by Diana Quick

ChildFund Alliance, together with 23 other civil society organizations, wrote an open letter regarding the situation of children in Yemen to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, ahead of the publication of this year’s Children and Armed Conflict Annual Report.

Child Soldiers International traveled to Central African Republic in May - a country where over 14,000 children have been recruited by armed groups since 2012 - to launch new initiatives helping communities, government and local organisations end this devastating practice.

Efforts to improve support for returning girl soldiers in Democratic Republic of Congo accelerated in February as Child Soldiers International’s National Action Group held its first workshops in the country.

Made up of government representatives and local organisations in Eastern DRC, the National Action Group will work to improve acceptance of girls formerly associated with armed groups.

As an organisation, we believe it is crucial that the interests of the children and communities we work with come first.

Because of this, we refuse to publish identifiable images of the children involved in our projects. We have a responsibility to help those returning from conflict and sharing their images and stories online could well put them in danger.

Children were used to fight in at least 18 conflicts since 2016 - including as ‘human bombs’ - despite a global ban on the use of children in war, a database showed on Wednesday.

Child soldiers were used in Syria, Libya, Nigeria and Colombia - all of which have ratified a United Nations treaty outlawing the conscription of under 18s and their participation in hostilities, the campaign group behind the index said.