Child Vs. Child - the Employment of Child Soldiers in War

A damning reality of the condition of humanity could come to light any day now with child fighting child across the dividing line between Iraqi forces and militias against the Islamic State(IS) in the battle for Iraq's second largest city, Mosul.

As reported by the Associated Press(AP) earlier this morning, Iraqi militias are recruiting children from camps for civilians displaced by conflict to fight in an operation to retake Mosul from the IS.

With the IS already employing child fighters under the banner, "cubs of the caliphate", Human Rights Watch(HRW), according to the AP article, has cited testimony from witnesses and relatives confirming that at least two tribunals in the Kurdish region of Iraq, have recruited children from a camp south of Irbil and have driven the children closer to Mosul.

Human Rights Watch has said the children are intended to be used to reinforce front line positions against the IS in Nineveh province in the battle for Mosul, which the Iraqi government has promised to retake by the end of the year. Mosul is the last major urban territory held by the IS in Iraq.

"The (Iraqi) government and its foreign allies need to take action now, or children are going to be fighting on both sides in Mosul," declared Bill Van Esveld of Human Rights Watch. The utilization and any further employment of children in war speaks shamefully and damning of the condition of humanity in 2016.