Child Soldiers

The problem with a book like A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Child Soilder and a movie like Blood Diamond, is they mostly raise awareness of situations that are long since over. You are left enraged that these conditions existed, but you are left without an outlet. The inevitable question that arises is where the current crises are. Unfortunately, that information is not as readily available, as these incidents are not covered widely. I should have posted about this a long time ago, but here is a brief word about where current child soldier incidents are:

The 13 countries where groups that recruit child soldiers operate are Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, Myanmar, Nepal, Somalia, Sudan, Chad, Colombia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Uganda, according to the report.

Some of these should be no surprise. Congo, Somalia, and Sudan are homes to some of the worst conflicts right now and I imagine that many years from now, the next books and movies will be set in these countries. Sri Lanka continues to battle the Tamil Tiger terrorist group. I have heard about Myanmar's use of child soldiers. It is surprising though that Afghanistan is of course on our radar in the US, but allegations of using child soldiers is not discussed.

Well, knowing is half the battle, right? The other half is action...