First Grade
Worksheets
Child Soldiers All Over the World
Bang! Bang! Toy guns are part of many games. You have probably played cowboys and Indians or cops and robbers. Some children don't play games with toy guns. They carry real guns. They are child soldiers, and they have a very hard life.
One group knows about child soldiers. It is called the Human Rights Watch. They have found that there are at least 300,000 child soldiers. These child soldiers are under 18 years old. Some are as young as 8 years old. The children fight in battles in at least 33 places. They fight in Mexico. They fight in Russia. They fight in India and Iraq, too.
Some child soldiers are orphans. Orphans have no parents. Some of them think that the armies will give them food. Many are taken by force. Older soldiers take them away from their schools or families.
