Save the Children, an aid agency that focuses on helping children in poor and developing countries, has recently released a report showing some alarming numbers of increasing child military population in Central African Republic (CAR).
The report shows that the number of child soldiers in the African country has climbed up to 10,000, which is four times as big as the initial group which joined the civil war a couple of years ago.
According to the report by ABC Australia, the aid group entitled the report 'Caught in a Combat Zone', which describes how children are used by adults to take part in the war.
In the report, children are used as sex slaves, porters and domestic servants. Save the Children states that while there are some who voluntarily joined the war, others were 'forced at gunpoint'.
In an interview with Grâce à Dieu, a 15-year-old who joined a rebel group in 2012, which was included in the report, children were trained hard, and soldiers wanted them to be mean and unforgiving.
What's worse is that the adults often strayed behind during combats, leaving the youngsters in front.
"When we fought, it was us, the children, who were often sent to the frontline. Others stayed further behind."
Julie Bodin, protection manager of Save the Children for CAR, said, "Many of these children have been through things no adult, let alone a child, should have to go through."
"Further resources are urgently needed to rebuild these children's lives, and to re-establish and strengthen schools, which will help them thrive", Bodin added regarding the immediate help these children need in order to recover from the horrors of war.
Recruitment of children as soldiers in CAR is still on-going in spite efforts from the government and NGOs to keep them safe and away from the battlefield.