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|b Children are recruited and used by armed forces, both government and opposition groups, all over the world, but the problem of children soldiers is severest in Africa. Children now fight all over the continent: in Uganda, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to the Paris Principles on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (2007), the concept of child soldier in international law refers to any person under 18 years of age who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to cooks, porters, messengers, and those accompanying such groups, other than pure family members. The concept includes girls recruited for sexual purposes or forced marriage; thus is obviously not confined to a child who carries or has carried arms. Recruiting and using children under the age of 15 as soldiers is prohibited under the treaties and custom of the international humanitarian law, and defined as a war crime by the International Criminal Court. The parties to a conflict that recruit and use children are listed by the Secretary-General in the annexes of his annual report on children and armed conflict. International organizations and academic sources estimate that there are up to 250,000 children soldiers in irregular and regular armed forces worldwide. In Africa, it is estimated that up to 120,000 children are currently used as combatants or support personnel, representing 40% of all child soldiers worldwide
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