Child Soldiering and its Implications for National Security in Liberia
Child Soldiering and its Implications for National Security in Liberia

Summary/Abstract: For fourteen years, Liberia was involved in a bloody civil war, in which the state and armed non-state actors made use of children as soldiers in combat operations. The overwhelming involvement of children in the armed struggles was presumed to be a negative trend that seriously undermined their personal productive capacity and the Liberian national security. This paper examined the use of children as soldiers in Liberia and its implications for the security of the country.The paper explored the causes of the Liberian civil war, the nexus between the war and child soldiering, the factors that aided the recruitment of children as soldiers and the physical and psychological effects of the war on the children. Findings from the study, which utilized data from secondary sources, were that the Liberian civil wars were caused by structural violence, perpetrated by indigenous rulers against their citizens for decades. Many children were forcefully or willfully recruited by the government and armed non-state actors to prosecute the war.

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