Ending the military use of children

Introduction

Thanks to more than five decades of work, today most children worldwide are safeguarded against the many harms that premature military recruitment can bring. In three-quarters of countries, the armed forces now only enlist adults from age 18. This emerging global norm has also helped to reduce the use of children by armed groups.

A worldwide ban on the military recruitment of children has come within reach, but still requires effort. Many states, including some of the most powerful, continue to rely on adolescent children to fill the ranks, and many armed groups still use children in hostilities.

The consequences for recruited children typically include:

• A high risk of mental health problems and lasting physical injury.

• Frequent experiences of bullying, harassment, discrimination, physical abuse and sexual exploitation, particularly of girls and recruits of minority status.

• The removal of basic human rights including, often, the freedom to leave military service.

• A process of coercive psychological conditioning and resocialization with lasting effects.

See, for example, our evidence on the impact of the recruitment of adolescent children in the UK.

The world map below shows which states now allow only adults to be enlisted (green), which enlist children (red and pink), and which are known to have used children in armed conflict in 2022 (purple).

Why is this work needed?

At the United Nations in Geneva, the Committee on the Rights of the Child assesses all governments, one by one, on how effectively they abide by international law on children’s rights. In recent years, the Committee has lacked the information it needs to do this in respect of the military use of children.

We provide the Committee with the evidence it needs to press each government to end the military recruitment, training, and use of children. Since we began this work in autumn 2023, the recommendations issued to governments concerning children in the military have grown stronger. Governments that still allow child recruitment have struggled to justify the practice when they report to the Committee.

We believe that many states enlist children not because they need to, but for historical reasons. The Committee’s recommendations alone may be enough to persuade these governments to join most of the rest of the world by making the transition to all-adult armed forces.

We also have a dedicated campaign on this issue in the UK, which still enlists adolescent children from age 16 in large numbers. In the British army, more new soldiers are 16 than any other age.

How the process works

Every five years, each of the 196 states that are parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) must report to the Committee on how well children are able to enjoy their rights in practice.

Most states are also bound by a special extension to the convention concerning children and armed conflict specifically, which has a long title commonly shortened to ‘OPAC’. For example, OPAC forbids the compulsory recruitment of children, and requires all states that enlist children to do so only after obtaining fully informed consent from them and their parents or guardians.

The evidence we provide to the Committee is based on these and other legal duties set out in OPAC. We draw on official, academic, and online sources to make written submissions, which we then follow up by giving evidence in person, in Geneva, making recommendations.

The Committee then uses our evidence and recommendations to inform their conclusions on each state that reports to it. For example, the information we provided on the enlistment of adolescent children by the UK led to this story in the Times.

For this work, CRIN collaborates with Conscience and Peace Tax International, which brings expertise in UN systems and on the right of conscientious objection to military service in particular.

Below, you can read our joint technical reports to the committee so far.

CRIN’s technical reports on children and the military for the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

Georgia

Evidence covers de facto military recruitment of older children through military education institutions and full military training in military schools for younger children. (December 2023)

Outcome: pending.

Guatemala

Evidence covers the need to criminalise child recruitment, which is ongoing by armed groups, serious maltreatment in state-run military schools, and child sexual abuse by Guatemala's peacekeeping troops. (December 2023)

Outcome: pending.

Paraguay

Evidence covers illicit child recruitment by the state armed forces, militarisation and maltreatment of children at military schools, and alleged  child sexual abuse by Paraguay's peacekeeping troops. (December 2023)

Outcome: pending.

Russia

Evidence covers de-facto child recruitment through military schools, child-inappropriate procedures for claiming the right of conscientious objection to military service, compulsory military training in civilian schools, the forced relocation of Ukrainian children, and other issues. (December 2023)

Outcome: The Committee recommended that Russia stop classifying children in military education institutions as members of the armed forces subject to military law and discipline, stop training children in military schools for military service, criminalise all the military recruitment and use of children by state institutions and non-state groups, and identify and support children entering the country who have been used in hostilities abroad. The Committee also issued a wide range of recommendations concerning the impact of the war in Ukraine on children, including the transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia, arbitrary detention of children, the use of children in hostilities, and widespread serious harm caused by indiscriminate battlefield tactics. (February 2024)

Senegal

Evidence covers military schools, specifically the militarisation of children from age 11, binding contracts of follow-on service, and punitive preconditions on the right to leave. (December 2023)

Outcome: The Committee recommended that Senegal improve the verification of the age of potential armed forces recruits and criminalise child recruitment and use in case it occurs. It also recommended that Senegal reform its military schools, so that the curricula are designed by the Ministry of Education rather than by the armed forces, children are not trained in the use of weapons and are free to leave without restrictions, and students’ contact information is no longer posted publicly online. The Committee also called on Senegal to identify and support children entering the country who have been used in hostilities abroad. (February 2024)

Armenia

Evidence on the widespread 'pre-military training' of children in the education system, the classification of adolescent children in certain military schools as full members of the armed forces, needed law reforms to ensure that children cannot be recruited and deployed, and the need to clarify the process for applying for a conscientious objection. (October 2023)

Outcome: pending.

Honduras

Evidence on deficient reporting by Honduras on its military's relationship to children, on needed law reforms to ensure that children cannot be recruited, on the military training of some children, and on a large programme of military indoctrination of children from age seven. (October 2023)

Outcome: pending.

Mexico

Evidence on the subjection of children in military schools to military law, discipline, and contracts of later service, and on welcome recent law reforms aimed at raising the minimum age of formal military recruitment to 18. (October 2023)

Outcome: pending.

Turkmenistan

Evidence on Turkmenistan's deficient reporting on its military's relationship to children, the classification of adolescent children in a military school as full members of the armed forces, and large numbers of younger children in other military schools drawing on economically deprived areas. (October 2023)

Outcome: pending.

Dominican Republic

Evidence on the policy of enlistment from age 16, substandard consent safeguards, failure to report in full on its military policies as required by law, and the apparent lack of prohibition on the use of children in hostilities. (August 2023)

Outcome: The Committee urged the Dominican Republic to submit its initial report under OPAC, which is overdue, so that appropriate recommendations may be made. (October 2023)

Kyrgyzstan

Evidence on the classification of child students in military schools as members of the armed forces subject to military law, military training of children from age 14, and compulsory military training in civilian secondary schools. (August 2023)

Outcome: The Committee recommended that Kyrgyzstan guarantee in law that no person under the age of 18 may be deployed on military operations, ensure that children who enrol in military education institutions schools, and their parents or guardians, are fully informed of the hazards and obligations of military service beforehand and give consent, remove military training from civilian schools, and include human rights and peace education in the curriculum. The Committee also called on Kyrgyzstan to identify and support children entering the country who have been used in hostilities abroad. (September 2023)

Togo

Evidence on child recruitment by financial coercion, weapons training at military schools, and the possible classification of students at military schools as members of the armed forces. (August 2023)

Outcome: The Committee recommended that birth certificates verifying age are always required prior to military recruitment, prevent the recruitment of children by armed groups operating in neighbouring countries and identify children at risk, particularly children separated from their families, formally criminalise the military recruitment of children, and end all restrictions on children’s right to leave military schools at will. The Committee also called on Togo to identify and support children entering the country who may have been used in hostilities abroad. (September 2023)

Bahrain

Evidence on Bahrain's policies on military recruitment and raised queries about the state’s possible use of military schools and military youth organisations. (June 2023) 

Outcome: pending.

Egypt

Evidence on the military recruitment of adolescent children, substandard consent safeguards, and wide use of military schools. (June 2023)
Outcome: pending.

United Kingdom

Evidence on extensive child recruitment from age 16; physical, psychological, and sexual abuse of child recruits in training; onerous legal obligations including age-discriminatory regulations; harm to mental health; and deficient consent safeguards, as well as evidence of a harmful impact on children of Prevent counter-terror practices. (December 2022)

Outcome: The Committee recommended that the UK rule out sending child recruits to war in all circumstances, raise the age of enlistment to 18, end military marketing aimed at children, particularly those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, strengthen the weak safeguards on parental consent to enlistment, end the situation by which enlisted children can be made to serve for longer than enlisted adults, allow enlisted children the right to leave at will, investigate the many allegations of physical and sexual abuse of child recruits in the armed forces, and address the heavy mental health burden among child recruits. The Committee also recommended that the UK identify all asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children who may have been used in armed conflicts abroad, and to end the export of arms to countries in which children are used in hostilities. (May 2023)

Further outcome: In response to the Committee's recommendations, another UN treaty body, the Human Rights Committee, also called on the UK to raise the minimum age for military recruitment to 18 and to end the marketing of military jobs to children. (March 2024)

Bolivia

Evidence on deficient reporting to the CRC, compulsory recruitment of adolescent children from age 17 (without a right of conscientious objection) and enlistment from age 16. (August 2022)

Outcome: The Committee urged Bolivia to submit its initial report under OPAC, which is overdue, so that appropriate recommendations may be made. (March 2023)

Germany

Evidence on the extensive military recruitment of adolescent children aged 17, binding contractual obligations imposed on child recruits, and evidence of abuse. (August 2022)

Outcome: The Committee recommended that Germany raise the minimum age for military enlistment from 17 to 18, stop marketing military careers to children, and investigate allegations of sexual abuse of child recruits. The Committee also called on Germany to identify asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children who may have been involved in armed conflicts abroad, repatriate children from camps in Syria, and end the export of arms to countries where children are used in hostilities. (October 2022)

New Zealand

Brief evidence on the military recruitment of adolescent children aged 17. (June 2022)

Technical reports submitted to the UN Human Rights Council 

Cyprus

Evidence on compulsory military recruitment of adolescent children aged 17, obstruction of the right to conscientious objection, and the reserved right of Cyprus to send children to war. (October 2023)

New Zealand

Evidence on military recruitment from age 17, abuse of recruits, and extensive military activities in communities for younger children including elements of military training and firearms practice. (October 2023)

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