U.S. must get tough over child soldiers

Photos: Child soldiers around the world
Children sit with their rifles at a ceremony taking place in South Sudan on the issue of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of child soldiers. The process was overseen by UNICEF and partners in February 2015.
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Photos: Child soldiers around the world
An armed Yemeni youth sits amid the rubble in December 2014, guarding the damaged house of the Iranian ambassador in the capital Sanaa.
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Photos: Child soldiers around the world
A youngster in military uniform in the South Sudan Democratic Movement/Army in Jonglei state in March 2014. Despite the dominant image of these soldiers as young boys, it is estimated that globally as many as 40% are girls.
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Photos: Child soldiers around the world
A young rebel fighter holds a weapon at the entrance of a house in the Syrian city of Aleppo in March 2013.
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Photos: Child soldiers around the world
Child soldiers from the United Wa State Army (UWSA) in the so-called southern Wa State in Myanmar.
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Photos: Child soldiers around the world
A young fighter from the Al-Shabaab militia shows his wounded hand after battling Somali government forces in Mogadishu in July 2009.
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Photos: Child soldiers around the world
A young boy fighting for the Lord's Resistance Army stands guard in South Sudan as LRA leader Joseph Kony meets with the Southern Sudan vice president in July 2006.
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Photos: Child soldiers around the world
A Liberian militia child loyal to the government walks away from firing on rebel forces across a key bridge while another taunts them in Monrovia in 2003.
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Photos: Child soldiers around the world
A child soldier is helped by another militiaman as he puts on the traditional chief's hyena skins in an undisclosed location near Bunia in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2003.
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Photos: Child soldiers around the world
A Chadian child soldier stands in front of a machine gun at De Roux camp in Bangui, Central African Republic, in 2003.
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