Last year saw a “massive increase” in recruitment of child soldiers in conflicts in the Ivory Coast, Liberia and parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a human rights report issued on Thursday. In those conflicts, the report by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers said “a massive increase in recruitment occurred during 2003.” It identified 18 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East where child soldier issues loomed as human rights abuses in an armed conflict or its aftermath. Children were used as soldiers, sex slaves, laborers and spies last year, according to the report, released ahead of the U.N. Security Council’s open meeting on the problem next Tuesday. Full Story
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