Philippine insurgents making soldiers of children, thanks to widespread alienation

(South China Morning Post) – Perhaps the most chilling images from the siege of Marawi, on the Philippine island of Mindanao, is of propaganda by the Maute group featuring children with guns. Child soldiering is not a new phenomenon in the Philippines. Like those previously recruited into the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), these child soldiers have affinities for the recruiting groups’ ideology and operations. Some were offered cash or access to marriageable women, while others followed or joined at the behest of older relatives. Coercion, though present, does not define their recruitment experience; most were enticed by the promise of a glamorous life beyond their social station.

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