Introduction: People generally associate war with long lines of men in uniform, armed with weapons, marching alongside tanks and other types of armored vehicles. The image of manslaughter, mass murder and death extends into the thoughts of families at home, waiting for their husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters to finally finish their tour and return home . However, what people commonly misunderstand is that there is a growing population of youth militias used in modern military guerrilla warfare. The United Nations defines a child soldier as “any person under the age of 18 who is part of any type of regular or irregular armed force or armed group [acting] in any capacity, including but not limited to cooks, porters, messengers and anyone accompanying such groups.” The current estimate is that there are currently 300,000 child soldiers worldwide. The use of child soldiers becomes particularly problematic when children are kidnapped or forced to join government, paramilitary, or rebel forces, as occurs in many third world and developing countries. Children are easy to recruit due to their vulnerability, but are often overlooked once the conflict ends or they leave the group. International groups have supported the rehabilitation of child soldiers, but children are often overlooked during official implementation. Definition of Key Terms: Child Soldier – Any person under the age of 18 who is part of any type of regular or irregular armed force or armed group [acting] in any capacity. Rehabilitation – the restoration of someone to a useful place in society .Conflict – open confrontation between two opposing groups (or individuals).Guerrilla – a member of a regular armed force fighting a stronger .... .. middle of paper ......d Trade in Boy Soldiers continued | Observatory for human rights. Np, nd Web. January 16, 2014. .• “Military Use of Children.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 15 January 2014. Web. 15 January 2014. .• "Recent developments in the international rehabilitation of child soldiers." International program for youth support. Np, nd Web. January 17, 2014. .• Smith, David. "Kony 2012 puts child soldiers back in the spotlight." Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 16 March 2012. Web. 16 January 2014. .• "WordNet Search - 3.1." WordNet Search - 3.1. Np, nd Web. January 17. 2014. .