…says a new report put out last week by Plan International. In their report, they make the point that:
The public images of war focus almost exclusively on young men – armed forces, suicide bombers, young men throwing stones at soldiers… There are now more than 200 million girls living in countries that are either at risk of, in the midst of or emerging from armed conflict but rarely do we hear stories of how they experience war.
Some surprising facts from the report:
38 countries have used girl soldiers in armed conflict in the last 2 decades 200,000,000 girls live in countries that are at risk of, in the midst of or emerging from armed conflict About 20,000,000 girls are out of school in war zones 1 in 5 countries have used girls as child soldiers
This is important – recognizing the impact of conflict on female children as a separate issue.
Also, see this previous entry on the importance of including sexual violence against girls as a subheading in the charges of “using children to participate actively in hostilities” that Thomas Lubanga Dyilo (the former head of the UPC) faces at the Hague this summer.
Filed under: Educational, Girl Soldiers , child soldiers, children, girl soldiers, Hague, ICC, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, War
