Why Are Children In Some African Countries Sent To Fight In Wars and What Is the Minimum Age To Serve?

Unfortunately, is it true that children in some African countries are sent to fight in wars.

Children as young as seven or eight years old serve in the military in several African countries, and elsewhere in the world, including Sierra Leone, Uganda, Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The United Nations adopted the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, which sets 18 years as the minimum age for service in the armed forces.

Counties that ratify this convention are bound to it by international law, and compliance is monitored by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.