Africa's young soldiers: the co-option of childhood.

One of the most publicised features of armed conflicts in Africa has been the use of the children as soldiers, a practice that has drawn the attention and condemnation of the international community. Advocacy on behalf of children affected by armed conflict, supported by Graca Machel's highly influential study,"The Impact of War on Children", has resulted in new legislation prohibiting the use of children under eighteen by both states armed groups, embodied in the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, which entered into force in 2002. The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child was one of the first regional instruments to prohibit child soldering. This monograph offers an overview of approaches to the issue of child soldiers: the causes of child recruitment as they relate to the impact of child soldiering on children and their societies and a substantial section on the experiences of girl combatants.