Somalia fuels child slavery through the use of young soldiers

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Somalia fuels child slavery through the use of young soldiers

Thomas Reuters, 01 Dec 2014

URL: http://goo.gl/k2LB46
Child slavery comes in a multitude of forms, as I saw and heard at the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s Trust Women Conference, but it’s the thought of Somalia’s child soldiers that most haunts me.

Growing up in violent and conflict-ravaged Somalia – a country that’s yet to find a solution to a 23-year-long civil war – the sight of children toting guns was part of my everyday life.

On my way to school in Mogadishu every morning, I would pass other children standing or sitting with loaded, fully automatic Soviet-made AK-47s – and I’d see them on my way home too.