CHAD:
Up to 600 child soldiers were reportedly serving in government and opposition
forces but no further recruitment of children was reported.
U.N. protocol prohibiting use of child soldiers: ratified August 2002
GUINEA:
Government militias recruited children as young as 15 in 2001 and 2002. By 2004 most members were over 18. A Liberian group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, recruited children in Guinea, often forcibly. The Sierra Leonean Revolutionary United Front (RUF) reportedly abducted Guinean children. Programmes for the demobilisation and reintegration of child soldiers began in December 2002.
U.N. protocol prohibiting use of child soldiers: not signed
IVORY COAST:
Ivorian government and allied forces recruited children, including Liberian refugees. Rebel groups, including Liberian groups with bases in Ivory Coast, also used child soldiers. Girls were abducted into sexual slavery. Ivorian child soldiers also fought in Liberia.
U.N. protocol prohibiting use of child soldiers: not signed
LIBERIA:
Government forces, pro-government armed groups and opposition groups recruited child soldiers, some as young as seven years old. 21,000 child soldiers needed demobilisation, including an unknown number of girls abducted into sexual slavery. A peace deal was signed in August 2003, but disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programmes had not begun by March 2004.
U.N. protocol prohibiting use of child soldiers: signed September 2004
SIERRA LEONE:
When war ended in 2002, nearly 7,000 child soldiers joined reintegration programmes but the special needs of thousands of abducted girls were not addressed. Some ex-Sierra Leonean child soldiers were re-recruited to fight wars in Liberia and Ivory Coast. Many were forced to carry out atrocities. The Special Court for Sierra Leone indicted several leaders of armed groups and former Liberian President Charles Taylor for crimes including the recruitment of child soldiers and sexual slavery.
U.N. protocol prohibiting use of child soldiers: ratified May 2002
