Ishmael Beah, speaking at the Paris conference on child soldiers in February, was abducted into a rebel group in Sierra Leone at age 13. He said that killing is "as easy as drinking a glass of water."

According to the U.N., between 250,000 and 300,000 children are in combat throughout the world, primarily in Africa but also in Colombia, Burma, Nepal and Lebanon.

Except those forcing children to fight in violent wars, one can fairly assume no one wants child soldiers doing the work they do. Yet, most often, people hear these stories, feel remorse and continue with their days. Rarely do people question the world's most disturbing and violent acts.

Why do child soldiers exist? What conditions have created such a vile and unfortunate reality? Why is so little being done about it? The more questions you ask, the more depressing it gets and the greater the need for action.

A child soldier from Burma interviewed by Human Rights Watch summarizes the difficult circumstances he confronted when he said, "If you don't follow orders, that means you are against your country . . . If ordered to kill a baby and I don't, I'll be sentenced to death and someone else would still kill the baby. So I would kill the baby."

In their world, their only choice is to kill or be killed. Many children are given this "choice" to enter militias. The BBC reported that Ndungutsa, a boy from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, joined a militia after his brother was shot in the head for refusing.

In other cases, children join armies and militias because they provide food, shelter, clothing, money and status, even if it's meager. Others join to avenge the deaths of family members.

Boys aren't the only victims; young girls are also abducted to fight, taken as sex slaves or married off to officers.

Beyond those children recruited in wars, many more young boys and girls participate in organized crime in slums around the world.

Like the young boy "soldiers" in City of God, set in Rio de Janeiro, children worldwide work, steal and fight for warlords and drug dealers. Ricardo, part of Rio's drug wars, killed a man for the first time at age 11. He snorts coke, carries guns, kills traitors and tortures, according to news agency Der Spiegel. Throughout Latin America and Asia, youth gangs fight to the death in slums.

The permanent psychological impact of a soldier's life prevents him or her from leaving the plight. These children use AK-47s, drink alcohol, steal, murder, rape and participate in unimaginable violence.

As Beah explained at the Paris conference, children become mercenaries after working in a militia because "they know how to use a gun. And there is a conflict next door offering $100 a day and all-you-can-loot, and they will go back to that."

In a purely economic sense, mercenary skills offer a job during times of extreme poverty and high rates of unemployment. This not only perpetuates conflict, but also creates an entire generation of children who know nothing but war. They become isolated from the world and cannot succeed in anything but violence. Many are illiterate, hardened and mentally unstable. There is no way that positive change can occur amid mercenaries and bloody wars.

Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. The first steps toward helping these children is rehabilitation, education, counseling and better job options. Such opportunities, however, are under-funded and often non-existent. The real solution, which is improved social situations in these countries, is a distant ideal.

When 10-year-old boys tote AK-47's, and rape and murder, it's shameful not to ask questions and take action. Feeling sorry for these children and going on with one's day changes nothing.

As Albert Einstein said, "The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."

Reach columnist Brooke McKean at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu.