The situation for children caught in conflict remains “grave and entirely unacceptable” because 58 groups in 13 countries still recruit and use child soldiers, according to a senior U.N. official. Undersecretary-General Radhika Coomaraswamy told the U.N. Security Council this week that in addition to being pressed into service, children in several countries are also killed, maimed, abducted and raped and denied access to humanitarian groups. She cited a recent report from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict that named 58 groups in 13 countries “responsible for the recruitment and use of child soldiers.” The 13 countries where groups that recruit child soldiers operate are Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, Myanmar, Nepal, Somalia, Sudan, Chad, Colombia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Uganda, according to the report.
