Voices of Young Soldiers

Uganda

“Early on when my brothers and I were captured, the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) explained to us that all five brothers couldn’t serve in the LRA because we would not perform well. So they tied up my two younger brothers and invited us to watch. Then they beat them with sticks until both of them died. They told us it would give us strength to fight. My youngest brother was nine years old.” – Former child soldier, age 13 (Source: Human Rights Education Associates)

Zimbabwe

“There was no one in charge of the dormitories and on a nightly basis we were raped. The men and youths would come into our dormitory in the dark, and they would just rape us- you would just have a man on top of you, and you would not even see who it was. If we cried aftewords, we were beaten with pipes. We were so scared that we did not report the rapes. The youngest girl in our group was eleven and was raped repeatedly. – 19 year old girl (Source: Coalition to stop the use of Child Soldiers)

Central Africa

“I feel so bad about the things that I did. It disturbs me so much that I inflicted death on other people. When I go home I must do some traditional rites because I have killed. I must perform these rites and cleanse myself. I still dream about the boy from my village that I killed. I see him in my dreams, and he is talking to me, saying I killed him for nothing, and I am crying.” – a 16 year old girl after demobilization from an armed group (Source: US. State Dept. TIP Report 2005)

Democratic Republic of Congo

“When they came to my village, they asked my older brother whether he was ready to join the militia. He was just 17 and he said no. They shot him in the head. Then they asked me if I was ready to sign, so what could I do? I didn’t want to die.” – a former child soldier taken when he was 13 (Source: BBC report)

“They gave me a uniform and told me that now I was in the army. They even gave me a new name: “Pisco”. They said they would come back and kill my parents if I did not do as they said. – 17 year old former child soldier in 2006 (Source: Coalition to stop the use of Child Soldiers)

“Being new, I could not perform the very difficult exercises properly and so I was beaten every morning. Two of my friends in the camp died because of the beatings. The soldiers buried them in the latrines. I am still thinking of them.” – Former child soldier, interviewed in 2002 (Source: Coalition to stop the use of Child Soldiers)

Sudan

“I joined the SPLA when I was 13. I am from Bahr Al Ghazal. They demobilized me in 2001 and took me to Rumbek, but I was given no documents. Now, I am stuck here because my family was killed in a government attack and because the SPLA would re-recruit me. At times, I wonder why I am not going back to SPLA. Half of my friends have and they seem to better off than me.” – Former child soldier interviewed in 2004 (Source: Coalition to stop the use of Child Soldiers)

Cambodia

“They give you a gun and you have to kill the only best friend you have. They do it to see if they can trust you. If you don’t kill him, your friend will be ordered to kill you. I had to do it because otherwise I would be killed. That’s why I got out. I could not stand it any longer.” – 17 year old boy, joined a paramilitary group at age 7, when he was a street child (Source: Coalition to stop the use of Child Soldiers)