child soldier
Weaponized young combatant
A child soldier is a minor, typically under 18, who has been recruited or forced into armed conflict by military forces, militias, or rebel groups.
Child soldiers may serve as combatants, spies, messengers, or in other supporting roles.
The practice violates international law and is considered a war crime, though it persists in conflicts worldwide.
International organizations work to rehabilitate former child soldiers and reintegrate them into civilian life.
Global youth relief organization
- NGOIndependent charitable organization
- rescueSave from harm
- advocacyPleading for a cause
- interventionPurposeful involvement to change course
protection · human rights · international law · Geneva Convention · war crime · prosecution · accountability · awareness
Area of active fighting
- insurgencyArmed uprising against authority
- battlefieldCombat engagement area
- warfareArmed conflict between groups
- hostilitiesActive armed fighting
uprising · civil war · skirmish · ambush · siege · resistance · recruitment · abduction
Chronic reaction to horrific events
- griefIntense sorrow from loss
- sufferingSustained experience of distress
- anguishIntense mental suffering
- nightmaresTerrifying sleep experiences
flashbacks · scarring · desensitization · atrocity · victimhood · survivor · rehabilitation · reintegration
State of being immature
- vulnerabilityOpenness to harm
- naivetyInnocent lack of experience
- purityUncontaminated quality
- impressionableEasily influenced or affected
inexperience · lost innocence · robbed · exploitation · manipulation · indoctrination · brainwashing · coercion
UNICEF
Global youth relief organization
intervention · protection · human rights · international law · Geneva Convention · war crime · prosecution · accountability · awareness · documentary
warzone
Area of active fighting
- insurgencyArmed uprising against authority
- battlefieldCombat engagement area
- warfareArmed conflict between groups
hostilities · uprising · civil war · skirmish · ambush · siege · resistance · recruitment · abduction · conscription
PTSD
Chronic reaction to horrific events
- griefIntense sorrow from loss
- sufferingSustained experience of distress
- anguishIntense mental suffering
nightmares · flashbacks · scarring · desensitization · atrocity · victimhood · survivor · rehabilitation · reintegration · healing
youth
State of being immature
- vulnerabilityOpenness to harm
- naivetyInnocent lack of experience
- purityUncontaminated quality
impressionable · inexperience · lost innocence · robbed · exploitation · manipulation · indoctrination · brainwashing · coercion · grooming
recruit
New member sought
rebel · infantry · paramilitary · militant · warrior · cadet · enlistee · draftee · commando · trooper
- unfree laborersslave, chattel slave, bondsman, bondswoman, bondservant
- insurgentsinsurgent, guerrillas, guerrilla, rebel, resistance fighters
- victimsvictim, victims, casualty, survivors, fatality
- displaced childrenevacuee, unaccompanied minor
child soldieradult
Mature person, legally responsible
professional soldier · volunteer soldier · veteran · mercenary
child soldiernon-combatant
Person outside the fighting
civilian · schoolchild · refugee child · innocent bystander · student
child, soldier, children, childish, childlike, childhood, childless, childcare, soldiers