in Bosnia, where these are more ethnic battles, kids are the conduit to make these everlasting battles.

NARRATOR:Many current disputes, like the conflicts in Palestine or Northern Ireland, have lasted a generation or more. In these situations, children often become soldiers as soon as they enter their teens.

DR. WESSELLS: There are peer and family pressures. It's a badge of one's honor and prestige in Palestine to be a stone-thrower against armed Israeli troops. The same is true in Northern Ireland. If members of one's family have been killed, then it can be seen as a matter of a blood feud or a matter of family honor to exact revenge.

NARRATOR:Refugee children are frequently at high risk of becoming combatants.

MR. FISHER: And situation where children are uprooted and especially where they are separated from their family members, they are vulnerable to exploitation. And certainly, if food is short, if resources are short, then obviously children will go where they can find at least some basic care.

NARRATOR:For children who are part of large refugee flows, such as those in Central Africa, often becoming a soldier is the best of bad alternatives. Sometimes the burdens of life as a refugee can make life as a soldier appear attractive to restless youth.

DR. FELSMAN: Many, many adolescent refugees are marginalized in camp situations. If you look carefully, education is primary school; if there's extra money, maybe some early childhood pre-school work, but very seldom are there educational programs for teenagers. Life skill training, you know, craftsmanship and what have is often for adults and adolescents get left out. So, they're very vulnerable to being recruited into armed forces.

NARRATOR:In some cases, joining a military group is a clear survival tactic.

Former CHILD SOLDIER:

"I joined because I wanted power, because the first rebel soldiers who came into Sierra Leone were killing our brothers, seizing power and were bad."

NARRATOR:Another factor that contributes to the increasing number of child soldiers is the abundance of inexpensive, high-powered assault rifles sold around the globe.

DR. WESSELLS: One of the main reasons why children are drawn into soldiering is that with the advent of light weapons, they can become significant fighting forces in ways that were not true decades ago.

NARRATOR:Lightweight assault weapons, such as the American M-16 and the widely available AK-47, are simple to use and can be easily shouldered by a child.

MR. FISHER: You find that the arms trade to many developing countries is in small weaponry, AK-47s, other types of automatic weapons. And a child can hold an AK-47 and a child can dismantle and learn to use an AK-47. So, the proliferation of small scale weapons I think has been a major factor in putting children into this deadly business.

NARRATOR:Children who are combatants perform a variety of tasks that increase their exposure to hardships and violence.

DR. WESSELLS: Children are recruited for a vast array of roles. Some are combatants, some are -- the younger ones, in particular, under 11 or 12 years of age, tend to be cooks, porters, spies, informants.

NARRATOR:In many ways, children make desirable soldiers. They will do what they are told. They don't have to be paid much. And if they are recruited early enough, they have only a limited sense of right or wrong.

DR. WESSELLS: Sometimes they're given the most dangerous assignments, to go in and de-mine a field or to go into the field and extract gold or other valuables from people who have been shot, while they're under sniper fire. Or, they're given orders to commit acts of atrocity.

Former CHILD SOLDIER:

"Sometimes we killed 10, 15 or 30. And at the end of it all, we will celebrate by drinking rum, smoking cannabis. We would even take the blood and rub it into our skins."

NARRATOR:Not only are children exploited for combat purposes, but they are also victimized sexually.

DR. FELSMAN: Certainly, in Latin America and in other places, girls have played very similar roles involving combat that adolescent boys have played. I think one of the things to pay attention to with adolescent girls is their vulnerability to sexual exploitation that can be ongoing. In saying that, I would say that an issue that has not been looked at very carefully is the vulnerability that boys have to being sexually exploited.

NARRATOR:Child soldiers suffer many of the same physical and psychological effects that war visits on noncombatant children. They are separated from loved ones, their homes are destroyed, and they are often wounded or maimed in battle.

DR. WESSELLS: To see the real scope of the problem, one has to remember that child soldiers, child soldiering breaks the bond between children, family and community, and that's an essential part of the infrastructure of any civil society. And by damaging that social trust and breaking those social bonds, one is basically ripping out the fabric of civil society.

NARRATOR:Aside from physical injury or psychological problems, child soldiers face a variety of other health issues.

DR. FELSMAN: I think the issue of medical concerns is very important and it depends on how narrowly you define the term "medical." I mean, I think that children who've been involved in armed conflict, child soldiers, often issues of drug abuse, drug addiction, issues of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV-AIDS are very prevalent.

DR. WESSELLS: One of the worst things that has happened in many post-conflict situations is that some journalists have sensationalized "young killers" and tried pathologize young people and to imply perhaps that they're beyond repair, they're damaged goods.

The evidence is quite to the contrary. It is possible, by reunifying former child combatants with their families, by working with local communities to place them in schools and to give them job skills and job training. Under these circumstances, young people are able to reintegrate back into civilian life.

NARRATOR:Often when the fighting stops, the needs of children are overlooked. For healing strategies to be successful, child soldiers require physical and psychological recovery, as well as social reintegration.

MRS. MACHEL: We can make them believe again in peace, but that means a very strong commitment, not only at the political level, but also within society itself, to create the environment which really -- we strip away the culture of violence which had been developed for the kids, then in tolerance, in mutual understanding, in working together to make them feel that people can really rebuild and consolidate peace.

NARRATOR:Rehabilitating child combatants is an enormous challenge, but the consequences of not trying are monumental. Child soldiers who are not reintegrated into the post-conflict society will likely become the catalysts for future conflict.

DR. WESSELLS: On of the key tasks for former child soldiers is emotional rehabilitation. Oftentimes, there's a tremendous amount of guilt over what one has done. This is typically accompanied by high levels of fear and anxiety over what will happen to one. In addition, there are traumas and exposure to traumatic experiences can produce flashbacks, sleep disturbances, withdrawal and isolation behavior, and highly aggressive behavior in the form of acting out. So, for these reasons, psycho-social assistance is vital for helping children make the transition back to civilian life.

NARRATOR:Often the road to recovery begins in camps like this one in Liberia, set up specifically for former child soldiers. Here the demobilized children are given modest beds and meals, while aid workers help to reunite them with family members.

RELIEF WORKER to CHILD SOLDIER:

"And he's bigger than you or smaller than you?"

MR. FISHER: When you are looking at a demobilization of children, you just can't think that it's easy, that you're going to take away their arms and you've finished your job. No, your job just begins. You've got to find a real family to substitute for that army, which means trying to trace their -- some blood relatives or trying to place them in foster care in the community.

NARRATOR:This UNICEF-organized camp in Sierra Leone emphasizes a variety of assistance programs for children and adolescents. Here former child soldiers work to overcome the violence they have seen as they prepare to go back to school or learn a trade.

MR. FISHER: The army or the fighting force has been the means of earning bread. The gun has been the source of power for the child. You just can't let them loose or there's the danger that they will turn to delinquency. One has to find a job, skilled training, something that's going to earn them funds.

NARRATOR:War involving children is universally condemned, yet a solution to the problem of child soldiering still eludes the international community.

MRS. MACHEL: In the process of giving a chance to children, the international community has to be responsible. It cannot believe that it's just the responsibility of the nation, which means government, and civil society alone. The international community has to continue, they're in for long, because it's a long process.

NARRATOR:Since 1989, an international human rights treaty, called the Convention on the Rights of the Child, made 15 the minimum age for military recruitment. One-hundred ninety countries, including the United States, have signed the treaty, but the United States has not yet ratified it.

DR. WESSELLS: The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child stipulates 15 years as the minimum age of recruitment, but most signers of that treaty -- of that document agree that there should be an optional protocol, which will probably be implemented by the end of this year, to boost the minimum age of recruitment to 18 years.

NARRATOR:Recently the United States said it would not accept 18 years as the minimum age for direct participation in hostilities.

DR. WESSELLS: There are only four countries that are not parties to the treaty, and we are one of them. And we need to do our part to exercise leadership to build and strengthen international norms against child soldiering and to protect children in all situations of armed conflict. And the US public needs to give its support to the implementation of these laws.

NARRATOR:Another obstacle to the implementation of the minimum recruitment age are the intercultural differences that exist in defining a child.

DR. FELSMAN: One of the things that is complicated is that in many countries, the definition of who is a child is not necessarily tied to chronological age. So, you can be in countries in Southern Africa and be in your early twenties and if you're unmarried or you don't have children, or what have you, you can be considered still a child in the community's eyes. If you are 16 and married or have been through various initiation rites, you're considered by people as an adult.

NARRATOR:Most people believe that the phenomenon of child soldiering is morally repugnant. And almost everyone agrees that children should have no role in warfare. However, without better public awareness, the problem of child soldiers will likely remain invisible.

DR. WESSELLS: The vast majority of people in the United States, for example, simply do not know of the scale and severity of the problem. Most people don't know that there are nearly a quarter of a million armed child combatants. So, increasing public awareness and building a base of donor support, learning to work in a more holistic manner is crucial. So, my view is that there's a lot that can be done and everyone has a role.

DR. FELSMAN: What stands out for me in the most striking way is the need to work on these issue over the long term and to really provide sustained attention at a community level. I think that the work with governments, I think that the work on policy issues is important, but I think that more long term support, working with local authorities and local community people is really crucial.

Mr. FISHER: I think, first of all, you have to say imagine this is your child, imagine your child abused, made to be a soldier. Imagine your child wounded and hurt. How would you react? You just can't turn this off. Imagine the numbers of children. Imagine in your town. Compare it with Bijac or compare it with Kingali. Think of the tens of thousands of children who are attacked or killed there, and then put that in your own context. Could you live with that? Could it be acceptable? I think we have to relate it to people's own lives and try and make them think in ways that they can be affected in their own community or with their own children. What kind of hope would you want for your children?

ADM SHANAHAN: Throughout human history, warfare has been a constant fact of life. While it is unrealistic to think warfare will cease anytime soon, it is possible to get children off the firing line. The obvious action is for governments to outlaw the recruitment of children into their armed forces. The United States can do its part by supporting international law which recognizes 18 years as the minimum age for recruitment. In addition, governments must all agree to regulate the flow of lightweight assault weapons, which are the weapons most commonly used by children.

If you would like to receive more information on the subject of child soldiers, just call us at 1-800-CDI-0004. We'll send you our Defense Monitor Report on child combatants and a list of resources you can use to learn more about this important issue.

For "AMERICA'S DEFENSE MONITOR," I am Jack Shanahan.