According to Human Rights Watch, more than 500,000 children under 18 have been recruited into state and non-state armed groups in over 85 countries worldwide. The recruitment and use of children for combat is outlawed by various measures of international human rights law, humanitarian law, labor law, and criminal law, however, a chasm exists between international law and its application. Filmed inside the war zone of northern Uganda over a period of three years, Children of War is a unique and incandescent documentary that captures the story of a group of former child soldiers as they undergo a process of emotional and spiritual healing while at the Rachele Rehabilitation Center in Lira, Uganda. With the help of a heroic group of trauma counselors, the children struggle to confront and break through years of brutal abuse, extreme religious ideology, and participation in war crimes. After the film, experts in the field of psychological trauma and rehabilitation in post-conflict settings facilitate a discussion of the role of mental health professionals in the process of rehabilitation for children and adolescents who have been exposed to armed conflict. 

Unrated