The presence and involvement of children in armed forces or militia is among the most terrible things that happens in war. It is estimated that over 250,000 children are currently serving in armed groups in wars around the world. While human rights and children's oriented humanitarian organisations have been calling attention to the phenomenon, its effects are widespread, undercutting security and development efforts in many countries. The failure to effectively reintegrate children in post-conflict environments leads not only to their continued vulnerability but can undermine political efforts to implement a peace agreement. In a number of contexts, demobilized child soldiers have been be re-recruited by armed groups who seek to rekindle wars or have been trafficked to neighboring states to fight.

This is not a new issue, and many groups have been working to address the problem for quite some time. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of a large number of actors, significant successes have been few. Peacekeeping, military, humanitarian, human rights, intergovernmental, development, religious, and diplomatic actors, as well as members of the communities concerned, all have significant roles to play in the prevention of recruitment and disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration. Yet, they have largely worked independently and often find communication and collaboration difficult. This leads to missed opportunities and to an appearance of disorganisation that can fuel both child recruitment and conflict and may be counter-productive to peace efforts. However, given the impressive array of talents and capacities that are usually deployed to deal with conflict situations, it should, in principle, be possible to more effectively address issues of common concern regarding child soldiers through a determined effort to develop integrated, mutually reinforcing approaches.