Terrorism, it is often said, is the "weapon of the weak". Groups that cannot win in conventional war use un-conventional means to strike terror behind the battlelines. Increasingly, however, the truly "weak" of society, specifically children, have been pulled into terrorism as targets and participants. The "soft" security issue of children has become one of the grimmest aspects of the "hard" issue of terrorism.

Despite global consensus against sending children into battle, there are 300,000 children under 18 (boys and girls) serving as combatants in almost 75 per cent of the world's conflicts; in 80 per cent of these, there are child fighters under 15, and in 18 per cent, fighters of less than 12 years old. It is no surprise therefore that, as on the world's battlefields, children are increasingly present in terrorist groups. Children offer terrorist group leaders cheap and easy recruits who provide new options to strike at their foes.