Posts tagged Minimum ages

The Army’s training establishments are failing children

The British Army has quietly published the findings of its own inquiry into how its training establishments handle complaints of unacceptable behaviour. These findings cover the Army Foundation College (AFC) in Harrogate, where around 1,500 children aged 16 and 17 are in training at any one time. According to its report, AFC’s safeguarding policy was 'very poorly’ implemented, its oversight was ‘ineffective’ and the recommendations of two decades’ worth of previous inquiries had not been embedded.

Read, EnglishChild Rights International Network8 September 2026Military enlistment, Minimum ages, Armed conflictComment

Children in uniform: A decade of abuse at the Army Foundation College

Since 2014 British army trainees aged under 18 at the Army Foundation College (AFC) in Harrogate have suffered an ingrained culture of abuse by instructors, as well as endemic bullying among recruits themselves. CRIN’s new chronological report highlights every known account of abuse at AFC between 2014 and 2024 - drawing on official data, national media reports, court judgments and the testimonies of former recruits and their parents.

Read, EnglishChild Rights International Network15 November 2024Military enlistment, Minimum ages, Armed conflict Comments

British military: Adolescent veterans three times as likely to take their own lives

Our new report reveals that veterans aged 16-19 have been three times as likely as same-age civilians from socially deprived backgrounds to end their lives. We look at why early enlistment heightens risk of mental ill-health.

Read, EnglishDaniela Kazuko Muenzel31 August 2023Military enlistment, Minimum ages, Armed conflict

UN calls on UK to immediately halt discrimination of children in counter terrorism measures

Recognising the disproportionate impact of the UK government’s Prevent strategy on how Muslim children and children of Asian ethnicity are able to access their civil and political rights, the The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child have called for an immediate end to the targeting of specific groups of children by counter-terrorism measures.

Read, EnglishDaniela Kazuko Muenzel26 June 2023Military enlistment, Minimum ages, Armed conflictComment

Animated poem about the military recruitment of young people

A creative response fusing poetry, animation and sound, to encourage critical thinking about the military recruitment of young people in relation to human rights. Should the armed forces recruit children under the age of 18? You decide...

Watch, EnglishCharlotte Cooper24 June 2021Military enlistment, Minimum agesComment

Crisis management 101: treating the climate crisis like a pandemic

Yujin Kim, a member of Youth 4 Climate Action Korea, reflects on the need to treat the climate crisis as urgently as any pandemic, and include young people - who are the biggest stakeholders - in developing an equitable recovery and development policy.

Read, EnglishVictor Sande-Aneiros30 July 2020Civil and political rights, Environment, Minimum ages, A2J project Comments

Eliminating age discrimination from lockdown curfews

To contain the spread of Covid-19, most countries have introduced curfews for all citizens, but a number of them have only introduced them for certain age groups, including under-18s. Here we review the ethics of age-based curfews and their effectiveness in the fight against the pandemic.

Read, EnglishMaria Than10 June 2020Minimum ages, CovidComment

Philippines must not lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility

CRIN calls for the Philippines to abandon proposals to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility and instead focus on reforms that will effectively address crime.

Read, EnglishMaria Than24 January 2019Minimum agesComment

Réparer un tort politique — le droit de vote pour les enfants

Children enjoy a vast array of rights, but there’s one set that’s conspicuous by its absence: political rights. Best represented by the right to vote, political rights are a defining characteristic of any democracy, and one of their key purposes is to give voice to all citizens, including those who might otherwise not be heard.

Read, FrenchMaria Than31 August 2018Civil and political rights, Minimum ages, Right to voteComment

Righting a political wrong — children’s right to vote

Read, EnglishMaria Than31 August 2018Civil and political rights, Minimum ages, Right to voteComment

Discrimination overruled in Austria’s age of consent laws

An activist lawyer working to advance LGBT rights in Austria brought a series of cases to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to eliminate discriminatory differences in the age sexual of consent for gay and heterosexual couples. After more than a decade of litigation, the offending article of the Penal Code was repealed, paving the way for further advances for LGBT people’s rights in the country.

Read, EnglishMaria Than23 August 2018Minimum ages, LGBTI rightsComment

Read | Listen | Watch

Useful links

Connect