According to the US State Department report, Trafficking in Persons Report 2019, released by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on June 25, the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh continued to recruit and use children as young as 14 years in direct hostilities against the Indian Government, reports Hindustan Times. The report observed that Maoists were forcibly recruiting children to handle weapons and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), and in some cases be human shields. Also, several women and girls formerly associated with Maoist groups reported that sexual violence, including practices indicative of sexual slavery, was a practice in some Maoist camps, the report observed. Moreover, non-state Naxalite [Left Wing Extremist, LWE] groups continued to systematically recruit and use child soldiers, it further added. Earlier in 2017, the United Nations (UN), in its annual report, had said that it had received information that children were being recruited by Naxals in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.