‘React first’: Canadian army issues guide to dealing with child soldiers

(The Guardian) – It is a distressing dilemma that has played out on battlefields around the world: how is a soldier to respond when a child points a gun at them? The Canadian military has become the first in the world to offer guidance to troops who confront child soldiers, in an attempt to help service personnel navigate an issue that can inflict deep psychological wounds. The document focuses on the complicated tangle of factors behind any encounter with child soldiers: while armed children can pose as much of a threat as adults, underage combatants are considered innocent victims under international law.

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