Can you imagine your eight-year-old daughter engaged in battle with a gun? In wartime girls are drawn into violence in many ways. They can be forced from their homes, separated from their families and lose the chance of an education. They can be abducted by armed groups and forced to act as porters, camp domestics, combatants, spies and even soldiers' "wives". Of the estimated 300,000 child soldiers in the world today, approximately 100,000 are girls.

Let me tell you about a little girl from Sierra Leone named Hawa, whose story is highlighted in the second State Of The World's Girls report, which is released this week. Hawa was three when militia killed her parents. She was taken by the militia and at age eight was "married" to one of the leaders. One of the atrocities Hawa experienced occurred when some of the soldiers wanted Hawa to shoot a pregnant woman, to settle a bet over whether she was carrying a boy or a girl. For refusing, Hawa was herself shot and injured. The soldiers went on to shoot the woman to settle the bet. Hawa eventually escaped and is now getting herself through school. She is one of the lucky ones.

Even after war, recovery can be slow and painful. Boys usually gain preference in the recovering school system as girls are expected to care for younger siblings, marry or complete domestic chores. Some will even have their own children to look after, children conceived though sexual violence. These girls, and their children, will face discrimination and stigma in addition to the struggle to begin a post-conflict life.

Though preference is given to educating boys, countries which spend some time focusing on girls after the conflict are less likely to revert back to chaos and conflict. Girls can make the difference.

The particular vulnerability of girls to the brutality of conflict was brought to shocking life for me as a young aid worker in the Goma camp for Rwandan refugees. During the day, life was beyond difficult. A million people were squatting in filth on a barren rocky field. Trucks came each morning to take away the bodies, hundreds at a time. Amidst this scene strutted teenagers with surly looks, young members of the feared Hutu militias who had just participated in massacring by machete up to 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus.

I had heard it said "what happens here at night is worse". I tried to imagine how things could be worse. At nightfall we, the relief workers, would retire exhausted to base camps. Under cover of darkness the Hutu militias would then flex their muscle; redistributing food as they saw fit and satisfying their lust for power in sexual ways.

War is all about power and violence. It should not have surprised me that those who had just committed genocide would continue to abuse what little power they had left, and target those who were most vulnerable. There are women and girls around the world in similar situations.

On leaving for Rwanda a wise friend said to me: "You may be tempted to consider the Hutu militia demonic but when you look into the eyes of these young teenagers just remember that such potential for evil is in all of us." Given different conditions, these teens might have been aspiring students with an interest in football rather than violence.

Children do not start wars yet they are most vulnerable to its deadly effects. War violates every right a child has, the right to life, the right to be with family, the right to grow and develop their personality and the right to be nurtured and protected.

War exacerbates injustices. This is particularly so for girls. Girls frequently face discrimination, exclusion, control, and various levels of emotional and physical violence in times of peace.

Only by addressing these very deep-seated prejudices can we construct a world that is safe for girls in both peace and war. If we could deal with the underlying attitudes that make the world intolerable for girls, I am sure we would be a long way toward lasting peace.

Ian Wishart is the CEO of Plan International Australia. Plan's State Of The World's Girls report can be downloaded from www.plan.org.au