Editing Children in the military

{{Short description|Conscription of children in warfare}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
[[File:Child-soldier-afrika.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''Child Soldier in the Ivory Coast'', [[Gilbert G. Groud]], 2007]]{{Child soldiers}}
{{History of war|personnel}}
{{Slavery|Contemporary}}

'''Children in the military''', including state [[Military|armed forces]], [[Violent non-state actor|non-state armed groups]], and other military organizations, may be trained for combat, assigned to support roles, such as cooks, porters/couriers, or messengers, or used for tactical advantage such as for [[human shield]]s, or for political advantage in propaganda.<ref name="Children at war">{{Cite news|url=http://www.historyextra.com/podcast/children-war|title=Children at war|work=History Extra|access-date=7 December 2017|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180112002342/http://www.historyextra.com/podcast/children-war|archive-date=12 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="UNICEF-2007">{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicef.org/emerg/files/ParisPrinciples310107English.pdf|title=The Paris Principles: Principles and guidelines on children associated with armed forces or armed groups|last=UNICEF|year=2007|access-date=24 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161030083755/http://www.unicef.org/emerg/files/ParisPrinciples310107English.pdf|archive-date=30 October 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Children (defined by the [[Convention on the Rights of the Child]] as people under the age of 18) have been recruited for participation in military operations and campaigns throughout history and in many cultures.<ref name="Wessells">{{cite journal|last1=Wessels|first1=Michael|title=Child Soldiers|journal=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists|year=1997|volume=53|issue=4|page=32|doi=10.1080/00963402.1997.11456787|bibcode=1997BuAtS..53f..32W}}</ref>

Children are targeted for their susceptibility to influence, which renders them easier to recruit and control.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite journal |last1=Beber |last2=Blattman |first1=Bernd |first2=Christopher |year=2013 |title=The Logic of Child Soldiering and Coercion |journal=International Organization |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=65–104 |doi=10.1017/s0020818312000409 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Grossman-2009">{{Cite book |last=Dave. |first=Grossman |title=On killing: the psychological cost of learning to kill in war and society |date=2009 |publisher=Little, Brown and Co |isbn=9780316040938 |edition=revised |location=New York |oclc=427757599}}</ref><ref name="Wessells" /><ref name="McGurk-2006">{{Cite book |author1-last=McGurk |author1-first=Dennis |title=Military life: The psychology of serving in peace and combat |author2-last=Cotting |author2-first=Dave I. |author3-last=Britt |author3-first=Thomas W. |author4-last=Adler |author4-first=Amy B. |publisher=Praeger Security International |year=2006 |isbn=978-0275983024 |editor1-last=Adler |editor1-first=Amy B. |volume=2: Operational stress |location=Westport |pages=13–31 |chapter=Joining the ranks: The role of indoctrination in transforming civilians to service members |editor2-last=Castro |editor2-first=Carl Andrew |editor3-last=Britt |editor3-first=Thomas W.}}</ref> While some are recruited by force, others choose to join up, often to escape poverty or because they expect military life to offer a [[rite of passage]] to maturity.<ref name="Wessells" /><ref name="Brett-2004">{{Cite book |last1=Brett |first1=Rachel |url=https://archive.org/details/youngsoldierswhy0000bret |title=Young soldiers: why they choose to fight |last2=Specht |first2=Irma |publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers |year=2004 |isbn=9781588262615 |location=Boulder, Colorado |oclc=53830868 |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="Gee-2016">{{Cite journal |last1=Gee |first1=David |last2=Taylor |first2=Rachel |date=1 November 2016 |title=Is it Counterproductive to Enlist Minors into the Army? |journal=The RUSI Journal |volume=161 |issue=6 |pages=36–48 |doi=10.1080/03071847.2016.1265837 |issn=0307-1847 |s2cid=157986637}}</ref><ref name="Child Soldiers-2008b">{{Cite web|url=https://www.child-soldiers.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=26c0549d-aa35-4f1a-8e34-5956f8e2ec51|title=Child Soldiers Global Report 2008|last=Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers|year=2008|access-date=16 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010192928/https://www.child-soldiers.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=26c0549d-aa35-4f1a-8e34-5956f8e2ec51|archive-date=10 October 2018|url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref name="Machel-1996" />

Child soldiers who survive armed conflict frequently develop psychiatric illness, poor [[literacy]] and [[numeracy]], and behavioral problems such as heightened [[aggression]], which together lead to an increased risk of unemployment and poverty in adulthood.<ref name="Boothby, N-2010" /> Research in the [[United Kingdom]] has found that the enlistment and training of [[Adolescence|adolescent]] children, even when they are not sent to war, is often accompanied by a higher risk of [[suicide]],<ref name="Ursano-2016">{{Cite journal |last1=Ursano |first1=Robert J. |last2=Kessler |first2=Ronald C. |last3=Stein |first3=Murray B. |last4=Naifeh |first4=James A. |last5=Aliaga |first5=Pablo A. |last6=Fullerton |first6=Carol S. |last7=Wynn |first7=Gary H. |last8=Vegella |first8=Patti L. |last9=Ng |first9=Tsz Hin Hinz |date=1 July 2016 |title=Risk Factors, Methods, and Timing of Suicide Attempts Among US Army Soldiers |journal=JAMA Psychiatry |language=en |volume=73 |issue=7 |pages=741–749 |doi=10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.0600 |issn=2168-622X |pmc=4937827 |pmid=27224848}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-armed-forces-suicide-and-open-verdict-deaths-2017|title=UK armed forces suicide and open verdict deaths: 1984–2017|last=UK Ministry of Defence|website=GOV.UK|date=27 March 2018|access-date=7 September 2024}}</ref> [[Stress-related disorders|stress-related mental disorders]],<ref name="Goodwin-2015">{{Cite journal |last1=Goodwin |first1=L. |last2=Wessely |first2=S. |last3=Hotopf |first3=M. |last4=Jones |first4=M. |last5=Greenberg |first5=N. |last6=Rona |first6=R. J. |last7=Hull |first7=L. |last8=Fear |first8=N. T. |year=2015 |title=Are common mental disorders more prevalent in the UK serving military compared to the general working population? |journal=Psychological Medicine |language=en |volume=45 |issue=9 |pages=1881–1891 |doi=10.1017/s0033291714002980 |issn=0033-2917 |pmid=25602942 |s2cid=3026974}}</ref><ref name="Martin-2006">{{Cite journal |last1=Martin |first1=Pamela Davis |last2=Williamson |first2=Donald A. |last3=Alfonso |first3=Anthony J. |last4=Ryan |first4=Donna H. |date=February 2006 |title=Psychological adjustment during Army basic training |journal=Military Medicine |volume=171 |issue=2 |pages=157–160 |doi=10.7205/milmed.171.2.157 |issn=0026-4075 |pmid=16578988 |doi-access=free}}</ref> [[alcohol abuse]],<ref name="Head-2016">{{Cite journal |last1=Head |first1=M. |last2=Goodwin |first2=L. |last3=Debell |first3=F. |last4=Greenberg |first4=N. |last5=Wessely |first5=S. |last6=Fear |first6=N. T. |date=1 August 2016 |title=Post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol misuse: comorbidity in UK military personnel |journal=Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology |language=en |volume=51 |issue=8 |pages=1171–1180 |doi=10.1007/s00127-016-1177-8 |issn=0933-7954 |pmc=4977328 |pmid=26864534}}</ref><ref name="Mattiko-2011">{{Cite journal |last1=Mattiko |first1=Mark J. |last2=Olmsted |first2=Kristine L. Rae |last3=Brown |first3=Janice M. |last4=Bray |first4=Robert M. |year=2011 |title=Alcohol use and negative consequences among active duty military personnel |journal=Addictive Behaviors |volume=36 |issue=6 |pages=608–614 |doi=10.1016/j.addbeh.2011.01.023 |pmid=21376475}}</ref> and violent behavior.<ref name="MacManus-2013">{{Cite journal |last1=MacManus |first1=Deirdre |last2=Dean |first2=Kimberlie |last3=Jones |first3=Margaret |last4=Rona |first4=Roberto J. |last5=Greenberg |first5=Neil |last6=Hull |first6=Lisa |last7=Fahy |first7=Tom |last8=Wessely |first8=Simon |last9=Fear |first9=Nicola T. |year=2013 |title=Violent offending by UK military personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan: a data linkage cohort study |journal=The Lancet |volume=381 |issue=9870 |pages=907–917 |doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(13)60354-2 |pmid=23499041 |s2cid=606331|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Bouffard-2005">{{Cite journal |last=Bouffard |first=L. A. |year=2005 |title=The Military as a Bridging Environment in Criminal Careers: Differential Outcomes of the Military Experience |journal=Armed Forces & Society |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=273–295 |doi=10.1177/0095327x0503100206 |s2cid=144559516}}</ref><ref name="Merrill-2005">{{Cite journal |last1=Merrill |first1=Lex L. |last2=Crouch |first2=Julie L. |last3=Thomsen |first3=Cynthia J. |last4=Guimond |first4=Jennifer |last5=Milner |first5=Joel S. |date=August 2005 |title=Perpetration of severe intimate partner violence: premilitary and second year of service rates |journal=Military Medicine |volume=170 |issue=8 |pages=705–709 |doi=10.7205/milmed.170.8.705 |issn=0026-4075 |pmid=16173214 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Since the 1960s, a number of treaties have successfully reduced the recruitment and use of children worldwide.<ref name="CSI-2017a" /> Nonetheless, around a quarter of armed forces worldwide, particularly those of [[Third World|third-world nations]], still train adolescent children for military service,<ref name="CSI-2012" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Child Soldiers World Index |url=https://dallaireinstitute.org/child-soldiers-world-index/ |access-date=2022-08-19 |website=Dallaire Institute |language=en-US |archive-date=19 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819124901/https://dallaireinstitute.org/child-soldiers-world-index/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Child Soldiers International |date=2018 |title=Why 18 Matters: A rights-based analysis of child recruitment |url=https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/why-18-matters-rights-based-analysis-child-recruitment/ |access-date=2022-08-19 |website=Save the Children Resource Centre |language=en}}</ref> while elsewhere, the use of children in armed conflict and insurgencies has increased in recent years.<ref name="CSI-2012">{{Cite web|url=https://www.child-soldiers.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=da92581e-7130-40e6-bf3a-a86b944f17dd|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308184421/https://www.child-soldiers.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=da92581e-7130-40e6-bf3a-a86b944f17dd|url-status=usurped|archive-date=8 March 2019|title=Louder than words: An agenda for action to end state use of child soldiers|last=Child Soldiers International|year=2012|access-date=19 January 2018}}</ref><ref name="CSI-2016">{{Cite web|url=https://www.child-soldiers.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=38e90749-3a76-4441-82dc-bd49f1217599|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308184421/https://www.child-soldiers.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=38e90749-3a76-4441-82dc-bd49f1217599|url-status=usurped|archive-date=8 March 2019|title=A law unto themselves? Confronting the recruitment of children by armed groups|last=Child Soldiers International|year=2016|access-date=19 January 2018}}</ref><ref name="UN SecGen-2017b" />

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==History==
{{Main|History of children in the military}}
History is filled with children who have been trained and used for fighting, assigned to support roles such as porters or messengers, used as [[Sexual slavery|sex slaves]], or recruited for tactical advantage as [[human shield]]s or for political advantage in propaganda.<ref name="UNICEF-2007" /><ref name="Children at war"/><ref name="Womennewsnetwork-2009">{{cite web|url=http://womennewsnetwork.net/2009/01/13/ugandagirlsoldier809/|title=Girl Soldiers – The cost of survival in Northern Uganda, Women News Network – WNN|work=Woman News Network (WNN) |date=13 January 2009|publisher=Womennewsnetwork.net|access-date=12 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523212431/http://womennewsnetwork.net/2009/01/13/ugandagirlsoldier809/|archive-date=23 May 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1813 and 1814, for example, [[Napoleon]] conscripted many young French teenagers for his armies.<ref>Michael Leggiere, The Fall of Napoleon: The Allied Invasion of France 1813–1814, pg.99–100</ref> Thousands of children participated on all sides of the First and Second World Wars.<ref name="BBC News">{{cite web|title=How did Britain let 250000 underage soldiers fight in WW1?|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zcvdhyc|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180321184716/http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zcvdhyc|archive-date=21 March 2018|access-date=22 January 2016|work=BBC News}}</ref><ref name="Davies-2004">[[Norman Davies]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=Jzxt9FFBDPwC&pg=PA603 ''Rising '44: The Battle for Warsaw,''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206143118/https://books.google.com/books?id=Jzxt9FFBDPwC&pg=PA603|date=6 February 2016}} Pan Books 2004 p.603</ref><ref name="Rosen2005">{{cite book|author=David M. Rosen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zQYQ0tho6mAC&pg=PA55|title=Armies of the Young: Child Soldiers in War and Terrorism|date=January 2005|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-3568-5|pages=54–55|quote=The participation of Jewish children and youth in warfare was driven by a combination of necessity, honor, and moral duty.|access-date=3 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206143118/https://books.google.com/books?id=zQYQ0tho6mAC&pg=PA55|archive-date=6 February 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Kucherenko2011">{{cite book|last=Kucherenko|first=Olga|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=92R8Pmr6xoAC&pg=PR3-IA96|title=Little Soldiers: How Soviet Children Went to War, 1941–1945|date=13 January 2011|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-161099-8|page=3|access-date=3 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206143118/https://books.google.com/books?id=92R8Pmr6xoAC&pg=PR3-IA96|archive-date=6 February 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Children continued to be used throughout the 20th and early 21st century on every continent, with concentrations in parts of Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East.<ref name="CSGR2004-292" /> Only since the [[2nd millennium|turn of the millennium]] have international efforts begun to limit and reduce the military use of children.<ref name="Machel-1996" /><ref name="Becker-2013" />

==Current situation==

=== State armed forces ===
The adoption in 2000 of the [[Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict]] (OPAC) committed states who ratified it to "take all feasible measures" to ensure that no child takes a direct part in hostilities and to cease recruitment below the age of 16.<ref name="CSI-2017b" /> As most states have now opted into OPAC, the global trend has been towards reserving military recruitment to adulthood, known as the ''Straight-18'' standard.<ref name="CSI-2017a" /><ref name="CSI-2017b">{{Cite news|url=https://www.child-soldiers.org/international-laws-and-child-rights|title=International laws and child rights|last=Child Soldiers International|year=2017|access-date=25 January 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180202005301/https://www.child-soldiers.org/international-laws-and-child-rights|archive-date=2 February 2018|url-status=usurped}}</ref>

Nonetheless, {{As of|2018|lc=y}}, children aged under 18 were still being recruited and trained for military purposes in 46 countries.<ref name="CSI-2018a">{{Cite web|url=http://childsoldiersworldindex.org/|title=Child Soldiers World Index|last=Child Soldiers International|year=2018|website=childsoldiersworldindex.org|language=en|access-date=29 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329153356/http://childsoldiersworldindex.org/|archive-date=29 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Most of these states recruit from age 17, fewer than 20 recruit from age 16, and an unknown, smaller number, recruit younger children.<ref name="CSI-2017a">{{Cite news|url=https://www.child-soldiers.org/where-are-there-child-soldiers|title=Where are child soldiers?|last=Child Soldiers International|year=2017|access-date=25 January 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180201210707/https://www.child-soldiers.org/where-are-there-child-soldiers|archive-date=1 February 2018|url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref name="CSI-2012" /><ref name="UN SecGen-2017">{{Cite web|url=http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2017/821&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC|title=Report of the Secretary-General: Children and armed conflict, 2017|last=United Nations Secretary-General|year=2017|publisher=United Nations|page=41|access-date=24 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125015450/http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S%2F2017%2F821&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC|archive-date=25 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{As of|2022}}, the United Nations (UN) verified that nine state armed forces were using children in hostilities: [[Child soldiers in the Central African Republic|Central African Republic]], [[Child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo|Democratic Republic of the Congo]], [[Mali]], [[Child soldiers in Somalia|Somalia]], and [[South Sudan]] in Africa; Palestine, [[Syria]] and [[Yemen]] in Western Asia; [[Afghanistan]] in Central Asia; and [[Myanmar]] in South East Asia.<ref name="UN SecGen-2022" />

The United Nations (UN) [[Committee on the Rights of the Child]] and others have called for an end to the recruitment of children by state armed forces, arguing that [[Recruit training|military training]], the military environment, and a binding contract of service are not compatible with children's rights and jeopardize healthy development.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC/C/GC/20&Lang=en|title=General comment No. 20 (2016) on the implementation of the rights of the child during adolescence|last=Committee on the Rights of the Child|year=2016|website=tbinternet.ohchr.org|language=en-us|access-date=25 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926052204/https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC%2FC%2FGC%2F20&Lang=en|archive-date=26 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="CSI-2012" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://downloads.unicef.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/UnicefChildSoldiersbriefing_UKweb.pdf?_ga=2.190210859.1420289747.1516916352-952164330.1516916352|title=Ending the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict|last=UNICEF|year=2017|access-date=25 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926014225/https://downloads.unicef.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/UnicefChildSoldiersbriefing_UKweb.pdf?_ga=2.190210859.1420289747.1516916352-952164330.1516916352|archive-date=26 September 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="UN">{{Cite web|url=https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/children-not-soldiers/|title=Children, Not Soldiers {{!}} United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict|publisher=United Nations|language=en-US|access-date=25 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119171732/https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/children-not-soldiers/|archive-date=19 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Non-state armed groups ===
These include [[Violent non-state actor|non-state armed]] paramilitary organisations such as [[militia]]s, [[insurgent]]s, [[terrorist organization]]s, [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla movements]], armed [[liberation movement]]s, and other types of [[quasi-military]] organisation.

{{As of|2022}}, the UN identified 12 countries where children were widely used by such groups: [[Colombia]] in South America; [[Child soldiers in the Central African Republic|Central African Republic]], [[Child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo|Democratic Republic of the Congo]], [[Mali]], [[Child soldiers in Somalia|Somalia]], [[South Sudan]], and [[Sudan]] in Africa; [[Lebanon]] and Palestine in the Middle East; [[Syria]] and [[Yemen]] in Western Asia; [[Afghanistan]] in Central Asia; and [[Myanmar]] in South East Asia.<ref name="UN SecGen-2022">{{Cite web |last=UN Secretary-General |date=23 June 2022 |title=Children and armed conflict: Report of the Secretary-General |url=https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N22/344/71/PDF/N2234471.pdf |access-date=20 August 2022 |website=United Nations}}</ref>

Not all armed groups use children and approximately 60 have entered agreements to reduce or end the practice since 1999.<ref name="CSI-2016" /> For example, by 2017, the [[Moro Islamic Liberation Front]] (MILF) in the [[Philippines]] had released nearly 2,000 children from its ranks,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicef.org/philippines/media_27217.html|title=UN Officials congratulate MILF for completion of disengagement of children from its ranks|last=UNICEF|date=4 December 2017|website=unicef.org|access-date=25 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180117182557/https://www.unicef.org/philippines/media_27217.html|archive-date=17 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> and in 2016, the [[Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia|FARC-EP]] [[guerrilla movement]] in Colombia agreed to stop recruiting children.<ref name="UN SecGen-2017b" /> Other countries have seen the reverse trend, particularly [[Afghanistan]] and [[Syria]], where [[Islamism|Islamist]] militants and groups opposing them have intensified their recruitment, training, and use of children.<ref name="UN SecGen-2017b">{{Cite web|url=http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2017/821&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC|title=Report of the Secretary-General: Children and armed conflict, 2017|last=United Nations Secretary-General|year=2017|publisher=United Nations|access-date=24 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125015450/http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S%2F2017%2F821&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC|archive-date=25 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Global estimates ===
In 2003, one estimate calculated that child soldiers participated in about three-quarters of ongoing conflicts.<ref name="saddam">{{cite web|url=http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2003/0114iraq_singer.aspx|title=Facing Saddam's Child Soldiers|first=P. W. |last=Singer|date=14 January 2003|publisher=[[Brookings Institution]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100212100221/http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2003/0114iraq_singer.aspx|archive-date=12 February 2010|url-status=dead|access-date=3 August 2009|author-link=P. W. Singer}}</ref> In the same year, the [[UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs]] (UNOCHA) estimated that most of these children were aged over 15, although some were younger.<ref name="irin">{{cite web|url=http://www.irinnews.org/report/66280/africa-too-small-to-be-fighting-in-anyone-s-war|title=AFRICA: Too small to be fighting in anyone's war|date=December 2003|publisher=UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130325052712/http://www.irinnews.org/Report/66280/AFRICA-Too-small-to-be-fighting-in-anyone-s-war|archive-date=25 March 2013|url-status=dead|access-date=3 August 2009}}</ref>

Due to the widespread military use of children in areas where armed conflict and insecurity prevent access by UN officials and other observers, it is difficult to estimate how many children are affected.<ref name="CSI-2017c">{{Cite news|url=https://www.child-soldiers.org/FAQs/how-many-children-are-used-for-military-purposes-worldwide|title=How many children are used for military purposes worldwide?|last=Child Soldiers International|year=2017|access-date=25 January 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126070954/https://www.child-soldiers.org/FAQs/how-many-children-are-used-for-military-purposes-worldwide|archive-date=26 January 2018|url-status=usurped}}</ref> 
* In 2003 [[UNICEF]] estimated that some 300,000 children are involved in more than 30 conflicts worldwide.<ref name="unicef2003">{{Cite web|url=http://www.unicef.org/protection/files/childsoldiers.pdf|title=Factsheet: Child Soldiers| publisher=UNICEF|year=2003|access-date=21 August 2023|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041104061549/http://www.unicef.org/protection/files/childsoldiers.pdf|archive-date=4 November 2004|url-status=dead}}</ref> 
* In 2017, [[Child Soldiers International]] estimated that several tens of thousands of children, possibly more than 100,000, were in state and non-state military organisations around the world,<ref name="CSI-2017c" /> and in 2018 the organisation reported that children were being used to participate in at least 18 armed conflicts.<ref name="CSI-2018a" /> 
* In 2023 the [[Secretary-General of the United Nations|UN Secretary General]] report presented 7,622 verified cases of children being recruited and used in armed conflicts in 23 countries. More than 12,460 children formerly associated with armed forces or groups received protection or reintegration support during 2022.<ref name="UNSG-2023">{{Cite web|url=https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N23/144/96/PDF/N2314496.pdf|title=Children and armed conflict: Report of the Secretary-General| publisher=UN Security Council|year=2023|access-date=21 August 2023|language=en}}</ref>

It is estimated that [[girl soldiers]] make between 10% and 30%,<ref>{{cite web
	| url = https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2006/jul/21/guardianweekly.guardianweekly11
	| title = I wanted to take revenge
	| date = July 2006
	| website = The Guardian
	| access-date = 21 August 2023
	| quote = The usual view of girl soldiers – who make up between 10% and 30% of some child armies
}}</ref> 6 and 50%,<ref name="Alliance-2020">{{cite tech report
    |url=https://alliancecpha.org/sites/default/files/technical/attachments/tn_gaafag_eng.pdf
    |title=Girls Associated with Armed Forces and Armed Groups
    |date=December 2020
    |publisher=The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action
    |access-date=29 January 2024 }}</ref> or over 40% of the child soldier population.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Whitman|first=Shelly|title=The Routledge Handbook of the Responsibility to Protect|publisher=Routledge |year=2012|isbn=978-0-415-60075-0|location=New York|pages=154|language=English}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
	| url = https://www.un.org/youthenvoy/2015/02/4-10-child-soldiers-girls/
	| title = 4 out of 10 child soldiers are girls
	| date = 12 February 2015
	| website = un.org
	| access-date = 21 August 2023
}}</ref> Of the verified cases presented in the 2023 UN Secretary General report, girls make 12.3% of all child soldiers recruited or used by armed groups.<ref name="UNSG-2023"/>

==Driving factors==

Despite children's physical and psychological underdevelopment relative to adults, there are many reasons why state and non-state military organisations seek them out, and why children themselves are often drawn to join of their own volition.

=== Psychological factors ===
Relative to adults, the neurological underdevelopment of children, including adolescent children, renders them more susceptible to recruitment and also more likely to make consequential decisions without due regard to the risks.<ref name="Louise-2016">{{Cite news |last1=Louise |first1=Rhianna |first2=Christina |last2=Hunter |first3=Sally |last3=Zlotowitz |first4=David |last4=McCoy |first5=David |last5=Gee |first6=Lee |last6=Rowland|first7=Chris |last7=Venables |display-authors=3<!--listed as "authors", the rest are "contributors"--> |date=17 November 2016 |title=The recruitment of children by the UK armed forces: A critique from health professionals |language=en-GB |work=Medact |url=https://www.medact.org/2016/resources/reports/recruitment-children-uk-armed-forces/ |url-status=live |access-date=31 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180131192429/https://www.medact.org/2016/resources/reports/recruitment-children-uk-armed-forces/ |archive-date=31 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Strasburger |first1=V. C. |title=Children, adolescents, and the media |chapter=1 |publisher=Sage |last2=Wilson |first2=Barbara J. |last3=Jordan |first3=Amy Beth |year=2013 |isbn=9781412999267 |edition=3rd |location=Los Angeles |oclc=820450764}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Spear |first=L. P. |date=June 2000 |title=The adolescent brain and age-related behavioral manifestations |journal=Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=417–463 |doi=10.1016/s0149-7634(00)00014-2 |issn=0149-7634 |pmid=10817843 |s2cid=14686245}}</ref><ref name="Medact-2018" />

With these susceptibilities in mind, military marketing to adolescents has been criticised in Germany,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Krennerich |first=Michael |date=30 October 2020 |title=Shadow Report Child Soldiers 2020 |url=https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC/Shared%20Documents/DEU/INT_CRC_NGO_DEU_44158_E.pdf |access-date=19 August 2022 |website=UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights |page=24 |archive-date=31 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220831021213/https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC/Shared%20Documents/DEU/INT_CRC_NGO_DEU_44158_E.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> the UK,<ref name="Gee-2008">{{Cite web |last=Gee |first=D. |year=2008 |title=Informed Choice? Armed forces recruitment practices in the United Kingdom |url=https://www.forceswatch.net/resources/informed-choice-armed-forces-recruitment-practice-united-kingdom |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213204740/https://www.forceswatch.net/resources/informed-choice-armed-forces-recruitment-practice-united-kingdom |archive-date=13 December 2017 |access-date=13 December 2017}}</ref><ref name="Louise-2016" /> and the US<ref name="APHA-2012">{{Cite web |last=American Public Health Association |year=2012 |title=Cessation of Military Recruiting in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools |url=https://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy-database/2014/07/23/11/19/cessation-of-military-recruiting-in-public-elementary-and-secondary-schools |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213204348/https://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy-database/2014/07/23/11/19/cessation-of-military-recruiting-in-public-elementary-and-secondary-schools |archive-date=13 December 2017 |access-date=13 December 2017 }}</ref> for glamorizing military life while omitting the risks and the loss of fundamental rights.

Research in the same three countries finds that recruiters disproportionately target children from poorer backgrounds.<ref name="Gee-2016" /><ref name="Bundestag Commission-2016">{{Cite book |location=Federal Republic of Germany |publisher=Bundestag |first1=Norbert |last1=Müller |author2=Commission for Children's Concerns |url=https://www.bundestag.de/resource/blob/482006/b8fa4487dcd13f0730e96386957ddcff/stellungnahme_militaer_und_jugend_in_deutschland-data.pdf |title=Stellungnahme der Kommission zur Wahrnehmung der Belange der Kinder zum Verhältnis von Militär und Jugend in Deutschland |language=de |trans-title=Opinion of the Commission for Children's Concerns on the relationship between the military and young people in Germany |date=21 September 2016}}</ref><ref name="Goodman">{{Cite web |last1=Gee |first1=D. |last2=Goodman |first2=A. |title=Army visits London's poorest schools most often |url=http://www.informedchoice.org.uk/armyvisitstoschools.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180529080003/http://www.informedchoice.org.uk/armyvisitstoschools.pdf |archive-date=29 May 2018 |access-date=10 December 2017}}</ref><ref name="Gee-2008" /><ref name="Hagopian-2011">{{Cite journal |last1=Hagopian |first1=Amy |last2=Barker |first2=Kathy |date=1 January 2011 |title=Should We End Military Recruiting in High Schools as a Matter of Child Protection and Public Health? |journal=American Journal of Public Health |volume=101 |issue=1 |pages=19–23 |doi=10.2105/ajph.2009.183418 |issn=0090-0036 |pmc=3000735 |pmid=21088269}}</ref><ref name="APHA-2012" /><ref>{{Cite news |title=Soldiers of Misfortune: Abusive U.S. Military Recruitment and Failure to Protect Child Soldiers |language=en |publisher=American Civil Liberties Union |url=https://www.aclu.org/other/soldiers-misfortune-abusive-us-military-recruitment-and-failure-protect-child-soldiers |access-date=13 December 2017 |archive-date=8 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308192243/https://www.aclu.org/other/soldiers-misfortune-abusive-us-military-recruitment-and-failure-protect-child-soldiers |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the UK, for example, the army finds it easier to attract child recruits from age 16 than adults from age 18,<ref name="Gee-2016" /> particularly those from poorer backgrounds.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Child Rights International Network |date=21 August 2019 |title=Conscription by poverty? Deprivation and army recruitment in the UK |url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5afadb22e17ba3eddf90c02f/t/5d5bbf83278b3100018306a4/1566293898095/UK_recruitment_report_final.pdf |access-date=24 August 2019 |website=crin.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |first1=Charlotte |last1=Cooper |first2=David |last2=Gee |publisher=Child Rights International Network |date=21 August 2019 |title=Youngest British army recruits come disproportionately from England's most deprived constituencies |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335422283 |access-date=24 August 2019}}</ref>

Once recruited, children are easier than adults to indoctrinate and control,<ref name="ReferenceB" /><ref name="Grossman-2009" /><ref name="Wessells" /><ref name="McGurk-2006" /> and are more motivated than adults to fight for non-monetary incentives such as religion, honour, prestige, revenge, and duty.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rosenblatt |first1=Roger |year=1984 |title=Children of War |journal=American Educator |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=37–41}}</ref>

=== Social factors ===
In many countries growing populations of young people relative to older generations have made children a cheap and accessible resource for military organisations.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dallaire |first1=Roméo |title=They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children: The Global Quest to Eradicate the Use of Child Soldiers |date=2011 |publisher=Walker |location=New York}}</ref> In a 2004 study of children in military organisations around the world, Rachel Brett and Irma Specht pointed to a complex of factors that incentivise children to join military organisations, particularly:
* Background poverty including a lack of civilian education or employment opportunities.
* The cultural normalization of war.
* Seeking new friends.
* Revenge (for example, after seeing friends and relatives killed).
* Expectations that a "[[warrior]]" role provides a [[rite of passage]] to maturity.<ref name="Brett-2004" />

The following testimony from a child recruited by the [[Cambodia]]n armed forces in the 1990s is typical of many children's motivations for joining up:

{{blockquote|I joined because my parents lacked food and I had no school&nbsp;... I was worried about mines but what can we do—it's an order [to go to the [[front line]]]. Once somebody stepped on a mine in front of me—he was wounded and died&nbsp;... I was with the radio at the time, about 60 metres away. I was sitting in my hammock and saw him die&nbsp;... I see young children in every unit&nbsp;... I'm sure I'll be a soldier for at least a couple of more years. If I stop being a soldier, I won't have a job to do because I don't have any skills. I don't know what I'll do&nbsp;...<ref name="Child Soldiers-2001">{{Cite web|url=https://www.child-soldiers.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=adc88bff-1916-4317-b184-d9079e7b0bb8|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525205613/https://www.child-soldiers.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=adc88bff-1916-4317-b184-d9079e7b0bb8|url-status=usurped|archive-date=2019-05-25|title=Global Report on Child Soldiers|last=Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers|year=2001|access-date=2018-05-16}}</ref>}}

=== Military factors ===
Some leaders of armed groups have claimed that children, despite their underdevelopment, bring their own qualities as combatants to a fighting unit, often being remarkably fearless, agile and hardy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Beber |first1=Bernd |last2=Blattman |first2=Christopher |year=2013 |title=The Logic of Child Soldiering and Coercion |journal=International Organization |language=en |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=65–104 |doi=10.1017/s0020818312000409 |issn=0020-8183 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

The global proliferation of light automatic weapons, which children can easily handle, has also made the use of children as direct combatants more viable.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Singer |first1=Peter |url=https://archive.org/details/childrenatwar00sing |title=Children at War |date=2005 |publisher=Pantheon |isbn=9780375423499 |location=New York |url-access=registration}}</ref>

== Impact on children ==

{{Further|Impact of war on children}}{{See also|Recruit training}}

=== Armed conflict ===
Child soldiers who survive armed conflict face a markedly elevated risk of debilitating psychiatric illness, poor literacy and numeracy, and behavioural problems.<ref name="Boothby, N-2010">{{Cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/328940882/Child-Soldiering-Impact-on-Childhood-Development-and-Learning-Capacity|title=Child soldiering: Impact on childhood development and learning capacity|last=Boothby, N|display-authors=et al|year=2010|access-date=30 January 2018}}</ref> Research in Palestine and Uganda, for example, has found that more than half of former child soldiers showed symptoms of [[Posttraumatic stress disorder|post-traumatic stress disorder]] and nearly nine in ten in Uganda screened positive for [[Depression (mood)|depressed mood]].<ref name="Boothby, N-2010" /> Researchers in Palestine also found that children exposed to high levels of violence in armed conflict were substantially more likely than other children to exhibit [[aggression]] and [[anti-social behaviour]].<ref name="Boothby, N-2010" /> The combined impact of these effects typically includes a high risk of poverty and lasting unemployment in adulthood.<ref name="Boothby, N-2010" />

=== Detention ===
Further harm is caused when armed forces and groups detain child recruits.<ref name="HRW-2016">{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/07/28/children-detained-war-zones|title=Children Detained in War Zones|publisher=Human Rights Watch|date=28 July 2016|access-date=21 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821224149/https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/07/28/children-detained-war-zones|archive-date=21 August 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Children are often detained without sufficient food, medical care, or under other inhumane conditions, and some experience physical and sexual torture.<ref name="HRW-2016" /> Some are captured with their families, or detained due to one of their family members' activity. Lawyers and relatives are frequently banned from any court hearing.<ref name="HRW-2016" />

=== Military training ===
[[File:Elementary school students were given military drills (Nakameguro National School in Tokyo), 1942.jpg|thumb|Elementary school students in [[Empire of Japan|Imperial Japan]] were given military drills, May 1942]]
While the use of children in armed conflict has attracted most attention, other research has found that military settings present several serious risks before child recruits are deployed to war zones, particularly during training.

Research from several countries finds that military enlistment, even before recruits are sent to war, is accompanied by a higher risk of attempted suicide in the US,<ref name="Ursano-2016" /> higher risk of mental disorders in the US and the UK,<ref name="Goodwin-2015" /><ref name="Martin-2006" /><ref name="Cooper-2021">{{Cite web |title=Has the Time Come for an All-Adult Army? |url=https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/has-time-come-all-adult-army/ |access-date=2022-08-19 |website=rusi.org |language=en}}</ref> higher risk of alcohol misuse<ref name="Head-2016" /><ref name="Mattiko-2011" /><ref name="Cooper-2021" /> and higher risk of violent behaviour,<ref name="MacManus-2013" /><ref name="Bouffard-2005" /><ref name="Merrill-2005" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Elbogen |first1=Eric B. |last2=Johnson |first2=Sally C. |last3=Wagner |first3=H. Ryan |last4=Sullivan |first4=Connor |last5=Taft |first5=Casey T. |last6=Beckham |first6=Jean C. |date=2014 |title=Violent behaviour and post-traumatic stress disorder in US Iraq and Afghanistan veterans |journal=British Journal of Psychiatry |language=en |volume=204 |issue=5 |pages=368–375 |doi=10.1192/bjp.bp.113.134627 |pmid=24578444 |pmc=4006087 |issn=0007-1250}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=MacManus |first1=Deirdre |last2=Short |first2=Roxanna |last3=Lane |first3=Rebecca |last4=Jones |first4=Margaret |last5=Hull |first5=Lisa |last6=Howard |first6=Louise M. |last7=Fear |first7=Nicola T. |date=2022-09-01 |title=Intimate partner violence and abuse experience and perpetration in UK military personnel compared to a general population cohort: A cross-sectional study |journal=The Lancet Regional Health - Europe |language=en |volume=20 |pages=100448 |doi=10.1016/j.lanepe.2022.100448 |issn=2666-7762 |pmc=9256655 |pmid=35813966}}</ref> relative to recruits' pre-military experience.

Military academics in the US have characterized military training as "intense indoctrination" in conditions of sustained stress, the primary purpose of which is to establish the unconditional and immediate obedience of recruits.<ref name="McGurk-2006" /> The research literature has found that adolescents are more vulnerable than adults to a high-stress environment, particularly those from a background of childhood adversity.<ref name="Medact-2018">{{Cite web|url=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/defence-committee/armed-forces-and-veterans-mental-health/written/79963.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115135652/http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/defence-committee/armed-forces-and-veterans-mental-health/written/79963.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 November 2019|title=House of Commons Defence Committee Inquiry into Armed Forces and Veterans Mental Health: Written Evidence Submitted by Medact|last=Medact|year=2018|access-date=24 March 2018}}</ref> It finds in particular that the prolonged stressors of military training are likely to aggravate pre-existing mental health problems and hamper healthy neurological development.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Campbell |first=Katharine Ann |date=2022-06-01 |title=Childhood trauma: a major risk factor in the military recruitment of young people |url=https://militaryhealth.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/bmjmilitary-2022-002149 |journal=BMJ Military Health |volume=170 |issue=2 |language=en |pages=95–96 |doi=10.1136/bmjmilitary-2022-002149 |pmid=35649690 |s2cid=249277481 |issn=2633-3767|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Louise-2016" />

Military settings are characterized by elevated rates of [[bullying]], particularly by instructors. In the UK between 2014 and 2020, for example, the army recorded 62 formal complaints of violence committed by staff against recruits at the military training centre for 16- and 17-year-old trainee soldiers, the [[Army Foundation College]].<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |last=British Army |date=13 December 2021 |title=Freedom of Information request, ref. Army/PolSec/C/U/FOI2021/13445 |url=https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/804174/response/1936986/attach/3/20211213%20FOI2021%2013445.pdf |access-date=17 August 2022 |website=whatdotheyknow.com}}</ref> Joe Turton, who joined up aged 17 in 2014, recalls bullying by staff throughout his training. For example:

{{blockquote|The corporals come into the hangar where we sleep and they're wild-eyed, screaming, shoving people out. A massive sergeant lifts a recruit in the air and literally throws him into the wall. A corporal smacks me full-force around the head—I've got my helmet on but he hits me so hard that I'm knocked right over, I mean this man's about 40 and I'm maybe 17 by then. A bit later, we're crawling through mud and a corporal grabs me and drags me along the ground, half-way across a field. When he lets go I'm in that much pain that I'm whimpering on the ground. When the other corporal, the one who hit me, sees me crying on the ground, he just points at me and laughs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Abuse and sexual assault of children in British armed forces training exposed |url=https://home.crin.org/readlistenwatch/stories/teenage-army-recruits |access-date=2022-08-18 |website=CRIN |date=21 July 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref>}}Elevated rates of [[Sexual harassment in the military|sexual harassment]] are characteristic of military settings, including the training environment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-603-x/85-603-x2016001-eng.htm|title=Sexual Misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces, 2016|last=Canada, Statcan [official statistics agency]|year=2016|website=statcan.gc.ca|language=en|access-date=11 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330011913/http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-603-x/85-603-x2016001-eng.htm|archive-date=30 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Marshall|first1=A|last2=Panuzio|first2=J|last3=Taft|first3=C|year=2005|title=Intimate partner violence among military veterans and active duty servicemen|journal=Clinical Psychology Review|language=en|volume=25|issue=7|pages=862–876|doi=10.1016/j.cpr.2005.05.009|pmid=16006025}}</ref><ref name="Anderson-2013">{{Cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=E H |title=Military psychologists' desk reference |last2=Suris |first2=A |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-19-992826-2 |editor-last=Moore |editor-first=Brett A |location=Oxford |pages=264–269 |chapter=Military sexual trauma |oclc=828143812 |editor-last2=Barnett |editor-first2=Jeffrey E}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=British army |date=2021 |title=Sexual harassment 2021 report |url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1064759/Army_Sexual_Harassment_Report_2021.pdf |access-date=16 August 2022 |website=gov.uk}}</ref> Between 2015 and 2020, for example, girls aged 16 or 17 in the British armed forces were twice as likely as their same-age civilian peers to report rape or other sexual assault.<ref name="Whyte-2021">{{Cite news |last=Whyte |first=Lara |title=Tenfold rise in rapes and sexual assaults on girls in military |language=en |newspaper=[[The Times]] |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/tenfold-rise-in-rapes-and-sexual-assaults-on-girls-in-military-pkvck6nbg |access-date=2021-11-04 |issn=0140-0460}}</ref>

==International law==

=== Recruitment and use of children ===

==== Definition of child ====
{{Main|Convention on the Rights of the Child|Free Children from War conference}}

The [[Convention on the Rights of the Child]] defines a child as any person under the age of 18. The [[Free Children from War conference|Paris Principles]] define a child associated with an armed force or group as:

{{blockquote|...any person below 18 years of age who is or who has been recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers, spies or for sexual purposes. The document is approved by the United Nations General Assembly. It does not only refer to a child who is taking or has taken a direct part in hostilities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicef.org/emerg/files/ParisPrinciples310107English.pdf|title=Paris Principles: Principles and guidelines on children associated with armed forces or armed groups|last=UNICEF|year=2007|access-date=2018-01-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161030083755/http://www.unicef.org/emerg/files/ParisPrinciples310107English.pdf|archive-date=30 October 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

==== Children aged under 15 ====
{{Main|Convention on the Rights of the Child|Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court}}

The Additional Protocols to the 1949 Geneva Conventions (1977, Art. 77.2),<ref name="Red Cross-1977">{{Cite web|url=https://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/other/icrc_002_0321.pdf|title=Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949|last=International Committee of the Red Cross|year=1977|access-date=28 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170307150937/https://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/other/icrc_002_0321.pdf|archive-date=7 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), and the [[Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court]] (2002) all forbid state armed forces and non-state armed groups from using children under the age of 15 directly in armed conflict (technically "hostilities"). This is now recognised as a war crime.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.icc-cpi.int/nr/rdonlyres/ea9aeff7-5752-4f84-be94-0a655eb30e16/0/rome_statute_english.pdf|title=Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (A/CONF.183/9)|year=1998|access-date=22 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180318090721/https://www.icc-cpi.int/nr/rdonlyres/ea9aeff7-5752-4f84-be94-0a655eb30e16/0/rome_statute_english.pdf|archive-date=18 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Children aged under 18 ====
{{Main|Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict}}{{Further|Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention|African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child}}
Most states with armed forces are also bound by the higher standards of the widely ratified Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC) (2000) and the [[Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention]] (1999), which forbid the compulsory recruitment of those under the age of 18.<ref name="CSI-2017b" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:11300:0::NO::P11300_INSTRUMENT_ID:312327|title=Ratifications of C182 – Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182)|last=International Labour Organization|website=ilo.org|language=en|access-date=30 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130053725/http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:11300:0::NO::P11300_INSTRUMENT_ID:312327|archive-date=30 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> OPAC also requires governments that still recruit children (from age 16) to "take all feasible measures to ensure that persons below the age of 18 do not take a direct part in hostilities". In addition, OPAC forbids non-state armed groups from recruiting children under any circumstances, although the legal force of this is uncertain.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://genevacall.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2013/12/Engaging-Nonstate-Armed-Groups-on-the-Protection-of-Children-Towards-Strategic-Complementarity-International-Peace-Institute..pdf|title=Engaging nonstate armed groups on the protection of children: Towards strategic complementarity|last=Geneva Call|year=2012|access-date=28 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322034945/http://www.genevacall.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2013/12/Engaging-Nonstate-Armed-Groups-on-the-Protection-of-Children-Towards-Strategic-Complementarity-International-Peace-Institute..pdf|archive-date=22 March 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="CSI-2016" />

The highest standard in the world is set by the [[African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child]],<ref name="ACHPR-2018">{{Cite web|url=http://www.achpr.org/instruments/child/|title=African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child|last=African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights|year=2018|website=achpr.org|access-date=28 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121111457/http://www.achpr.org/instruments/child|archive-date=21 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> which forbids state armed forces from recruiting children under the age of 18 under any circumstances. Most African states have ratified the Charter.<ref name="ACHPR-2018" />

None of the above treaties either explicitly forbids the ''indirect'' participation of children in "hostilities", or from contributing to a military operation in a stand-off position (i.e. away from hostilities).{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

In a 2008 report from [[Human Rights Watch]] listed 14 governments (Chad, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, the DRC, India, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Peru, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Uganda, and Zimbabwe) who recruit minors for military service.<ref name="idfm" /> In 8 countries (Burundi, Colombia, the DRC, India, Indonesia, Israel, Nepal, and Uganda) "children – often captured, surrendered or escaped from armed groups - were also used as spies, informants or messengers".<ref name="idfm" >{{cite web | title = Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 | url = https://www.hrw.org/legacy/pub/2008/children/Child_Soldiers_Global_Report_Summary.pdf | publisher = COALITION TO STOP THE USE OF CHILD SOLDIERS | date = 2008 | quote = At least 14 governments also recruited, and in some cases used in hostilities, children in auxiliary forces, civilian defence groups or in illegal militias and armed groups acting as proxies for official armed forces. These included Chad, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, the DRC, India, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Peru, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe. In Burundi, Colombia, the DRC, India, Indonesia, Israel, Nepal and Uganda children – often captured, surrendered or escaped from armed groups - were also used as spies, informants or messengers. }}</ref><ref name="call-up" > The recruitment process for compulsory military service in Israel also starts before 18: {{cite web | title = Israel: Call-up notice for military service; rules and mechanisms; consequences of delay to respond; extent to which failure to respond to a call-up notice is reported to government authorities | publisher = UNHCR Web Archive | url = https://webarchive.archive.unhcr.org/20230531185135/https://www.refworld.org/docid/4a7040a2c.html  | website = webarchive.archive.unhcr.org | date = 4 March 2009 }}</ref>

=== Standards for the release and reintegration of children ===
{{main|Rehabilitation and reintegration of child soldiers}}

OPAC requires governments to demobilise children within their jurisdiction who have been recruited or used in hostilities and to provide assistance for their physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration.<ref name="OptProto">{{cite web|url=http://www.unicef.org/crc/index_30203.html|title=UNICEF: Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child|date=30 November 2005|work=UNICEF|access-date=2 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006095424/http://www.unicef.org/crc/index_30203.html|archive-date=6 October 2014|url-status=live}} {{cite journal|last1=Yun|first1=Seira|year=2014|title=Breaking Imaginary Barriers: Obligations of Armed Non-State Actors Under General Human Rights Law – The Case of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child|journal=Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies|volume=5|issue=1–2|pages=213–257|ssrn=2556825|doi=10.1163/18781527-00501008|s2cid=153558830 }}</ref> Under war, civil unrest, armed conflict and other emergency situations, children and youths are also offered protection under the United Nations ''[[Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict]]''. To accommodate the proper disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of former members of armed groups, the United Nations started the Integrated DDR Standards in 2006.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Child soldiers, adult interests : the global dimensions of the Sierra Leonean tragedy|last=John-Peter.|first=Pham|date=2005|publisher=Nova Science Publishers|isbn=9781594546716|location=New York|oclc=61724289}}</ref>

===War crimes===
{{Further|War crime}}
Opinion is currently divided over whether children should be prosecuted for war crimes.<ref name="McCollough-2008-03-10">Lauren McCollough, [http://www.crimesofwar.org/onnews/News-Khadr.html The Military Trial of Omar Khadr: Child Soldiers and the Law] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512083222/http://www.crimesofwar.org/onnews/News-Khadr.html |date=12 May 2008 }}, [http://www.crimesofwar.org/about/about.html Crimes of War Project] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222121657/http://www.crimesofwar.org/about/about.html |date=22 December 2008 }} 10 March 2008</ref> International law does not prohibit the prosecution of children who commit war crimes, but Article 37 of the [[United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child|Convention on the Rights of the Child]] limits the punishment that a child can receive: "Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offenses committed by persons below eighteen years of age."<ref name="McCollough-2008-03-10" />

==== Example: Sierra Leone ====
{{Main|Special Court for Sierra Leone}}
In the wake of the [[Sierra Leonean Civil War]], the UN mandated the [[Special Court for Sierra Leone]] (SCSL) to try former combatants aged 15 and older for breaches of [[International humanitarian law|humanitarian law]], including war crimes. However, the Paris Principles state that children who participate in armed conflict should be regarded first as victims, even if they may also be perpetrators:

{{blockquote|... [those] who are accused of crimes under international law allegedly committed while they were associated with armed forces or armed groups should be considered primarily as victims of offenses against international law; not only as perpetrators. They must be treated by international law in a framework of restorative justice and social rehabilitation, consistent with international law which offers children special protection through numerous agreements and principles.<ref>
[http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/IMG/pdf/Paris_Conference_Principles_English_31_January.pdf The Paris Principles and Guidelines on Children associated with armed forces or armed groups] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923215047/http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/IMG/pdf/Paris_Conference_Principles_English_31_January.pdf |date=23 September 2015 }},
February 2007. Section "Treatment of children accused of crimes under international law", p. 9
</ref>|sign=|source=}}

This principle was reflected in the Court's statute, which did not rule out prosecution but emphasised the need to rehabilitate and reintegrate former child soldiers. [[David Crane (lawyer)|David Crane]], the first Chief Prosecutor of the Sierra Leone tribunal, interpreted the statute in favour of prosecuting those who had recruited children, rather than the children themselves, no matter how heinous the crimes they had committed.<ref name="McCollough-2008-03-10" />

==== Example: Omar Khadr ====
{{Main|Omar Khadr}}
In the US, prosecutors charged [[Omar Khadr]], a Canadian, for offences they alleged he committed in Afghanistan while under the age of 16 and fighting for the [[Taliban]] against [[United States forces|US forces]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCATRE67847020100809|title=Omar Khadr's Confession Can Be Used at Guantanamo Trial|author=Jane Sutton|date=9 August 2010|access-date=22 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806024727/https://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCATRE67847020100809|archive-date=6 August 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> These crimes carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment under US law.<ref name="McCollough-2008-03-10" /> In 2010, while under torture and duress, Khadr pleaded guilty to murder in violation of the laws of war, attempted murder in violation of the laws of war, conspiracy, two counts of providing material support for [[terrorism]], and spying.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2010/10/26/10/stip.source.prod_affiliate.56.pdf|title=USvKhadr Stipulation of Fact|date=25 October 2010|access-date=30 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002161209/http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2010/10/26/10/stip.source.prod_affiliate.56.pdf|archive-date=2 October 2011|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/25/khadr.plea/|title=Youngest Guantanamo detainee pleads guilty
|last1=Meserve|first1=Jeanne
|last2=Lawrence|first2=Chris
|last3=Cratty|first3=Carol
|last4=Keyes|first4=Charley
|last5=Labott|first5=Elise
|last6=Dougherty|first6=Jill
|date=25 October 2010|publisher=CNN|access-date=29 October 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101026132342/http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/25/khadr.plea/|archive-date=26 October 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> The plea was offered as part of a [[plea bargain]], which would see Khadr deported to Canada after one year of imprisonment to serve seven further years there.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/khadr-to-return-to-canada-lawyer-1.905780 | publisher=CBC News | title=Khadr to return to Canada: lawyer | date=25 October 2010 | access-date=30 November 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101028080624/https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/khadr-to-return-to-canada-lawyer-1.905780 | archive-date=28 October 2010 | url-status=live}}</ref> Omar Khadr remained in [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp|Guantanamo Bay]] and the Canadian government faced international criticism for delaying his repatriation.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toews-request-delays-khadr-s-transfer-to-canada-1.1235312 |title=Toews' request delays Khadr's transfer to Canada |date=20 July 2012 |publisher=CBC News |access-date=26 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120727002758/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/07/20/khadr-canada-us.html |archive-date=27 July 2012 |url-status=live  }}</ref> Khadr was eventually transferred to the Canadian prison system in September 2012 and was freed on bail by a judge in [[Alberta]] in May 2015. {{as of|2016}}, Khadr was appealing his US conviction as a war criminal.<ref>{{Cite web|title = 'Freedom is way better than I thought,' says Omar Khadr|url = http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/omar-khadr-free-on-bail-vows-to-prove-he-is-a-good-person-1.3065692|publisher = Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|access-date = 8 February 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160131211649/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/omar-khadr-free-on-bail-vows-to-prove-he-is-a-good-person-1.3065692|archive-date = 31 January 2016|url-status = live}}</ref>

Before sentencing the Special Representative to the [[Secretary-General of the United Nations|UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict]] wrote to the [[Guantanamo military commission|US military commission at Guantanamo]] appealing unsuccessfully for Khadr's release into a rehabilitation program.<ref name="CBC2010">{{Cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/khadr-should-go-back-to-canada-un-official-1.913030|title=Khadr should go back to Canada: UN official|last=CBC News|date=27 October 2010|publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|access-date=22 March 2018|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171129025923/http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/khadr-should-go-back-to-canada-un-official-1.913030|archive-date=29 November 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> In her letter she said that Khadr represented the "classic child soldier narrative: recruited by unscrupulous groups to undertake actions at the bidding of adults to fight battles they barely understand".<ref name="CBC2010" />

==The role of the United Nations==

=== Background ===
{{Further|Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict|Committee on the Rights of the Child}}
Children's rights advocates were left frustrated after the final text of the convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) did not prohibit the military recruitment of all children under the age of 18, and they began to call for a new treaty to achieve this goal.<ref name="Becker-2013">{{Cite book|title=Campaigning for justice: Human rights advocacy in practice|last=Becker|first=J|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=2013|isbn=9780804774512|location=Stanford, California|pages=11–31|chapter=Campaigning to stop the use of child soldiers|oclc=837635842}}</ref><ref name="Brett-2005">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ichrp.org/files/papers/88/120B_-_Optional_Protocol_to_the_Convention_on_the_Rights_of_the_Child_Brett__Rachel__2005.pdf |title=Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OP/CAC)|last=Brett|first=Rachel|year=2005|website=International Council on Human Rights Policy & International Commission of Jurists|access-date=4 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120416195918/http://www.ichrp.org/files/papers/88/120B_-_Optional_Protocol_to_the_Convention_on_the_Rights_of_the_Child_Brett__Rachel__2005.pdf|archive-date=16 April 2012|url-status=usurped}}</ref> As a consequence the newly formed Committee on the Rights of the Child made two recommendations: first, to request a major UN study into the impact of armed conflict on children; and second, to establish a working group of the [[United Nations Commission on Human Rights|UN Commission on Human Rights]] to negotiate a supplementary protocol to the convention.<ref name="Brett-2005" /> Both proposals were accepted.<ref name="Becker-2013" /><ref name="Brett-2005" />

Responding to the committee on the Rights of the Child, the [[UN General Assembly]] acknowledged "the grievous deterioration in the situation of children in many parts of the world as a result of armed conflicts" and commissioned the human rights expert Graça Machel to conduct a major fact-finding study.<ref name="CAC-2018">{{Cite web|url=https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/mandate/special-representative-of-the-secretary-general-for-children-and-armed-conflict/|title=Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict|last=Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict|year=2018|publisher=United Nations|language=en-US|access-date=28 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129004604/https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/mandate/special-representative-of-the-secretary-general-for-children-and-armed-conflict/|archive-date=29 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Her report, ''Impact of Armed Conflict on Children'' (1996), was particularly concerned with the military use of younger children, which was killing, maiming, and [[Mental disorder|psychiatrically injuring]] many thousands every year.<ref name="Machel-1996" /> It noted:

{{blockquote|Clearly one of the most urgent priorities is to remove everyone under 18 years of age from armed forces.<ref name="Machel-1996">{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicef.org/graca/a51-306_en.pdf|title=Impact of armed conflict on children|last=Machel|first=G|year=1996|access-date=2018-01-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708004644/https://www.unicef.org/graca/a51-306_en.pdf|archive-date=8 July 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Meanwhile, the [[Human rights commission|UN Commission on Human Rights]] established a working group to negotiate a treaty to raise the legal standard.<ref name="Becker-2013" /><ref name="Brett-2005" /> After a global campaign and complex negotiations, the new treaty was agreed in 2000 as the [[Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict|Optional Protocol to the convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict]].<ref name="Becker-2013" /> The treaty prohibited the direct participation of all children in armed conflict for the first time, while continuing to allow state armed forces (though not non-state armed groups) to recruit children from age 16.<ref name="ohchr-2000">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/OPACCRC.aspx|title=Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict|year=2000|website=ohchr.org|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502015246/http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/OPACCRC.aspx|archive-date=2 May 2013|url-status=dead|access-date=22 March 2018}}</ref> The protocol came into force on 12 February 2002.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=November 2000|title=United Nations General Assembly: Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict and on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0020782900009335|journal=International Legal Materials|volume=39|issue=6|pages=1285–1297|doi=10.1017/s0020782900009335|s2cid=232255513|issn=0020-7829|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

=== Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict ===
The Machel Report led to a new mandate for a Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (SRSG-CAAC).<ref name="CAC-2018" /> Among the tasks of the SRSG is to draft the Secretary-General's annual report on children and armed conflict, which lists and describes the worst situations of child recruitment and use from around the world.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/16/confidential-u-n-report-accuses-saudi-coalition-of-killing-hundreds-of-children-in-yemen-conflict/|title=Confidential U.N. Report Accuses Saudi Coalition of Killing Hundreds of Yemeni Kids|last=Lynch|first=Colum|date=16 August 2017|website=Foreign Policy|language=en|access-date=22 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323092442/https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/16/confidential-u-n-report-accuses-saudi-coalition-of-killing-hundreds-of-children-in-yemen-conflict/|archive-date=23 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Security Council ===
The [[United Nations Security Council]] convenes regularly to debate, receive reports, and pass [[United Nations Security Council resolution|resolutions]] under the heading "Children in armed conflict". The first resolution on the issue, [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1261|Resolution 1261]], was passed in 1999.<ref name="UN_SRES12611999">{{UN document|docid=S-RES-1261(1999)|type=Resolution|body=Security Council|year=1999|resolution_number=1261|accessdate=20 July 2008}}</ref> In 2004 [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1539|Resolution 1539]] was passed unanimously, condemning the use of child soldiers and mandating the UN Secretary-General to establish a means of tracking and reporting on the practice, known as the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/ACOS-64DFZ7?OpenDocument|title=Security Council condemns recruitment of child soldiers, asks Secretary-General to devise monitoring mechanism|date=22 April 2004|publisher=[[ReliefWeb]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_57997.html|title=Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM) on grave violations of children's rights in situations of armed conflict|work=UNICEF|access-date=22 March 2018|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323154757/https://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_57997.html|archive-date=23 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== United Nations Secretary-General ===
The Secretary-General publishes an annual report on children and armed conflict.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/virtual-library/|title=Library of the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict|last=Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict|year=2018|publisher=United Nations|language=en-US|access-date=28 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129013116/https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/virtual-library/|archive-date=29 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> {{As of|2017}}, his report identified 14 countries where children were widely used by armed groups during 2016 (Afghanistan, Colombia, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Mali, Myanmar, Nigeria, Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen) and six countries where state armed forces were using children in hostilities (Afghanistan, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Syria).<ref name="UN SecGen-2017b" />

==Children in the military today—by region and country==
This section covers the use of children for military purposes today. For historical cases, see [[History of children in the military]].

===Africa===
{{main|Child soldiers in Africa}}
 
In 2003, the [[United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs|UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs]] estimated that up to half of children involved with state armed forces and non-state armed groups worldwide were in Africa.<ref name="irin" /> In 2004, Child Soldiers International estimated that 100,000 children were being used in state and non-state armed forces on the continent;<ref name="CSUCS-1">{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20091226221427/http://www.child-soldiers.org/document/get?id=743 Child soldiers global report 2004: Africa Regional overview]}}, {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20070703045854/http://www.child-soldiers.org/contact/contact Child Soldiers International]}}.<!--Retrieved April 2009--></ref> and in 2008 an estimate put the total at 120,000 children, or 40 percent of the global total.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rakisits|first=Claude|date=1 December 2008|title=Child Soldiers in the East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo|journal=Refugee Survey Quarterly|language=en|volume=27|issue=4|pages=108–122|doi=10.1093/rsq/hdn054|issn=1020-4067|url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/291705/files/hdn054.pdf}}</ref>

The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1990), which most African states have ratified, prohibits all military recruitment of children aged under 18. Nonetheless, according to the UN, in 2016 children were being used by armed groups in seven African countries (Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan) and by state armed forces in three (Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan).<ref name="UN SecGen-2017b" />

International efforts to reduce the number of children in military organisations in Africa began with the Cape Town Principles and Best Practices, developed in 1997.<ref name="UNICEF-1997">{{cite web|url=http://www.unicef.org/emerg/files/Cape_Town_Principles(1).pdf|title=Cape Town Principles and Best Practices|date=April 1997|publisher=UNICEF|pages=8|access-date=26 August 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927182848/http://www.unicef.org/emerg/files/Cape_Town_Principles(1).pdf|archive-date=27 September 2007|url-status=live}}</ref> The Principles proposed that African governments commit to OPAC, which was being negotiated at the time, and raise the minimum age for military recruitment from 15 to 18.<ref name="UNICEF-1997" /> The Principles also defined a child soldier to include any person under the age of 18 who is "part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or group in any capacity ... including girls recruited for sexual purposes{{nbsp}}..."<ref name="UNICEF-1997" />

In 2007, the [[Free Children from War conference]] in Paris produced the Paris Principles, which refined and updated the Cape Town Principles, applied them globally, and outlined a practical approach to reintegrating current child soldiers.<ref name="UNICEF12">[http://www.unicef.org/media/media_38208.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180114184025/https://www.unicef.org/media/media_38208.html|date=14 January 2018}}, UNICEF press release</ref>
[[File:Omo River Valley IMG 0463.jpg|thumb|250px|Children of the Omo Valley in Ethiopia]]
====Central African Republic====
{{Main|Child soldiers in the Central African Republic}}

The use of children by armed groups in the Central African Republic has historically been common.<ref name="CSUCS-1" /> Between 2012 and 2015 as many as 10,000 children were used by armed groups in the nationwide armed conflict and {{as of|2024|lc=y}} the problem persists nationwide with a most likely greater amount fighting now.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-02-12 |title=Central African Republic says 10,000 children are still fighting alongside armed groups there |url=https://apnews.com/article/central-african-republic-child-soldiers-d7b5907d3defe1b1b62f63d1613bfdc0 |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=[[Associated Press]] |language=en}}</ref><ref name="UNICEF">{{Cite news|url=https://www.unicef.org/media/media_85654.html|title=Central African Republic: Children brutally targeted in weekend violence|last=UNICEF|access-date=13 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180114184037/https://www.unicef.org/media/media_85654.html|archive-date=14 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="UN SecGen-2017b" /> The mainly Muslim ''Séléka'' coalition of armed groups and the predominantly Christian ''[[Anti-balaka]]'' militias have both used children in this way; some are as young as eight.<ref name="CSI-2016b">{{Cite web|url=https://www.child-soldiers.org/shop/des-milliers-de-vies-rparer|title=Des Milliers de vies à réparer|last=Child Soldiers International|year=2016|website=Child Soldiers International|language=fr|access-date=13 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180115042637/https://www.child-soldiers.org/shop/des-milliers-de-vies-rparer|archive-date=15 January 2018|url-status=usurped}}</ref>

In May 2015 at the ''Forum de Bangui'' (a meeting of government, parliament, armed groups, civil society, and religious leaders), a number of armed groups agreed to demobilize thousands of children.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.unicef.org/media/media_81771.html|title=Armed groups in Central African Republic agree to release thousands of children|last=UNICEF|date=5 May 2015|work=UNICEF|access-date=13 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180114184053/https://www.unicef.org/media/media_81771.html|archive-date=14 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2016 a measure of stability returned to the Central African Republic and, according to the United Nations, 2,691 boys and 1,206 girls were officially separated from armed groups.<ref name="UN SecGen-2017b" /> Despite this, the recruitment and use of children for military purposes increased by approximately 50 percent over that year, mostly attributed to the [[Lord's Resistance Army]].<ref name="UN SecGen-2017b" />

[[File:DRC- Child Soldiers.jpg|thumb|250px|A group of demobilized child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo]]

====Democratic Republic of the Congo====
{{main|Child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo}}

Thousands of children serve in the military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and various rebel militias. It has been estimated that more than 30,000 children were fighting with various parties to the conflict at the height of the Second Congo War. It was claimed in the film ''[[Kony 2012]]'' that the Lord's Resistance Army recruited this number.<ref name="guardian kony 2012">{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2012/mar/16/kony-2012-child-soldiers-spotlight | title=Kony 2012 puts child soldiers back under the spotlight | work=[[The Guardian]] | date=16 March 2012 | access-date=16 March 2012 | author=Smith, David | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140820052154/http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2012/mar/16/kony-2012-child-soldiers-spotlight | archive-date=20 August 2014 | url-status=live}}</ref>

Currently, the DRC has one of the highest proportions of child soldiers in the world. The international court has passed judgment on these practices during the war. [[Thomas Lubanga Dyilo]], one of the warlords in the DRC, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison because of his role in the recruitment of child soldiers between 2002 and 2003. Lubanga directed the [[Union of Congolese Patriots]] and its armed wing [[Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo]]. The children were forced to fight in the armed conflict in Ituri.<ref name="The Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo">{{cite web|url=http://www.icc-cpi.int/en_menus/icc/situations%20and%20cases/situations/situation%20icc%200104/related%20cases/icc%200104%200106|title=The Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo|access-date=2 October 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140319221305/http://www.icc-cpi.int/en_menus/icc/situations%20and%20cases/situations/situation%20icc%200104/related%20cases/icc%200104%200106|archive-date=19 March 2014}}</ref>

====Somalia====
{{main|Child soldiers in Somalia}}
A report published by the Child Soldiers International in 2004 estimated that 200,000 children had been recruited into the country's militias against their will since 1991.<ref name="CSUCS-1" /> In 2017 UN Secretary-General [[António Guterres]] commented on a UN report which estimated that over 50 percent of [[Al-Shabaab (militant group)|Al-Shabaab]]'s membership in the country was under the age of 18, with some as young as nine being sent to fight.<ref name="Al Jazeera-2017" /> The report verified that 6,163 children had been recruited in Somalia between 1 April 2010 and 31 July 2016, of which 230 were girls. Al-Shabaab accounted for seventy percent of this recruitment, and the [[Somali National Army]] was also recruiting children.<ref name="Al Jazeera-2017">{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/01/guterres-thousands-child-soldiers-fight-somalia-170120063747893.html|title=Guterres: Thousands of child soldiers fight in Somalia|publisher=Al Jazeera|access-date=28 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329054211/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/01/guterres-thousands-child-soldiers-fight-somalia-170120063747893.html|archive-date=29 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.childsoldiers.org/preventing-the-use-of-child-soldiers-in-somalia/|title=Preventing the Use of Child Soldiers in Somalia – Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative|date=30 January 2017|work=Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative|access-date=28 March 2018|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329061157/https://www.childsoldiers.org/preventing-the-use-of-child-soldiers-in-somalia/|archive-date=29 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Sudan====
[[File:SPLA Child Soldier.jpg|thumb|left|A child soldier of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (2007)]]In 2004 approximately 17,000 children were being used by the state armed forces and non-state armed groups.<ref name="Hollingsworth-2013">{{Cite book|title=The social problems of children in Sub-Saharan Africa|last=Hollingsworth|first=J|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|year=2013|isbn=9781443845137|location=Newcastle upon Tyne, UK|pages=68|oclc=825978109}}</ref> As many as 5,000 children were part of the main armed opposition group at the time, the [[Sudan People's Liberation Army]] (SPLA).<ref name="Hollingsworth-2013" /> Some former child soldiers were sentenced to death for crimes committed while they were soldiers.<ref name="CSUCS-1" />

In 2006, children were also recruited from refugee camps in Chad, and thousands were used in the conflict in Darfur.<ref name="Child Soldiers-2008">{{Cite web|url=https://www.child-soldiers.org/Shop/global-report-2008-1|title=Child Soldiers Global Report 2008: Sudan|author=Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers|year=2008|website=Child Soldiers International|pages=315–320|language=en|access-date=1 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180402035955/https://www.child-soldiers.org/Shop/global-report-2008-1|archive-date=2 April 2018|url-status=usurped}}</ref> In 2005 the government ratified the OPAC treaty and by 2008 the military use of children had reduced in the country, but both state armed forces and the SPLA continued to recruit and use them.<ref name="Child Soldiers-2008" /> The use of children has continued to diminish, but in 2017 the UN was still receiving reports of children as young as 12 in government forces.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://childsoldiersworldindex.org/view/SD|title=Child Soldiers World Index: Sudan|last=Child Soldiers International|year=2018|website=childsoldiersworldindex.org|language=en|access-date=1 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180402101439/https://childsoldiersworldindex.org/view/SD|archive-date=2 April 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="urlWitness">{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/09/09/witness-child-soldiers-darfur-confession-i-shot-her-she-dead |title=Witness: A Child Soldier's Darfur Confession – 'I shot her. She is dead.' &#124; Human Rights Watch |date=9 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817133035/https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/09/09/witness-child-soldiers-darfur-confession-i-shot-her-she-dead |archive-date=17 August 2016 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

====Uganda====
"The [[LRA]] in Uganda became known mainly through the forced recruitment of thousands of children and adolescents who were trained as soldiers or forced to 'marry' members of the rebel group. Unlike all other, or earlier, rebel groups in Uganda, the LRA made the violent abduction or enslavement of children (preferably aged between twelve and fourteen) its main method of recruitment and concentrated its activities on attacking the civilian population."<ref>Artur Bogner, Gabriele Rosenthal (2020): Child Soldiers in Context. Biographies, Familial and Collective Trajectories in Northern Uganda. Göttingen: University Press, 12. https://doi.org/10.17875/gup2020-1325</ref>

====Zimbabwe====
In 2003, the ''[[The Guardian|Guardian]]'' reported multiple human rights violations by the [[National Youth Service (Zimbabwe)|National Youth Service]], a state-sponsored youth militia in Zimbabwe.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/feb/19/zimbabwe.andrewmeldrum|title=Living in fear of Mugabe's green bombers|last=Meldrum|first=Andrew|date=19 February 2003|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=29 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115214246/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/feb/19/zimbabwe.andrewmeldrum|archive-date=15 November 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Originally conceived as a patriotic youth organisation, it became a paramilitary group of youth aged between 10 and 30, and was used to suppress dissent in the country.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.solidaritypeacetrust.org/reports/youth_malitia.pdf|title=National youth service training|last=Solidarity Peace Trust|year=2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905194023/http://www.solidaritypeacetrust.org/reports/youth_malitia.pdf|archive-date=5 September 2008|url-status=dead|access-date=29 March 2018}}</ref> The organisation was finally banned in January 2018.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.myzimbabwe.co.zw/news/15436-youths-who-had-enrolled-for-useless-national-youth-service-turned-away-as-government-bans-green-bomber-training.html|title=Youths who had enrolled for useless National Youth Service turned away as government BANS green bomber training|date=30 January 2018|work=My Zimbabwe News|access-date=29 March 2018|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330012355/https://www.myzimbabwe.co.zw/news/15436-youths-who-had-enrolled-for-useless-national-youth-service-turned-away-as-government-bans-green-bomber-training.html|archive-date=30 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Americas===

====Bolivia====
In 2001 the government of Bolivia acknowledged that male children as young as 14 may have been forcibly conscripted into the armed forces during recruitment sweeps.<ref name="globalmarch.org">[http://www.globalmarch.org/resourcecentre/world/bolivia.pdf Global March Against Child Labour: Bolivia] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927182849/http://www.globalmarch.org/resourcecentre/world/bolivia.pdf |date=27 September 2007 }} 2001</ref> About 40% of the Bolivian army was believed to be under the age of 18, with half of those below the age of 16.<ref name="globalmarch.org" /> {{As of|2018}}, Bolivia invites children to begin their adult conscription early, from age 17.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://childsoldiersworldindex.org/view/BO|title=Child Soldiers World Index: Bolivia|last=Child Soldiers International|year=2018|website=childsoldiersworldindex.org|language=en|access-date=29 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330013133/http://childsoldiersworldindex.org/view/BO|archive-date=30 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Brazil====
In Brazil the local organized crime groups, such as [[Comando Vermelho]], recruit children to sell drugs and commit homicides, as well as to fight with the police and other rival groups.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Como formar crianças-soldados para o crime|url=https://outraspalavras.net/outrasmidias/como-formar-criancas-soldados-para-o-crime/|access-date=2022-07-01|website=outraspalavras.net}}</ref> Also the [[Brazilian police militias|Brazilian militias]] recruit children to fight in the [[Militias-Comando Vermelho conflict|conflict against Comando Vermelho]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Adolescente recrutado da milícia é morto após nova investida do CV no Morro do Fubá|url=https://odia.ig.com.br/rio-de-janeiro/2022/02/6333346-adolescente-recrutado-da-milicia-e-morto-apos-nova-investida-do-cv-no-morro-do-fuba.html|access-date=2022-06-29|website=odia.ig.com.br|date=7 February 2022 }}</ref>

====Canada====
In Canada, people may join the reserve component of the [[Canadian Forces]] at age 16 with parental permission, and the regular component at 17 years of age, also with parental permission. They may not volunteer for a tour of duty until reaching age 18.<ref name="Canadian Forces basic eligibility requirements">{{cite web|url=http://www.forces.ca/v3/engraph/resources/howtojoin_en.aspx?bhcp=1#be|title=Basic Eligibility Requirements|access-date=2 September 2007|publisher=Canadian Forces|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013175839/http://www.forces.ca/v3/engraph/resources/howtojoin_en.aspx?bhcp=1#be|archive-date=13 October 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>

====Colombia====
In the [[Colombian armed conflict]], from the mid-1960s to present, one-fourth of non-state combatants have been and still are under 18 years old. In 2004 Colombia ranked fourth in the world for the greatest use of child soldiers. There are currently 11,000–14,000 children in armed groups in the country. In negotiations with the government, armed groups have offered to stop the recruitment of minors as a bargaining chip, but they have not honoured these offers.<ref name="HRW-2003">{{cite web|last=Human Rights Watch|date=September 2003|title="You'll learn not to cry": Child Combatants in Colombia|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/colombia0903/colombia0903.pdf|pages=4|access-date=29 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305223135/https://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/colombia0903/colombia0903.pdf|archive-date=5 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Thomas-2008">{{cite book|title=Overcoming Lost Childhood: Lessons from the Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Former Child Soldiers in Colombia|last=Thomas|first=Virginia|publisher=Y Care International|year=2008|location=London, England}}</ref> Bjørkhaug argues that most child soldiers were recruited through some combination of voluntary participation and coercion.<ref>{{citation |last=Bjørkhaug|first=Ingunn|date=28 June 2010|title=Child Soldiers in Colombia: The Recruitment of Children into Non-State Violent Armed Groups|doi=10.2139/ssrn.1650250 |ssrn=1650250|s2cid=141893319 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1998 a Human Rights Watch press release indicated that 30 percent of some guerrilla units were made up of children and up to 85 percent of some of the militias, which are considered to serve as a "training ground for future guerrilla fighters", had child soldiers<ref name="HRW1998">{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/en/news/1998/10/07/child-soldiers-used-all-sides-colombias-armed-conflict|title=Child Soldiers Used by All Sides in Colombia's Armed Conflict|date=7 October 1998 |publisher=Human Rights Watch|access-date=19 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100318114106/http://www.hrw.org/en/news/1998/10/07/child-soldiers-used-all-sides-colombias-armed-conflict|archive-date=18 March 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> In the same press release it was estimated that some of the government-linked paramilitary units consisted of up to 50 percent children, including some as young as eight years old.<ref name="aft">{{Cite news|url=http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/issues/winter05-06/singer.htm|title=Child Soldiers|author=P. W. Singer|date=Winter 2005–2006|work=[[American Educator]]|access-date=4 August 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081129115512/http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/issues/winter05-06/singer.htm|archive-date=29 November 2008|url-status=dead|author-link=P. W. Singer}}</ref><ref name="HRW1998" />

In 2005 an estimated 11,000 children were involved with left- or right-wing paramilitaries in Colombia. "Approximately 80 percent of child combatants in Colombia belong to one of the two left-wing guerrilla groups, the [[FARC]] or [[National Liberation Army (Colombia)|ELN]]. The remainder fight in paramilitary ranks, predominately the [[United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia|AUC]]."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/02/22/colomb10202.htm|title=Colombia: Armed Groups Send Children to War|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|date=22 February 2005|access-date=5 August 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081113132809/http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2005/02/22/colomb10202.htm|archive-date=13 November 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> According to P. W. Singer the FARC attack on the Guatape hydroelectric facility in 1998 involved militants as young as eight years old and a 2001 FARC training video depicted boys as young as 11 working with missiles. The group has also taken in children from Venezuela, Panama, and Ecuador.<ref name="aft" />

The Colombian government's security forces do not officially recruit children<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://childsoldiersworldindex.org/view/CO|title=Child Soldiers World Index: Colombia|last=Child Soldiers International|year=2018|website=childsoldiersworldindex.org|language=en|access-date=28 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329054438/http://childsoldiersworldindex.org/view/CO|archive-date=29 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> as the legal age for both compulsory and voluntary recruitment has been set at 18. However, students were allowed to enroll as cadets in military secondary schools and 16- or 17-year-olds could enter air force or national army training programs, respectively. In addition, captured enemy child combatants were employed by the Colombian military for intelligence gathering purposes in potential violation of legal prohibitions.<ref name="Colombia2008">{{cite web|url=http://www.refworld.org/docid/486cb0f4c.html|title=Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 – Colombia|last=Child Soldiers International|year=2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923142748/http://www.refworld.org/docid/486cb0f4c.html|archive-date=23 September 2013|url-status=dead|access-date=22 March 2018}}</ref>

The demobilization efforts targeted toward the FARC in 2016–2017 have provided hope that the conflict will come to an end, limiting the number of children involved in violence. However, other armed groups have yet to be demobilized, and conflict is not yet resolved.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/colombia-farc-rebels-demobilization-and-peace-process-obstacles-2017-2|title=The last march: Colombia's most notorious rebel group is starting to disarm, but obstacles to peace still loom|last=Woody|first=Christopher|date=4 February 2017|work=Business Insider|access-date=29 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130091252/http://www.businessinsider.com/colombia-farc-rebels-demobilization-and-peace-process-obstacles-2017-2|archive-date=30 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Cuba====
In Cuba, compulsory military service for both boys and girls starts at age 17. Male teenagers are allowed to join the Territorial Troops Militia prior to their compulsory service.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/cuba/|title=The World Factbook|access-date=2 October 2014}}</ref>

[[File:ERP combatants Perquín 1990 35.jpg|thumb|right|Rebel Salvadoran soldier boy combatant in Perquin, El Salvador, 1990, during the [[Salvadoran Civil War]]]]

====Haiti====
In Haiti an unknown number of children participate in various loosely organised armed groups that are engaged in political violence.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://hrw.org/children/child_soldiers_map.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081101204543/http://hrw.org/children/child_soldiers_map.html|url-status=dead|title=Human Rights Watch: Child Soldier Map|archive-date=1 November 2008}}</ref>

====Mexico====
In Mexico an unknown number of children are used by criminal organizations like the [[Gulf Cartel]] in the [[Mexican drug war]] to fight the government and the other rival cartels.<ref>{{Cite web|title=In Mexico, children as young as 10 recruited by drug cartels|url=https://apnews.com/article/caribbean-mexico-city-mexico-drug-cartels-6f73f0a2277ea91eb5a39a098238ae6b|access-date=2022-07-20|website=apnews.com|date=14 October 2021 }}</ref> Also the [[Grupos de autodefensa comunitaria]] recruited some children to defend their villages from the violence of the local crime groups, one of the self-defense groups that recruit soldier children is Coordinadora Regional de Autoridades Comunitarias-Pueblos Fundadores (CRAC-PF) to fight with Los Ardillos, a criminal group split from the [[Beltrán Leyva Cartel]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Meet the Children Being Armed to Defend a Mexican Village From Drug Cartels|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/meet-the-children-being-armed-to-defend-a-mexican-village-from-drug-cartels/|access-date=2022-07-20|website=Vice.com|date=7 February 2020 }}</ref> The battles between CRAC-PF and Los Ardillos caused 53 deaths.<ref>{{Cite web|title=UCDP - Uppsala Conflict Data Program|url=https://ucdp.uu.se/nonstate/16298|access-date=2022-07-20|website=ucdp.uu.se}}</ref>

====Paraguay====
The government of Paraguay accused the guerrilla groups [[Paraguayan People's Army|EPP]] and the [[Armed Peasant Association|ACA]] of recruit child soldiers to fight the government in the [[Insurgency in Paraguay|ongoing insurgency in the northeastern part of the country]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Denuncian reclutamiento de niños soldado por parte de guerrilla en Paraguay|url=https://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20150829/54436089688/denuncian-reclutamiento-de-ninos-soldado-por-parte-de-guerrilla-en-paraguay.html|access-date=2022-08-27|website=www.lavanguardia.com|date=28 August 2015 }}</ref>

====United States====
In the United States 17-year-olds may join the [[United States armed forces|armed forces]] with the written agreement of parents.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usarec.army.mil/hq/apa/download/PRG15-16.pdf|title=2015–16 Pocket Recruiter Guide|last=US Army|year=2016|access-date=24 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219030525/http://www.usarec.army.mil/hq/apa/download/PRG15-16.pdf|archive-date=19 February 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> {{as of|2015}} approximately 16,000 17-year-olds were being enlisted annually.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC-OP-AC/Shared%20Documents/USA/INT_CRC-OP-AC_ADR_USA_23714_E.pdf|title=USA: Annexes of the Combined Third and Fourth Periodic Report (OPAC Annex 2)|last=Committee on the Rights of the Child|year=2016|access-date=24 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180325112136/http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC-OP-AC/Shared%20Documents/USA/INT_CRC-OP-AC_ADR_USA_23714_E.pdf|archive-date=25 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

The US Army describes outreach to schools as the 'cornerstone' of its approach to recruitment,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usarec.army.mil/im/formpub/rec_pubs/man3_01.pdf|title=Recruiter handbook|last=US Army Recruiting Command|year=2011|access-date=24 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219031556/http://www.usarec.army.mil/im/formpub/rec_pubs/man3_01.pdf|archive-date=19 February 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the [[No Child Left Behind Act]] gives recruiters the legal right of access to all school students' contact details.<ref>{{Cite book|title=No Child Left Behind Act (Section 9528)|last=Government of the United States|year=2001}}</ref> [[Children's rights]] bodies have criticized the US' reliance on children to staff its armed forces.<ref name="CRC-2008">{{Cite web|url=http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC%2fC%2fOPAC%2fUSA%2fCO%2f1&Lang=en|title=Consideration of Reports Submitted By States Parties Under Article 8 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict|last=Committee on the Rights of the Child|year=2008|access-date=24 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180325112133/http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC%2fC%2fOPAC%2fUSA%2fCO%2f1&Lang=en|archive-date=25 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="HRW-2007">{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/related_material/USA_HRW_NGO_Report_OPAC.pdf|title=United States of America: Compliance with the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, Submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child|last=US Campaign to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers|year=2007|publisher=Human Rights Watch|access-date=24 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140722171813/http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/related_material/USA_HRW_NGO_Report_OPAC.pdf|archive-date=22 July 2014|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC-OP-AC/Shared%20Documents/USA/INT_CRC-OP-AC_NGO_USA_13943_E.pdf|title=Report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in advance of the United States of America's second periodic report on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict|last=Child Soldiers International|year=2012|access-date=24 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180325045243/http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC-OP-AC/Shared%20Documents/USA/INT_CRC-OP-AC_NGO_USA_13943_E.pdf|archive-date=25 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> The committee on the Rights of the Child has recommended that the US raise the minimum age of enlistment to 18.<ref name="CRC-2008" />

In negotiations on the OPAC treaty during the 1990s the US joined the UK in strongly opposing a global minimum enlistment age of 18. As a consequence the treaty specified a minimum age of 16.<ref name="Becker-2013" /> The US ratified the treaty in 2002 (but {{as of|2018|lc=y}} [[U.S. ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child]] has not happened).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/TreatyBodyExternal/Countries.aspx?CountryCode=USA&Lang=EN|title=Reporting status for United States of America|last=UN, Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights|year=2018|access-date=24 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314114614/http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/TreatyBodyExternal/Countries.aspx?CountryCode=USA&Lang=EN|archive-date=14 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

Per OPAC, US military personnel are normally prohibited from direct participation in hostilities until the age of 18. Still, they are eligible for 'forward deployment', which means that they may be posted to a combat zone to perform support tasks.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC/C/OPAC/USA/Q/2/ADD.1&Lang=en|title=Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict: List of issues concerning additional and updated information related to the consideration of the second periodic report of the United States of America (CRC/C/OPAC/USA/2): Addendum|last=Committee on the Rights of the Child|year=2012|language=en-us|access-date=24 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180325045152/http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC%2FC%2FOPAC%2FUSA%2FQ%2F2%2FADD.1&Lang=en|archive-date=25 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> The committee on the Rights of the Child has called on the US to change this policy and ensure that no minor can be deployed to a forward operating area in a combat zone.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC%2fC%2fOPAC%2fUSA%2fCO%2f3-4&Lang=en|title=Concluding observations on the combined third and fourth reports submitted by the United States of America under article 8 (1) of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict|last=Committee on the Rights of the Child|year=2017|access-date=24 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180325052714/http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC%2fC%2fOPAC%2fUSA%2fCO%2f3-4&Lang=en|archive-date=25 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2003 and 2004 approximately 60 underage personnel were deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq in error.<ref name="HRW-2007" /> The Department of Defense subsequently stated that "the situations were immediately rectified and action taken to prevent recurrence."<ref>Department of Defense, Information Paper regarding the application of child soldiers protocols, provided to Senator Barbara Boxer, November 2004.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hendren |first=John |date=2003-02-14 |title=Old Enough to Sign Up, but Not to Fight in Battle |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-feb-14-fg-boysoldiers14-story.html |access-date=2022-12-09 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2008 President [[George W. Bush]] signed the [[Child Soldiers Protection Act]] into law.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2008/10/03/united-states-bush-signs-law-child-soldiers |title=President Bush Signs Law on Child Soldiers |date=3 October 2008 |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]] |access-date=4 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402103958/http://www.hrw.org/news/2008/10/03/united-states-bush-signs-law-child-soldiers |archive-date=2 April 2015 |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/135981.pdf |title=The Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2008 |publisher=[[United States State Department|US State Department]] |access-date=24 June 2017 }}</ref> The law criminalizes leading a military force which recruits child soldiers. It also prohibits arms sales to countries where children are used for military purposes. The law's definition of child soldiers includes "any person under 18 years of age who takes a direct part in hostilities as a member of governmental armed forces." Waivers from the act were issued by both the [[Barack Obama|Obama]] and [[Donald Trump|Trump]] administrations.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rogin |first=Josh |title=Obama waives penalties on countries that employ child soldiers – again! |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2011/10/04/obama-waives-penalties-on-countries-that-employ-child-soldiers-again/ |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=Foreign Policy |date=4 October 2011 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-11-04 |title=Trump administration turns its back on child soldiers again |url=https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/468875-trump-administration-turns-its-back-on-child-soldiers/ |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=The Hill |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Asia===
[[File:Photos of young Khmer Rouge fighters (on display at the Tuol Sleng Museum, Phnom Penh).jpg|thumb|250px|Young Khmer Rouge fighters]]

In 2004 the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (now Child Soldiers International) reported that in Asia thousands of children are involved in fighting forces in active conflict and ceasefire situations in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Indonesia, Laos, Philippines, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Government refusal of access to conflict zones has made it impossible to document the numbers involved.<ref name=CSGR2004-159/> In 2004 Myanmar was unique in the region as the only country where government armed forces forcibly recruited and used children between the ages of 12 and 16.<ref name=CSGR2004-159>{{cite web |url= http://www.child-soldiers.org/document_get.php?id=966 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20041217103244/http://www.child-soldiers.org/document_get.php?id=966 |url-status= usurped |archive-date= 17 December 2004 |title= Child Soldiers Global Report 2004 }}&nbsp;{{small|(2.29&nbsp;MB)}} Child Soldiers International pp. 18,159–161</ref> [[Johnny and Luther Htoo]], twin brothers who jointly led the [[God's Army (revolutionary group)|God's Army]] guerrilla group, were estimated to have been around ten years old when they began leading the group in 1997.

====Afghanistan====
Militias recruited thousands of child soldiers during the [[War in Afghanistan (1978–present)|Afghan civil war]] over three decades. Many are still fighting now for the Taliban. Some of those taken from Islamic religious schools or [[madrassas]], are used as suicide bombers and gunmen. A propaganda video of boys marching in camouflage uniform and using slogans of martyrdom was issued in 2009 by the Afghan Taliban's leadership. This included a eulogy to a 14-year-old Taliban fighter who allegedly killed an American soldier.<ref>{{cite web |last=Sengupta |first=Kim |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/appeals/indy-appeal/independent-appeal-a-child-is-reborn-1849087.html |title=Independent Appeal: A child is reborn |work=The Independent |date=24 December 2009 |access-date=12 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101127030413/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/appeals/indy-appeal/independent-appeal-a-child-is-reborn-1849087.html |archive-date=27 November 2010 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

====Burma/Myanmar====
The State Peace and Development Council has asserted that all of its soldiers volunteered and that all of those accepted are 18 or over. According to Human Rights Watch as many as 70,000 boys serve in Burma/Myanmar's national army, the [[Tatmadaw]], with children as young as 11 being forcibly recruited off the streets. Desertion, the group reported, leads to punishments of three to five years in prison or even execution. The group has also stated that about 5,000–7,000 children serve with a range of different armed ethnic opposition groups, most notably in the [[United Wa State Army]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2002/burma/Burma0902-01.htm#P296_16897|title='My Gun Was As Tall As Me': Summary|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|year=2002|access-date=5 August 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090216093554/http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2002/burma/Burma0902-01.htm#P296_16897|archive-date=16 February 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon released a report in June 2009 mentioning "grave violations" against children in the country by both the rebels and the government. The administration announced on 4{{nbsp}}August that they would send a team into Burma/Myanmar to press for more action.<ref>{{cite news|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE57376T20090804|first=Patrick|last=Worsnip|access-date=5 August 2009|date=4 August 2009|title=U.N. team to visit Myanmar over child soldiers|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091114205336/http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE57376T20090804|archive-date=14 November 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> 

On March 31, 2025, [[The Guardian]] interviewed an 18-year-old female sniper in the CNDF with the [[nom de guerre]] "Anina." She joined the [[Chin National Defence Force]] at the age of 14 in 2021. At first, her duties were relegated to domestic work. However, she joined a sniper training course at the age of 17, where she graduated as a top-scoring marksman. Despite the CNDF discouraging her from engaging in combat in favor of earning an education, Anina still insists on fighting.<ref> [https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/mar/31/girl-sniper-resistance-fighting-on-the-frontline-of-myanmars-civil-war ‘I stopped counting after three’: the ‘girl sniper’ fighting on the frontline of Myanmar’s civil war]. March 31, 2025. Lorcan Lovett</ref>

The [[State Administration Council]] military junta also conscripted youth from the ages of 16 to 20 into militias in [[Putao District]], [[Kachin State]] from February 7 to the end of March 2025.<ref> [https://www.bnionline.net/en/news/underage-youths-conscripted-putao-district-militia Underage Youths Conscripted into Putao District Militia]. [[Burma News International|Kachin News Group]]. May 19, 2025.</ref>

====India====

{{main|Child soldiers in India}}

====Iran====
[[File:Iranian soldier.jpg|thumb|250px|An Iranian child soldier after the [[Battle of Khorramshahr (1982)|liberation of Khorramshahr]]]]

Current Iranian law officially prohibits the recruitment of those under 16.<ref name=Iran2008>{{cite web|url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,CSCOAL,,IRN,,486cb109c,0.html|publisher=[[United Nations High Commission for Refugees]]|title=Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 – Iran|access-date=4 August 2009|date=20 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010075251/http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,CSCOAL,,IRN,,486cb109c,0.html|archive-date=10 October 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=aft/>

During the [[Iran–Iraq War]], male children were drafted into the [[Basij]] army where, according to critics of the Iranian government, they "were sent to the front as waves of human shields".<ref name="unicef-1996">{{cite web|title=The State of the World's Children 1996|url=http://www.unicef.org/sowc96/2csoldrs.htm|website=UNICEF|access-date=2 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180208163922/https://www.unicef.org/sowc96/2csoldrs.htm|archive-date=8 February 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="child-labor-global-view">{{cite book|editor1-last=Schmitz|editor1-first=Cathryne L.|editor2-last=Traver|editor2-first=Elizabeth KimJin|editor3-last=Larson|editor3-first=Desi|title=Child Labor: A Global View|date=2004|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0313322778|page=120|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6JznQqlZmHkC&q=iran+child+soldiers&pg=PA120}}</ref> Other sources have estimated the total number of all Iranian casualties to be in the 200,000–600,000 range.<ref name="hiro205">{{cite book|last=Hiro|first=Dilip|author-link=Dilip Hiro|title=The Longest War: The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|year=1991|page=[https://archive.org/details/longestwariranir00hiro/page/205 205]|isbn=9780415904063|oclc=22347651|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/longestwariranir00hiro/page/205}}</ref><ref name="Rajaee1997">{{cite book|last=Rajaee|first=Farhang|title=Iranian Perspectives on the Iran-Iraq War|publisher=University Press of Florida|location=Gainesville|year=1997|page=2|isbn=9780813014760|oclc=492125659}}</ref><ref name="Mikaberidze2011">{{cite book|last=Mikaberidze|first=Alexander|title=Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, California|year=2011|page=418|isbn=9781598843361|oclc=775759780}}</ref><ref>''Hammond Atlas of the 20th Century'' (1999) P. 134–35</ref><ref name="Dunnigan 1991">Dunnigan, A Quick and Dirty Guide to War (1991)</ref><ref name="Twentieth Century World History 1997">''Dictionary of Twentieth Century World History'', by Jan Palmowski (Oxford, 1997)</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">Clodfelter, Micheal, ''Warfare and Armed Conflict: A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1618–1991''</ref><ref name="Chirot, Daniel 1994">Chirot, Daniel: ''Modern Tyrants: The Power and Prevalence of Evil in Our Age'' (1994)</ref><ref>"B&J": Jacob Bercovitch and Richard Jackson, ''International Conflict: A Chronological Encyclopedia of Conflicts and Their Management 1945–1995'' (1997) p. 195</ref><ref name="Iran2008" /> {{Excessive citations inline|reason=One or two reliable sources may be enough to authenticate this; there is a good chance these sources are interdependent.|date=February 2025}} One source estimates that 3% of the Iran–Iraq War's casualties were under the age of 14.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kurzman.unc.edu/death-tolls-of-the-iran-iraq-war/|title=Death Tolls of the Iran-Iraq War|last1=Kurzman|first1=Charles|website=kurzman.unc.edu/|access-date=6 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180321154456/http://kurzman.unc.edu/death-tolls-of-the-iran-iraq-war/|archive-date=21 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

There were male Iranian children who left school and participated in the Iran–Iraq War without the knowledge of their parents, including [[Mohammad Hossein Fahmideh]]. Iraqi officers claimed that they sometimes captured Iranian child soldiers as young as eight years old.<ref name="urlChildren">{{cite journal |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1987/1028/ekids.html |title=Children at war |journal=The Christian Science Monitor |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102193457/https://www.csmonitor.com/1987/1028/ekids.html |archive-date=2 January 2019 |url-status=live |date=28 October 1987 }}</ref>

{{as of|2018}} the Iranian government has been recruiting children from Iran and Afghanistan to fight in the [[Syrian Civil War]] on the side of forces loyal to the Assad government.<ref name="urlIran">{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/11/30/irans-child-soldiers-syria |title=Iran's Child Soldiers in Syria &#124; Human Rights Watch |date=30 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180630231430/https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/11/30/irans-child-soldiers-syria |archive-date=30 June 2018 |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref name="WAJ">{{cite journal |url=http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/michael-j-totten/iran-recruits-child-soldiers-%E2%80%93-again |title=Iran Recruits Child Soldiers – Again |journal= World Affairs Journal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190103011836/http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/michael-j-totten/iran-recruits-child-soldiers-%E2%80%93-again |archive-date=3 January 2019 |url-status=usurped }}</ref>

====Lebanon====
Many different sides in the Lebanese Civil War used child soldiers. A May 2008 Child Soldiers International report stated that [[Hezbollah]] trains children for military services.<ref name=Iran2008/> In 2017, the UN reported that armed groups, suspected to be Islamist militants, were recruiting children in the country.<ref name="UN SecGen-2017b" />

====Nepal====
An estimated 6,000–9,000 children serve in the Communist Party of Nepal forces. {{As of|2010}}, child soldiers of the CPN have since been demobilized.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicef.org/protection/nepal_52791.html|title=Last group of Maoist child soldiers discharged in Nepal|website=UNICEF|access-date=14 April 2019|archive-date=14 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414182147/https://www.unicef.org/protection/nepal_52791.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

====Palestine====
{{Main|Children in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict|Child suicide bombers in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict}}
[[File:25th anniversary of Hamas (18).jpg|thumb|A child with a toy gun in the 25th anniversary of [[Hamas]]]]
William O'Brien, a professor of [[Georgetown University]], wrote about the active participation of Palestinian children in the [[First Intifada]]: "It appears that a substantial number, if not the majority, of troops of the intifada are young people, including elementary schoolchildren. They are engaged in throwing stones and [[Molotov cocktail]]s and other forms of violence."<ref>Law and Morality in Israel's War With the PLO, New York</ref> Arab journalist Huda Al-Hussein wrote in a London Arab newspaper on 27{{nbsp}}October 2000:

{{blockquote|While UN organizations save child-soldiers, especially in Africa, from the control of militia leaders who hurl them into the furnace of gang-fighting, some Palestinian leaders... consciously issue orders for the purpose of ending their childhood, even if it means their last breath.<ref>[http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP14700 Arab Journalist Decries Palestinian Child-Soldiers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711030041/http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP14700 |date=11 July 2007 }} translated by [[MEMRI]]. Special Dispatch 147, 1 November 2000.</ref>}}

In 2002 a report by Jihad Shomaly for the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (now Child Soldiers International) said that, "while there are reports of children participating in hostilities, there is no evidence of systematic recruitment by armed groups".<ref>Jihad Shomaly, ''et al.'' [http://www.dci-pal.org/english/publ/research/2004/ChildrenPerspective.pdf Use of Children in the Occupied Palestinian Territories] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071030070650/http://www.dci-pal.org/english/publ/research/2004/ChildrenPerspective.pdf|date=30 October 2007}} Defence for Children International/Palestine Section, 2004, p. 8. Citing CSC 1371 Report, November 2002.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1266534.stm|title=Child soldiers in the firing line|date=8 April 2001|publisher=BBC|access-date=19 September 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219144053/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1266534.stm|archive-date=19 December 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2004, however, the organisation reported that there were at least nine documented [[Child suicide bombers in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict|suicide attacks involving Palestinian minors]] between October 2000 and March 2004,<ref name="CSGR2004-292">{{cite web|url=http://www.child-soldiers.org/document_get.php?id=966|title=Child Soldiers Global Report 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041217103244/http://www.child-soldiers.org/document_get.php?id=966|archive-date=17 December 2004|url-status=usurped}}&nbsp;{{small|(2.29&nbsp;MB)}} Child Soldiers International p. 292</ref> stating:

{{blockquote|There was no evidence of systematic recruitment of children by Palestinian armed groups. However, children are used as messengers and couriers, and in some cases as fighters and suicide bombers in attacks on [[Israel Defense Forces|Israeli soldiers]] and civilians. All the main political groups involve children in this way, including [[Fatah]], [[Hamas]], [[Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine|Islamic Jihad]], and the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]].<ref name="CSGR2004-304">{{cite web|url=http://www.child-soldiers.org/document_get.php?id=966|title=Child Soldiers Global Report 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041217103244/http://www.child-soldiers.org/document_get.php?id=966|archive-date=2004-12-17|url-status=usurped}}&nbsp;{{small|(2.29&nbsp;MB)}} Child Soldiers International, p. 304 cites in footnote 18 that this Information is from Palestinian human rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG), March 2004.</ref>}}

In May 2008 a Child Soldiers International report highlighted Hamas and Islamic Jihad for having "used children in military attacks and training" in its Iranian section.<ref name="Iran2008" />

On 23 May 2005 [[Amnesty International]] reiterated its calls to [[Palestinian political violence|Palestinian armed groups]] to put an immediate end to the use of children in armed activities: "Palestinian armed groups must not use children under any circumstances to carry out armed attacks or to transport weapons or other material."<ref>[http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE150332005 Israel/Occupied Territories: Palestinian armed groups must not use children] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711013612/http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE150332005|date=11 July 2007}} 23 May 2005</ref>

There is mounting evidence that Hamas and PIJ operate "summer camps" specifically dedicated to train children to be soldiers, and on occasion uses them for illegal military operations.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-05-29 |title=UN accuses Israel of recruiting Palestinian child soldiers |url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-744508 |access-date=2023-10-19 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

During the [[Gaza war]], the [[Israel Defense Forces|IDF]] has gathered substantial evidence of Palestinian children undergoing military training.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-01-03 |title=IDF proof: Hamas, PIJ use young children for Gaza terror activities, incitement |url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-780613 |access-date=2024-10-05 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/idf-press-releases-israel-at-war/january-24-pr/hamas-and-islamic-jihad-use-children-for-terrorist-activities-and-incitement/ |access-date=2024-10-05 |website=www.idf.il}}</ref>

====Philippines====
Islamist and communist armed groups fighting the government have routinely relied on child recruits.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/678865|title=Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in the Philippines|last=UN Security Council|year=2013|access-date=24 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180525062129/https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/678865|archive-date=25 May 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2001 Human Rights Watch reported that an estimated 13 percent of the 10,000 soldiers in the [[Moro Islamic Liberation Front]] (MILF) were children, and that some paramilitary forces linked to the government were also using children.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hrw.org/children/child_soldiers_map.html|title=Human Rights Watch Interactive Map of Child Soldiers|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081101204543/http://hrw.org/children/child_soldiers_map.html|archive-date=1 November 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2016 the MILF allowed 1,869 children to leave and committed not to recruit children any more.<ref name="UN SecGen-2017b" /> In the same year, however, the UN reported that other armed groups in the Philippines continue to recruit children, mainly between the ages of 13 and 17.<ref name="UN SecGen-2017b" />

====Sri Lanka====
{{main|Child soldiers in Sri Lanka}}

Militant use of children in Sri Lanka has been an internationally recognized problem since the inception of the Sri Lankan civil war in 1983. The primary recruiters of children are the rebel [[Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 November 2004 |title=Sri Lanka: Tamil Tigers Forcibly Recruit Child Soldiers |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2004/11/11/sri-lanka-tamil-tigers-forcibly-recruit-child-soldiers |access-date=3 August 2021 |website=Human Rights Watch |language=en}}</ref>

====Syria====
During the ongoing Syrian Civil War children have joined groups opposed to Bashar al Assad. In 2012 the UN received allegations of rebels using child soldiers, but said they were unable to verify these.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2012/03/27/syrian-rebels-accused-over-child-soldiers-un-official |title=Syrian rebels accused over child soldiers: UN official |date=27 March 2012 |access-date=22 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823023940/http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2012/03/27/syrian-rebels-accused-over-child-soldiers-un-official |archive-date=23 August 2017 |url-status=live  }}</ref> In June 2014 a United Nations report said that the opposition had recruited children in military and support roles. While there seemed to be no policy of doing so, the report said, there were no age verification procedures.<ref name="report details"/> Human Rights Watch reported in 2014 that rebel factions have been using children in support and combatant roles, ranging from treating the wounded on battlefields, ferrying ammunition and other supplies to frontlines while fighting raged, to acting as snipers.<ref name="aljazeera.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/06/use-child-soldiers-syria-condemned-20146237583974800.html|title=Report: Syria rebels send children into war|access-date=2 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140925050405/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/06/use-child-soldiers-syria-condemned-20146237583974800.html|archive-date=25 September 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Turkish government linked think tank SETA withdrew a report detailing the composition of the [[Syrian National Army]] as it revealed the use of child soldiers. The Syrian National Army is currently funded by Turkey, who signed the optional protocol to the convention on the rights of the child on the involvement of children in armed conflict 8 September 2000. It was reported that Turkey has deployed child soldiers in the Syrian National Army to Libya according to a report by Al-Monitor, citing sources on the ground.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ahvalnews.com/seta/pro-erdogan-think-tanks-survey-shows-child-soldiers-among-turkish-backed-syrian-opposition|title=Pro-Erdoğan think tank's survey shows child soldiers among Turkish-backed Syrian opposition|website=Ahval|access-date=28 November 2020|archive-date=9 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709182028/https://ahvalnews.com/seta/pro-erdogan-think-tanks-survey-shows-child-soldiers-among-turkish-backed-syrian-opposition|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2020/05/child-soldiers-libya-syria-national-army-turkey.html|title=Report: Child soldiers deployed to Libya by Turkish-backed Syrian National Army|website=Al-Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East|date=8 May 2020 }}</ref> In July 2021, the United States of America added Turkey to the list of countries that implicated in the use of child soldiers, because it used them in Syria and Libya.<ref name="US_Turkey_child-soldiers">{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-adds-turkey-list-countries-implicated-use-child-soldiers-2021-07-01/|title=U.S. adds Turkey to list of countries implicated in use of child soldiers|website=Reuters|date=1 July 2021}}</ref> The ''2023 Trafficking in Persons Report'' mentioned that factions of the Turkish backed Syrian National Army recruited and used Syrian children as child soldiers in Libya.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-trafficking-in-persons-report/libya/|title=2023 Trafficking in Persons Report: Libya|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230913003950/https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-trafficking-in-persons-report/libya/|archive-date=13 September 2023}}</ref>
The 2021 [[Country Reports on Human Rights Practices]] mentioned the recruitment and use of child soldiers from Turkish-supported forces in Syria.<ref>[https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/turkey/ 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Turkey]</ref> 
The 2021, 2022 and 2023 Trafficking in Persons Reports mentioned that Turkey provided support to armed groups in Syria which recruit and use child soldiers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-trafficking-in-persons-report/turkey/|title=2021 Trafficking in Persons Report: Turkey|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230220073555/https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-trafficking-in-persons-report/turkey/|archive-date=20 February 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-trafficking-in-persons-report/turkey/|title=2022 Trafficking in Persons Report: Turkey|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230731054931/https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-trafficking-in-persons-report/turkey/|archive-date=31 July 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-trafficking-in-persons-report/turkey/|title=2023 Trafficking in Persons Report: Türkiye|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230917151840/https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-trafficking-in-persons-report/turkey/|archive-date=17 September 2023}}</ref>

Kurdish forces have also been accused of using this tactic. In 2015 Human Rights Watch claimed that 59 children, 10 of them under 15 years old, were recruited by or volunteered for the YPG or YPJ since July 2014 when the Kurdish militia leaders signed a Deed of Commitment with Geneva Call.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/hrw-kurdish-forces-using-child-fighters-despite-pledge-to-demobilize/2862390.html |title=Kurdish Militia Accused of Using Child Soldiers in Syria |date=15 July 2015 |access-date=22 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823022030/https://www.voanews.com/a/hrw-kurdish-forces-using-child-fighters-despite-pledge-to-demobilize/2862390.html |archive-date=23 August 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>

President Assad passed a law in 2013 prohibiting the use of child soldiers (anyone under 18), the breaking of which is punishable by 10–20 years of 'penal labour.'<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.syrianobserver.com/News/News/Assad+Issues+Law+on+Child+Soldiers|title=Assad Issues Law on Child Soldiers|access-date=2 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006095232/http://www.syrianobserver.com/News/News/Assad+Issues+Law+on+Child+Soldiers|archive-date=6 October 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> Whether or not the law is actually enforced on government's forces has not been confirmed, and there have been allegations of children being recruited to fight for the Syrian government against rebel forces.<ref name="report details">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/world/middleeast/at-least-10000-children-killed-in-syria-un-estimates.html|title=U.N. Report Details Abuse of Children in Syrian War |website=[[The New York Times]] |date=4 February 2014 |access-date=27 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904151709/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/world/middleeast/at-least-10000-children-killed-in-syria-un-estimates.html |archive-date=4 September 2017 |url-status=live |last1=Sengupta |first1=Somini }}</ref><ref name="aljazeera.com"/>

Iranian government is recruiting children from Iran and Afghanistan to fight in the [[Syrian Civil War]] on the side of the government forces loyal to Assad.<ref name="urlIran"/><ref name="WAJ"/>

====Turkey (PKK)====

During the [[Kurdish–Turkish conflict (1978–present)|Kurdish–Turkish conflict]], the [[Kurdistan Workers' Party]] (PKK) has actively recruited and kidnapped children. The organization has been accused of abducting more than 2,000 children by Turkish Security Forces. The independent reports by the [[Human Rights Watch]] (HRW), the United Nations (UN) and the [[Amnesty International]] have confirmed the recruitment and use of child soldiers by the organization and its armed wings since the 90's.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://hrwf.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Child-soldiers-in-ISIS-PKK-Boko-Haram%E2%80%A6.pdf |title=Child soldiers in ISIS, PKK, Boko Haram... |access-date=13 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161016064155/http://hrwf.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Child-soldiers-in-ISIS-PKK-Boko-Haram%E2%80%A6.pdf |archive-date=16 October 2016 |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref name="hrw.org">{{Cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/12/22/iraq-armed-groups-using-child-soldiers-0 |title=Iraq: Armed Groups Using Child Soldiers |date=22 December 2016 |access-date=13 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190129011816/https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/12/22/iraq-armed-groups-using-child-soldiers-0 |archive-date=29 January 2019 |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/498805c428.html |title=Child Soldiers Global Report 2001 - Turkey |access-date=13 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180912111737/http://www.refworld.org/docid/498805c428.html |archive-date=12 September 2018 |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2014/07/14/child_soldiers_2008_Global_Report.pdf |title=Child Soldiers: Global Report 2008 |work=[[Child Soldiers International|Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers]] |via=justice.gov |access-date=13 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170628062439/https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2014/07/14/child_soldiers_2008_Global_Report.pdf |archive-date=28 June 2017 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> In 2001, it was reported that the recruitment of the children by the organization has been systematic. Several reports have reported about the organization's [[battalion]], called ''Tabura Zaroken Sehit Agit'', which has been formed mainly for the recruitment of children.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.refworld.org/docid/498805c428.html|title=Child Soldiers Global Report 2001 – Turkey|last=Child Soldiers International|year=2001|work=Refworld|access-date=22 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029165401/http://www.refworld.org/docid/498805c428.html|archive-date=29 October 2014|url-status=dead|language=en}}</ref> It was also reported that the [[Patriotic Union of Kurdistan]] (PUK) had recruited children.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.refworld.org/docid/498805f0c.html|title=Refworld {{!}} Child Soldiers Global Report 2001 – Iraq|last1=Refugees|first1=United Nations High Commissioner for|access-date=7 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130920074539/http://www.refworld.org/docid/498805f0c.html|archive-date=20 September 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to the Turkish Security Forces, the PKK has abducted more than 983 children aged between 12 and 17. More than 400 children have fled from the organization and surrendered to the security forces. The United Nations Children's Fund report, published in 2010, saw the recruitment of the children by the PKK concerning and dangerous.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/pkk-criticized-over-child-soldiers-claims/245168 |title=PKK criticized over 'child soldiers' claims |access-date=13 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216031439/https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/pkk-criticized-over-child-soldiers-claims/245168 |archive-date=16 December 2018 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

In 2016, the [[Human Rights Watch]], accused the PKK of committing war crimes by recruiting child soldiers in the Shingal region of Iraq and in neighboring countries.<ref name="hrw.org"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/221220161 |title=PKK commits war crime by recruiting child soldiers in Iraq, Huma |access-date=13 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215223006/http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/221220161 |archive-date=15 December 2018 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

Throughout the Syrian Civil War multiple media outlets including Human Rights Watch have confirmed that the YPG, an organization linked to the PKK, has been recruiting and deploying child soldiers. Despite a claim by the group that it would stop using children, which has been violation of international law, the group has continued the recruitment and use of children.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170628-us-report-ypg-recruiting-child-soldiers/ |title=US report: YPG recruiting child soldiers |date=28 June 2017 |access-date=12 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212084459/https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170628-us-report-ypg-recruiting-child-soldiers/ |archive-date=12 February 2018 |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2017/06/28/US-YPG-still-recruits-child-soldiers-in-Syria.html |title=US: YPG still recruits child soldiers in Syria |date=28 June 2017 |access-date=12 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212083737/http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2017/06/28/US-YPG-still-recruits-child-soldiers-in-Syria.html |archive-date=12 February 2018 |url-status=live  }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/kurdish-ypg-militia-recruiting-child-soldiers-syria-hrw-930608836 |title=Kurdish YPG militia recruiting child soldiers in Syria: HRW |access-date=12 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212084730/http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/kurdish-ypg-militia-recruiting-child-soldiers-syria-hrw-930608836 |archive-date=12 February 2018 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

In 2018, the annual UN report on children in armed conflict found 224 cases of child recruitment by the [[People's Defense Units]] and its women's unit in 2017, an almost fivefold increase from the 2016. Seventy-two of the children, nearly one-third, were girls. The group was also reported to had abducted children to enlist them.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/08/03/syria-armed-group-recruiting-children-camps |title=Syria: Armed Group Recruiting Children in Camps |date=3 August 2018 |access-date=13 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190108003545/https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/08/03/syria-armed-group-recruiting-children-camps |archive-date=8 January 2019 |url-status=live  }}</ref>

====Yemen====
U.N. Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict [[Radhika Coomaraswamy]] stated in January 2010 that "large numbers" of teenage boys are being recruited in Yemeni [[tribal]] fighting. NGO activist Abdul-Rahman al-Marwani has estimated that as many as 500–600 children are either killed or wounded through tribal combat every year in Yemen.<ref name=UPI>{{Cite news|work=United Press International|url=http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/01/06/Yemens-child-soldiers-go-to-war/UPI-89571262808410/|access-date=10 April 2010|title=Yemen's child soldiers go to war|date=6 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100403050546/http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/01/06/Yemens-child-soldiers-go-to-war/UPI-89571262808410|archive-date=3 April 2010|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Saudi Arabia]] hired child soldiers from [[Sudan]] (especially from [[Darfur]]), and Yemen to fight against [[Houthis]] during the [[Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Saudi Arabia 'recruits Darfur children for Yemen war'|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/29/saudi-arabia-recruited-darfur-children-to-fight-in-yemen-nyt|access-date=2 October 2021|website=www.aljazeera.com|language=en}}</ref>

[[British Special Air Service|British SAS]] special forces are allegedly involved in training child soldiers in Yemen. Reportedly at least 40% of soldiers fighting for the Saudi-led coalition are children.<ref name="urlSerious">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/mar/27/serious-questions-over-sas-involvement-in-yemen-war |title='Serious' questions over SAS involvement in Yemen war &#124; UK news &#124; The Guardian |website=[[TheGuardian.com]] |date=27 March 2019 |format= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328170441/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/mar/27/serious-questions-over-sas-involvement-in-yemen-war |archive-date=28 March 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Saudi Arabia is also hiring Yemeni child soldiers to guard Saudi border against Houthis.<ref name="urlExclusive">{{cite web |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2019/03/exclusive-yemeni-child-soldiers-recruited-saudi-uae-coalition-190329132329547.html |title=Exclusive: Yemeni child soldiers recruited by Saudi-UAE coalition &#124; Saudi Arabia News &#124; Al Jazeera |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402091726/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2019/03/exclusive-yemeni-child-soldiers-recruited-saudi-uae-coalition-190329132329547.html |archive-date=2 April 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In June 2019, [[Mike Pompeo]], the [[United States Secretary of State|US Secretary of State]], blocked the inclusion of Saudi Arabia on the US list of countries that recruit child soldiers, dismissing his experts' findings that a Saudi-led coalition has been using children in Yemen's civil war.<ref name="urlPompeo">{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/18/mike-pompeo-saudi-arabia-yemen-sudan-child-soldiers|title=Pompeo blocks inclusion of Saudi Arabia on US child soldiers list|agency=Reuters (Washington)|date=18 June 2019|website=The Guardian}}</ref>
Male children can volunteer for military service at 17 in Saudi Arabia. (CIA World Factbook - 2024)

===Europe===
According to Child Soldiers International the trend in Europe has been towards recruiting only adults from age 18;<ref name="CSI-2017a" /> most states only allow adult recruitment,<ref name="Gee-2016" /> and {{as of|2016|lc=y}} no armed groups were known to be using children.<ref name="UN" /> {{as of|2018}} one country, the United Kingdom, was enlisting children from age 16, and five were enlisting from age 17 (Austria, Cyprus, France, Germany, and Netherlands).<ref name="CSI-2018a" /> Of these, the UK recruits children in the greatest numbers; in 2016, approximately a quarter of new recruits to the British army were aged under 18.<ref name="Gee-2016" />

All European states have ratified the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict,<ref name="UN-2018">{{Cite web |last=United Nations |year=2018 |title=United Nations Treaty Collection: 11. b Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict |url=https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-11-b&chapter=4&lang=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180206131426/https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-11-b&chapter=4&lang=en |archive-date=6 February 2018 |access-date=5 February 2018 |language=EN}}</ref> and so child recruits are not typically used in hostilities until they reach adulthood.<ref name="ohchr-2000" /> Children were used as combatants in the [[First Chechen War]] during the 1990s.<ref name="UN CHR-2012">{{cite web|url=http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/commission/country52/1996_13.htm|title=UN Commission on Human Rights – The situation of human rights in the Republic of Chechnya of the Russian Federation (Mar 96)|publisher=.umn.edu|access-date=12 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211102551/http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/commission/country52/1996_13.htm|archive-date=11 February 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Statua Righetto.jpg|thumb|''The brave Righetto'' (1851). Replica of the [[Giovanni Strazza]] statue in the lobby of the grand staircase in [[Palazzo Litta]]. It portrays a 12-year-old child who died with his dog in 1849 while trying to stop a bomb during the defence of the Roman Republic in 1849.]]

====Austria====
Austria invites male children to begin their adult compulsory military service one year early, at age 17, with the consent of their parents.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://childsoldiersworldindex.org/view/AT|title=Child Soldiers World Index: Austria|last=Child Soldiers International|year=2018|website=childsoldiersworldindex.org|language=en|access-date=28 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329054523/http://childsoldiersworldindex.org/view/AT|archive-date=29 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Cyprus====
Cyprus invites children to begin their adult compulsory military service two years early, at age 16, with the consent of their parents.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://childsoldiersworldindex.org/view/CY|title=Child Soldiers World Index: Cyprus|last=Child Soldiers International|year=2018|website=childsoldiersworldindex.org|language=en|access-date=28 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329054457/http://childsoldiersworldindex.org/view/CY|archive-date=29 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

====France====
France enlists military personnel from age 17 and 6 months,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Les étapes de recrutement et conditions d'admissibilité {{!}} Sengager.fr |url=https://www.sengager.fr/les-etapes-de-recrutement-et-conditions-dadmissibilite |access-date=2022-12-09 |website=www.sengager.fr |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Questions fréquentes |url=https://www.lamarinerecrute.fr/questions-frequentes |access-date=2022-12-09 |website=www.lamarinerecrute.fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Intégrer l'armée de l'Air et de l'Espace |url=https://devenir-aviateur.fr/integrer-larmee-de-lair-et-de-lespace |access-date=2022-12-09 |website=Aviateur |language=fr}}</ref> and students for military technical school from age 16; 3% of its armed forces' intake is aged under 18.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://childsoldiersworldindex.org/view/FR|title=Child Soldiers World Index: France|last=Child Soldiers International|year=2018|website=childsoldiersworldindex.org|language=en|access-date=28 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329054435/http://childsoldiersworldindex.org/view/FR|archive-date=29 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Germany====
Germany enlists military personnel from age 17; in 2015 6% of its armed forces' intake was aged under 18.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://childsoldiersworldindex.org/view/DE|title=Child Soldiers World Index: Germany|last=Child Soldiers International|year=2018|website=childsoldiersworldindex.org|language=en|access-date=28 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329054304/http://childsoldiersworldindex.org/view/DE|archive-date=29 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Netherlands====
The Netherlands enlists military personnel from age 17; in 2014 5% of its armed forces' intake was aged under 18.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://childsoldiersworldindex.org/view/NL|title=Child Soldiers World Index: Netherlands|last=Child Soldiers International|year=2018|website=childsoldiersworldindex.org|language=en|access-date=28 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329054419/http://childsoldiersworldindex.org/view/NL|archive-date=29 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Ukraine====
During the [[War in Donbas (2014–2022)|armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine in 2014]] [[Justice for Peace at Donbas]] documented 41 verified individual cases of child recruitment into armed formations.<ref name="JFP-2016">{{Cite web|url=https://jfp.org.ua/system/reports/files/80/en/Justice_for_peace_in_Donbas_EUCCI_Children_in_armed_formations.pdf|title=Involvement of Children in Armed Formations During the Military Conflict in Donbas|last=Eastern-Ukrainian Centre for Civil Initiatives|year=2016|access-date=22 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211083737/https://jfp.org.ua/system/reports/files/80/en/Justice_for_peace_in_Donbas_EUCCI_Children_in_armed_formations.pdf|archive-date=11 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Of those 37 concerned the participation of children in armed formations on territory occupied by [[Russia]] and 4 on territory controlled by [[Ukraine]]. There were 31 further reports of child recruitment which could not be verified. Of the 37 verified cases on territory controlled by Russia, 33 were boys and 4 were girls; 57% were aged 16–17, 35% were under 15, and age could not be determined in 8% of cases.<ref name="JFP-2016" />

====United Kingdom====
[[File:Junior-soldiers-at-a-graduation.jpg|thumb|Children from age 16 in the British Army, on parade at the [[Army Foundation College]], Harrogate, UK]]

The British armed forces enlist personnel from age 16 and accept applications from children aged 15 years, 7 months.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://apply.army.mod.uk/how-to-join/can-i-join/age|title=Age|last=British Army|year=2018|website=mod.uk|access-date=5 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171204171209/https://apply.army.mod.uk/how-to-join/can-i-join/age|archive-date=4 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Parental consent is required prior to enlistment.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mordaunt |first=P |date=4 July 2016 |title=Letter to Child Soldiers International, 4 July 2016 |url=https://www.child-soldiers.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=391f2315-a88e-47d6-b81b-5fc98b799af7 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308192244/https://www.child-soldiers.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=391f2315-a88e-47d6-b81b-5fc98b799af7 |archive-date=8 March 2019 |access-date=11 February 2018}}</ref>

{{as of|2022}}, 23% of enlistees to the British armed forces were aged under 18.<ref name="Ministry of Defence-2022">{{Cite web |title=UK armed forces biannual diversity statistics: April 2022 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-april-2022 |access-date=2022-08-18 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}}</ref> Most child recruits were enlisted for the army, where 30% of the intake in the year 2021-2022 was aged under 18; more new soldiers were 16 than any other age.<ref name="Ministry of Defence-2022" />

Army recruits aged between 16 and 17.5 train initially at the [[Army Foundation College]], a military training centre dedicated to the age group.

As per the OPAC, the UK does not normally send child recruits to participate in hostilities, although it does not rule out doing so.<ref name="UN-2018" />

The UK inadvertently deployed 22 personnel aged under 18 to Iraq and Afghanistan between 2003 and 2010.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.child-soldiers.org/shop/letter-from-uk-minister-of-defence-regarding-deployment-of-under-18s-on-combat-operations-1|title=Letter from UK Minister of Defence regarding deployment of under-18s on combat operations|last=Child Soldiers International|website=Child Soldiers International|language=en|access-date=5 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180418101630/https://www.child-soldiers.org/shop/letter-from-uk-minister-of-defence-regarding-deployment-of-under-18s-on-combat-operations-1|archive-date=18 April 2018|url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=23 July 2019 |title=EXCL UK broke pledge not to send under-age soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan |url=https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/excl-uk-broke-pledge-not-to-send-underage-soldiers-to-iraq-and-afghanistan |access-date=2022-12-09 |website=Politics Home |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-02-03 |title=UK guilty of sending 'child soldiers' to Iraq |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/uk-news/uk-guilty-sending-child-soldiers-iraq-2480102 |access-date=2022-12-09 |website=www.scotsman.com |language=en}}</ref> The committee on the Rights of the Child has urged the UK to alter its policy so as to ensure that children cannot take part in hostilities under any circumstances.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=6QkG1d%2fPPRiCAqhKb7yhsq3bGBgj7nnUgqOo%2fynBtO%2fECmRLeJYMRRb8lvcSbqdOqBHRHPeEfDShf9Gxj%2fukpq4N94ALY5Qdg0j45LrQBaPGQXGbBD6vlaVe0jP8YmSl1Fv0VQtoxAQPfw%2bSfBE8YQ%3d%3d|title=Consideration of Reports submitted by States Parties under Article 8 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. Concluding observations: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|last=UN Committee on the Rights of the Child|year=2008|access-date=5 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151024073416/http://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=6QkG1d%2fPPRiCAqhKb7yhsq3bGBgj7nnUgqOo%2fynBtO%2fECmRLeJYMRRb8lvcSbqdOqBHRHPeEfDShf9Gxj%2fukpq4N94ALY5Qdg0j45LrQBaPGQXGbBD6vlaVe0jP8YmSl1Fv0VQtoxAQPfw%2bSfBE8YQ%3d%3d|archive-date=24 October 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

In negotiations on the OPAC during the 1990s the UK joined the US in opposing a global minimum enlistment age of 18.<ref name="Becker-2013" /> Children's rights bodies have criticised the UK's continuing reliance on children to staff its armed forces.<ref>{{cite web |year=2016 |title=Letter from UK Children's Commissioners and others to the Ministry of Defence |url=https://www.child-soldiers.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=47932680-1531-498c-abe1-826acab81a37 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308192243/https://www.child-soldiers.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=47932680-1531-498c-abe1-826acab81a37 |archive-date=8 March 2019 |access-date=6 December 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=House of Commons and House of Lords Joint Committee on Human Rights |year=2009 |title=Children's Rights |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt200809/jtselect/jtrights/157/157.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207084547/https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt200809/jtselect/jtrights/157/157.pdf |archive-date=7 December 2017 |access-date=6 December 2017}}</ref><ref name="OHCHR-2016">{{cite web |last=Committee on the Rights of the Child |year=2016 |title=Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland |url=http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC/C/GBR/CO/5&Lang=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507180512/http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC%2fC%2fGBR%2fCO%2f5&Lang=en |archive-date=7 May 2017 |access-date=6 December 2017 |website=tbinternet.ohchr.org}}</ref><ref name="Gee-2016" />

===Oceania===

====Australia====
The [[Australian Defence Force]] allows personnel to enlist with parental consent from the age of 16. Personnel under the age of 18 cannot be deployed overseas or used in direct combat except in extreme circumstances where it is not possible to evacuate them.<ref>{{cite web|title=Age & Gender|url=http://www.defencejobs.gov.au/recruitmentCentre/canIJoin/ageAndGender/|work=Defence Jobs|publisher=Department of Defence|access-date=20 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623193028/http://www.defencejobs.gov.au/recruitmentCentre/canIJoin/ageAndGender/|archive-date=23 June 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

====New Zealand====
{{as of|2018}}, the minimum age for joining the [[New Zealand Defence Force]] was 17.<ref>{{cite web|title=FAQs|url=https://www.defencecareers.mil.nz/home/faqs/|website=Defence Careers|publisher=New Zealand Defence Force|access-date=31 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180331173659/https://www.defencecareers.mil.nz/home/faqs/|archive-date=31 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Movement to end military use of children==
[[File:Children soldier.jpg|thumb|250px|upright|2008 poster by Rafaela Tasca and [[Carlos Latuff]]]]

The military use of children has been common throughout history; only in recent decades has the practice met with informed criticism and concerted efforts to end it.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://scriptamus.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/child-soldiers-are-unfortunately-nothing-new|title=Child Soldiers Are Unfortunately Nothing New|last=Eigen|first=L D|date=3 November 2009|work=Scriptamus|access-date=12 February 2018|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118123950/https://scriptamus.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/child-soldiers-are-unfortunately-nothing-new/|archive-date=18 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Progress has been slow, partly because many armed forces have relied on children to fill their ranks,<ref name="CSI-2017a" /><ref name="CSI-2012" /><ref name="Becker-2013" /> and partly because the behaviour of [[Violent non-state actor|non-state armed groups]] is difficult to influence.<ref name="CSI-2016" />

=== Recent history ===

==== 1970s–1980s ====
International efforts to limit children's participation in armed conflict began with the Additional Protocols to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, adopted in 1977 (Art. 77.2).<ref name="Red Cross-1977" /> The new Protocols prohibited the military recruitment of children aged under 15, but continued to allow state armed forces and non-state armed groups to recruit children from age 15 and use them in warfare.<ref name="ICRC-2007">[http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/COM/470-750099?OpenDocument ICRC Commentary on Protocol I: Article 77] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013073553/http://icrc.org/ihl.nsf/COM/470-750099?OpenDocument|date=13 October 2007}} website of the [[International Committee of the Red Cross|ICRC]] ¶ 3183–3191 also ¶ [http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/COM/470-750098?OpenDocument 3171] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013073548/http://icrc.org/ihl.nsf/COM/470-750098?OpenDocument|date=13 October 2007}}</ref><ref name="Becker-2013" />

Efforts were renewed during negotiations on the [[Convention on the Rights of the Child]] (CRC), when Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) campaigned for the new treaty to outlaw child recruitment entirely.<ref name="Becker-2013" /> Some states, whose armed forces relied on recruiting below the age of 18, resisted this, so the final treaty text of 1989 only reflected the existing legal standard: the prohibition of the direct participation of children aged under 15 in hostilities.<ref name="Becker-2013" />

==== 1990s ====
In the 1990s NGOs established the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (now Child Soldiers International) to work with sympathetic governments on a campaign for a new treaty to correct the deficiencies they saw in the CRC.<ref name="Becker-2013" /> After a global campaign lasting six years, the treaty was adopted in 2000 as the [[Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict]] (OPAC). The treaty prohibits child conscription, ensures that military recruits are no younger than 16, and forbids the use of child recruits in hostilities. The treaty also forbids non-state armed groups from recruiting anyone under the age of 18 for any purpose.<ref name="ohchr-2000" /> Although most states negotiating OPAC supported a ban on recruiting children, some states, led by the US in alliance with the UK, objected to this.<ref name="Becker-2013" /><ref name="Brett-2005" /> As such, the treaty does not ban the recruitment of children aged 16 or 17, although it allows states to bind themselves to a higher standard in law.<ref name="ohchr-2000" />

==== 2000s–present ====

[[File:Red Hand Day - Kinder sind keine Soldaten.jpg|thumb|[[Red Hand Day]], the International Day Against Use of Child Soldiers, is often marked by displaying red handprints.]]

After the adoption of the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, a campaign for global ratification made swift progress.<ref name="Becker-2013" /> {{as of|2018}} OPAC had been ratified by 167 states.<ref name="UN-2018" /> The campaign also successfully encouraged many states not to recruit children at all. In 2001 83 states only allowed adult enlistment. By 2016 this had increased to 126, which is 71 percent of countries with armed forces.<ref name="CSI-2017a" /> Approximately 60 non-state armed groups have also entered agreements to stop or scale back their use of children, often brokered by the UN or the NGO [[Geneva Call]].<ref name="CSI-2016" />

Child Soldiers International reports that the success of the OPAC treaty, combined with the gradual decline in child recruitment by state armed forces, has led to a reduction of children in military organisations worldwide.<ref name="CSI-2017a" /> {{as of|2018}} the recruitment and use of children remains widespread. In particular, militant Islamist organisations such as [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant|ISIS]] and [[Boko Haram]], as well as armed groups fighting them, have used children extensively.<ref name="UN" /> In addition, the three most populous states – China, India and the United States – still allow their armed forces to enlist children aged 16 or 17, as do five of the Group of Seven countries: Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, again.<ref name="CSI-2017a" />

=== Events ===
[[Red Hand Day]] (also known as the International Day Against the Use of Child Soldiers) on 12{{nbsp}}February is an annual commemoration day to draw public attention to the practice of using children as soldiers in wars and armed conflicts. The date reflects the entry into force of the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict.<ref name="ohchr-2000" />

=== Countering the militarisation of childhood ===
[[File:Master Sgt. Libby Lipscomb, a member of the Army Reserve Command Honor Guard, evaluates a high school honor guard.jpg|thumb|A [[United States Army]] Reserve Command Honor Guard sergeant drills high school students at [[Jackson High School (Georgia)|Jackson High School]] in [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], US.]]

Many states which do not allow their armed forces to recruit children have continued to draw criticism for marketing military life to children through the education system, in civic spaces and in popular entertainment such as films and videogames.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Spectacle Reality Resistance.|last=Gee|first=D|publisher=ForcesWatch|year=2014|isbn=9780993095504|location=London|oclc=922406573}}</ref> Some commentators have argued that this marketing to children is manipulative and part of a military recruitment process and should therefore be evaluated ethically as such.<ref name="Gee-2008" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://vfpuk.org/2017/report-the-first-ambush/|title=The First Ambush: Effects of army training and employment|last=Veterans for Peace UK|date=3 July 2017|work=Veterans For Peace UK|access-date=12 February 2018|language=en-GB|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180116152208/http://vfpuk.org/2017/report-the-first-ambush/|archive-date=16 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> This principle has led some groups to campaign for relations between military organisations and young people to be regulated, on the grounds of children's rights and public health.<ref name="Hagopian-2011" /><ref name="ForcesWatch-2018">{{Cite web|url=https://www.forceswatch.net/projects/details?quicktabs_3=2#quicktabs-3|title=Military Out of Schools|last=ForcesWatch|year=2018|website=forceswatch.net|language=en|access-date=12 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511225913/http://www.forceswatch.net/projects/details?quicktabs_3=2#quicktabs-3|archive-date=11 May 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> Examples are the Countering the Militarization of Youth programme of [[War Resisters' International]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://antimili-youth.net/|title=Countering the Militarisation of Youth|last=War Resisters International|year=2018|website=antimili-youth.net|language=en|access-date=12 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213023752/https://antimili-youth.net/|archive-date=13 February 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> the Stop Recruiting Kids campaign in the US,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://srkcampaign.org/|title=Stop Recruiting Kids|year=2018|website=srkcampaign.org|language=en|access-date=13 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213201439/http://srkcampaign.org/|archive-date=13 February 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> and the Military Out of Schools campaign in the UK.<ref name="ForcesWatch-2018" /> Similar concerns have been raised in Germany and Israel.<ref name="Bundestag Commission-2016"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=http://new.newprofile.org/sites/default/files/infokits/english.pdf|title=The New Profile Report on Child Recruitment in Israel|last=New Profile|year=2004|access-date=10 December 2017}}</ref>

==Rehabilitation and reintegration of child soldiers==

{{Main|Rehabilitation and reintegration of child soldiers}}{{See also|Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration}}

[[Child Soldiers International]] defines reintegration as: "The process through which children formerly associated with armed forces/groups are supported to return to civilian life and play a valued role in their families and communities"<ref name="CSI-2018b">{{Cite news|url=https://www.child-soldiers.org/reintegration|title=Reintegration|work=Child Soldiers International|access-date=7 March 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308041704/https://www.child-soldiers.org/reintegration|archive-date=8 March 2018|url-status=usurped}}</ref> Programs that aim to rehabilitate and reintegrate child soldiers, such as those sponsored by UNICEF, often emphasise three components: family reunification/community network, psychological support, and education/economic opportunity.<ref name="BBC News" /><ref name="Reconstruction Unit 2002">Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction Unit. "Child Soldiers: Prevention, Demobilization, and Reintegration" May 2002</ref> These efforts take a minimum commitment of 3 to 5 years in order for programs to be successfully implemented.<ref name="BBC News" /><ref name="Reconstruction Unit 2002" /> Generally, reintegration efforts seek to return children to a safe environment, to create a sense of forgiveness on the behalf of the child's family and community through religious and cultural ceremonies and rituals, and encourage the reunification of the child with his or her family.<ref name="BBC News" /><ref name="Reconstruction Unit 2002" />

Reintegration efforts can become challenging when the child in question has committed war crimes because in these cases stigma and resentment within the community can be exacerbated. In situations such as these, it is important that the child's needs are balanced with a sense of community justice.<ref name="BBC News" /><ref name="Reconstruction Unit 2002" /> These situations should be addressed immediately because if not, many children face the threat of re-enlistment.<ref name="CSI-2018b" /> There are also two areas of reintegration that warrant special consideration: female child soldiers and drug use among child soldiers.<ref name="Davies-2004" /><ref name="Reconstruction Unit 2002"/> Child soldiers under the influence of drugs or who have contracted sexually transmitted diseases require additional programmes specific to their needs.<ref name="BBC News" /><ref name="Reconstruction Unit 2002" />

==See also==

=== General ===
* [[History of children in the military]]
* [[Children in emergencies and conflicts]]
* [[Children's rights]]
* [[Child slavery]]
* [[Child labour]]
* [[Stress in early childhood]]

=== Well-known cases of children used for military purposes ===
* [[Grace Akallo]], Ugandan
* [[Loung Ung]], Cambodian
* [[Ishmael Beah]], Sierra Leonean
* [[Calvin Graham]], American
* [[Student soldiers in the Korean War|Hagdobyeong]], Korean
* [[Himeyuri students]], Japanese
* [[Mohammad Hossein Fahmideh]], Iranian
* [[Omar Khadr]], Canadian
* [[Luftwaffenhelfer]], German
* [[Lwów Eaglets]], Polish
* [[Dominic Ongwen]], Ugandan
* ''[[Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army]]'' (documentary film)

=== Campaigns and campaigners to end the use of children in the military ===
* [[Child Soldiers International]]
* [[Els de Temmerman]]
* [[Graça Machel]]
* [[Roméo Dallaire|Romeo Dallaire]]
* [[War Resisters International]] (Countering Militarization of Youth programme)
* [[Red Hand Day]]

=== Related crimes against children ===
* [[Trafficking of children]]

=== Related international law and standards ===
* [[Convention on the Rights of the Child]]
* [[Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court]]
* [[Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention]]
* [[International humanitarian law]]
* [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1998]]
* [[Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict]]
* [[Free Children from War conference]], which established the Paris Principles

=== Documentary film ===
* ''[[Kony 2012]]'', documentary film
* {{lang|it|[[La vita non perde valore]]}} (''Life does not lose its value''), documentary film

==Further reading==
* Vautravers, A. J. (2009). Why Child Soldiers are Such a Complex Issue. Refugee Survey Quarterly, 27(4), 96–107. doi:10.1093/rsq/hdp002
* Humphreys, Jessica Dee (2015). ''Child Soldier: When Boys and Girls Are Used in War''. Toronto: Kids Can Press {{ISBN|978-1-77138-126-0}}
* International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) & The Global Center on Cooperative Security (September 2017). "Correcting the Course: Juvenile Justice Principles for Children Convicted of Violent Extremism Offenses", ''ICCT & GCCS'', 1–12. [https://icct.nl/publication/correcting-the-course-advancing-juvenile-justice-principles-for-children-convicted-of-violent-extremist-offenses/ Correcting the Course: Advancing Juvenile Justice Principles for Children Convicted of Violent Extremist Offenses]
*Dr U C Jha (2018), "Child Soldiers – Practice, Law and Remedies". Vij Books India Pvt Ltd {{ISBN | 9789386457523}}
*Artur Bogner, Gabriele Rosenthal (2020): Child Soldiers in Context. Biographies, Familial and Collective Trajectories in Northern Uganda. Göttingen: University Press. [https://doi.org/10.17875/gup2020-1325 Child Soldiers in Context]
* {{cite web | title = Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 | url = https://www.hrw.org/legacy/pub/2008/children/Child_Soldiers_Global_Report_Summary.pdf | publisher = COALITION TO STOP THE USE OF CHILD SOLDIERS | date = 2008 | quote = At least 14 governments also recruited, and in some cases used in hostilities, children in auxiliary forces, civilian defence groups or in illegal militias and armed groups acting as proxies for official armed forces. These included Chad, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, the DRC, India, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Peru, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe. In Burundi, Colombia, the DRC, India, Indonesia, Israel, Nepal and Uganda children – often captured, surrendered or escaped from armed groups - were also used as spies, informants or messengers. }}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Child soldiers}}

=== Advocacy and campaigns ===
* [https://www.hrw.org/topic/childrens-rights/child-soldiers Human Rights Watch, "Child Soldiers"]
* [https://www.unicef.org.uk/publications/child-soldiers-briefing/ UNICEF, "Child Soldiers"]
* [https://www.warchild.ca/ War Child]
* [https://watchlist.org/ Watchlist]

=== Reference: Child soldiers worldwide ===
* Child Soldiers International, historical reports:
** {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20180402040002/https://www.child-soldiers.org/shop/global-report-2001 Child Soldiers Global Report: 2001]}}
** {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20180402040029/https://www.child-soldiers.org/Shop/global-report-2004-1 Child Soldiers Global Report: 2004]}}
** {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20171206214053/https://www.child-soldiers.org/shop/louder-than-words-1 Louder than words: 2012]}}

=== Testimony and reportage ===
* "[https://womennewsnetwork.net/2009/01/13/ugandagirlsoldier809/ Girl Soldiers – The cost of survival in Northern Uganda] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523212431/http://womennewsnetwork.net/2009/01/13/ugandagirlsoldier809/ |date=23 May 2012 }}", womennewsnetwork.net.
* "[https://web.archive.org/web/20080919202241/http://www.ecmafrica.org/165641.ihtml Invisible Children—The Tragedy in Uganda, Every Child Ministries]", ecmafrica.org
* "[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928110029/http://www.forlife-worldwide.com/karamoja-uganda-en.html Children of Karamoja]" (Uganda), forlife-worldwide.com
* "[https://jfp.org.ua/system/reports/files/80/en/Justice_for_peace_in_Donbas_EUCCI_Children_in_armed_formations.pdf Involvement of children in armed formations during the military conflict in Donbas"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211083737/https://jfp.org.ua/system/reports/files/80/en/Justice_for_peace_in_Donbas_EUCCI_Children_in_armed_formations.pdf |date=11 February 2017 }} (Ukraine), jfp.org.ua
* "[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3019838.stm Sex slavery awaits Ugandan schoolgirls]", BBC News
* "[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4266789.stm Ugandan army recruiting children]", BBC News
* "[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1383998.stm Criticism of British child soldier recruitment]", BBC News
* "[https://www.theguardian.com/international/story/0,,1469358,00.html Armies of girls caught up in conflict]", ''The Guardian''
* "[https://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2007/07/witness.html The Child Soldiers of Staten Island]", ''Mother Jones''

=== International institutions ===
* [https://www.icrc.org/en/publication/4383-children-war International Committee of the Red Cross, "Children in war"]
* [https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/ Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict]
* [http://www.ilo.org/ipec/areas/Armedconflict/lang--en/index.htm International Labour Organization, "Child labour and armed conflict"]

=== Other ===
* [https://middleeastinst.libsyn.com/child-soldiers-in-the-middle-east Podcast on child soldiers in the Middle East]
{{War crimes}}{{Abuse}}
{{Law country lists}}

[[Category:Age and society]]
[[Category:Children in the military| ]]
[[Category:Human rights abuses]]
[[Category:Military life]]
[[Category:Military personnel]]
[[Category:Military sociology]]
[[Category:Youth rights]]
[[Category:Slave soldiers]]