In today’s world, adolescents and children sometimes act as combatants who<br />directly participate in hostilities. Yet more often they are deployed as auxiliaries (for<br />example, as lookouts or messengers) or in various support roles (as gardening, road<br />maintenance, delivery of food, cleaning, cooking, conveying goods and providing<br />sexual services) (Boothby and Knudsen 2000). Finally, under certain circumstances,<br />adolescents and children may be used as human shields or for propaganda purposes<br />by government or opposition forces (Boyden and De Berry 2004:xii; United Nations<br />2002:13). Since the late 1970s, a number of international conventions have been<br />promulgated to limit the use of these young people, but children continue to be<br />deployed in parts of the world and overwhelmingly in sub-Saharan Africa. Estimates<br />as to their numbers vary. Human Rights Watch (2007), a human rights lobby,<br />estimates that there are between 200 000 and 300 000 such youngsters in armed<br />conflicts in over twenty countries.