Child soldiers in Sierra Leone

During the decade-long civil conflict in Sierra Leone the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), state forces and state-supported militias conscripted children for use in combat. Although the use of children in combat is not new to Sierra Leone, the use of children became widespread during the civil war.

The RUF, kidnapped and forced children to fight from when the civil conflict began, and up to eighty per cent of their numbers were aged from seven to fourteen and served in the Small Boys Unit. The state's armed forces, and the militia groups which supported them, also recruited children, which led to an estimated 10,000 children taking part in the conflict. According to Myriam Denov up to 30 per cent of the children in the RUF were girls. These girls were subject to rape, gang rape and other forms of sexual violence. The RUF used alcohol and hallucinogenic drugs on children during training, according to a former RUF commander: "We were very much aware of the effects of drugs on children. Drugs and alcohol were prevalent and served as [a] prerequisite for combat activities. Fighting with a gun is not an easy task because it puts so much pressure on the mind. So we needed to free the mind by taking drugs, and it worked."

The RUF were known for being exceptionally brutal; beheadings, maiming and mutilation of victims were commonplace. The group has been heavily criticised by human rights groups for their forced conscription of children to use as combatants, their sexual exploitation of children and using children for forced labour. These children were responsible for murders, rapes, sexual slavery, mutilations and other forms of human rights abuses.

Legal proceedings
According to legal scholar Sandesh Sivakumaran, the special court has provided needed clarification over the use of children in combat, and had identified certain actions which could be deemed as illegal with regards to the use of children in combat.

In 2007 the special court passed the first convictions for war crimes during the conflict. Three members of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) were found guilty of various human rights abuses, which included the recruitment of children for use in combat.