litical views.? #
             If it has happened once, it has already happened too many times. Too frequently are children killed or tormented in the streets by their local police officers, sometimes for no reason at all. In parts of the world, this may come as a shock to all, sometimes as young as six years old, children are forced to work under extremely harsh conditions, often as bonded laborers or forced prostitution. Even more shocking, children ages seven or eight years old are abducted or recruited to serve as soldiers in military forces. They are kept captive in inhumane settings, even put into cells with adults. If not bad enough, they are at times, brutalized by guards or not protected from assaults by the other, older inmates. According to Jo Becker, Children's Rights Advocacy Director of Human Rights Watch,Children are at risk of violence in nearly every aspect of their lives-in their schools, on the street, at work, in institutions, and in areas of armed conflict. They are beaten, tortured, sexually assaulted and murdered, often by the very individuals responsible for their care and safety.?
             Some examples of violence towards innocent children occur in Liberia, Congo, Israel, Burma, the Philippines, Rwanda, Sudan and El Salvador. In Liberia, over 15,000
             child soldiers fought on all sides of the Liberian civil war, and that most of the units were composed of children. Throughout 2003, thousands of children were deployed as combatants, to commit abuses against civilians, as sex slaves, forced laborers, messengers, informants and servants in continuing and newly erupting conflicts. Children were usually used to perform multiple roles, and girls in particular often acted as combatants as well as being sexually exploited. In the Congolese, their armed forces (FAC) continued having children in their ranks in spite of commitments to demobilization. Only 280 FAC child soldiers had been released by August 2003, o...