Children with Arms T-shirt
A salute to a peaceful future

(LIMITED STOCK)

What sort of world will we leave our kids? Will it be safer than what we've currently got? Stand up and be counted with this eye-catching statement on a top quality Fair Trade t-shirt. Organic cotton, blue.

According to the London-based Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers:

- As of 2005, as many as 60 countries continued to recruit children at the ages of 16 and 17 into peacetime armies. They included Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Canada, Cuba, India, Iran, Jordan, North Korea and the Netherlands.
-At least 10 governments continue to use children in armed conflict.
- In Africa up to 100,000 children, some as young as nine, were estimated to be involved in armed conflict in mid 2004.
-Most child soldiers are aged between 14 and 18. While many enlist 'voluntarily' research shows that such adolescents see few alternatives to involvement in armed conflict. Many girls have reported enlisting to escape domestic servitude, violence and sexual abuse.
-Forcible abductions, sometimes of large numbers of children, continue to occur in some countries. Children as young as nine have been abducted and used in combat.
-Demobilization, disarmament and reintegration (DDR) programs specifically aimed at child soldiers have been established in many countries. However, the programs lack funds and adequate resources. Sustained long-term investment is needed if they are to be effective.
-Despite growing recognition of girls' involvement in armed conflict, girls are often deliberately or inadvertently excluded from DDR programs. Girl soldiers are frequently subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence as well as being involved in combat and other roles.