SW News: According to UN estimates from 2021, Somalia remains the country most affected by the malaise of children being forcibly conscripted by militias, insurgents and even government troops to fight. That year, the number of boys forcibly kidnapped by Al Shabab militants to be trained as fighters stood at 1,200. The UN report says that more than 6,000 underage boys were recruited and forced to fight in conflicts in several nations.

A report prepared by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ahead of International Prevention of Violent Extremism Day, which is observed on Feb 12, has mentioned the countries battling this malaise of child soldiers. They include Afghanistan, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Iraq, Mali, Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and Myanmar. The report goes on to reveal that scores of armed outfits and even regular troops take children to swell their ranks.

In Yemen, between January 2020 and May 2021, 2000 children aged between 10 and 17 years lost their lives in the fighting. They were recruited by the Houthi rebels, who are battling the coalition forces supported by Saudi Arabia.

In the African nation of Mali, the report says that there are around 1,000 children who have been recruited by militants to fight. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, hundreds of children are being forced to march to the conflict zone by insurgents.

As per the report, even underage girls are not exempted. In Nigeria, the Boko Haram militants use young women and girls as human bombs and sex slaves in their camps. The abduction of girls by militias and insurgents in Sub-Saharan Africa has gone up by 40 percent according to UNICEF studies.

In conflict zones in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan, girls and women are also subjected to rape rampantly by both the militants and even the regular troops.