Child Soldiers - youlikewelike

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Images of children in army uniforms clasping machine guns will always be emotive, even though hundreds of thousands of such children are active in armies around the world. Equally, 17-year-old British soldiers have also fought and died, as recently as 1990, in the Gulf. So, are they child soldiers, as well?

Lucia Withers, Programme Manager for the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, explains that whilst it is hard to be accurate, she estimates that up to 300,000 children worldwide are in active army service at any given time.

“The perceived image is of an African child with an AK47, but actually there is a much wider range of categories,” points out Withers. “Children can be active in military support roles, such as cooking, scouting, gathering firewood or washing. There are also lots of girls involved, often as sex slaves or wives of the commanders. The fact that they are part of, or associated with, the armed forces obviously still places them at risk.”

Withers believes that a wide range of factors force children into military service. There are physical kidnappings and abductions (most notoriously conducted by the Ugandan Lords Resistance Army), but many also choose voluntarily to join up. “We are very alert to what that actually means,” she explains. “Typically under 18s that volunteer are often those who don’t have other alternatives. They may not have access to schooling or employment, and can be either from particularly poor backgrounds, or discriminated against. Then you get very vulnerable categories like refugees, displaced persons or orphans. It can be a whole combination of reasons. Some governments will also actively recruit children.”

Meanwhile, in the UK, Bill Hetherington, Campaigner at the Peace Pledge Union, believes that the UK government actively recruits under 18s into the armed forces, beginning with candidates as young as 16.

“The only other European country that does that is Serbia, which is not exactly a model of democracy,” jokes Hetherington. “At the last count, in April, there were approximately 4,000 under 18s in the armed forces.”

Hetherington describes how, upon joining the army recruits sign an ‘open engagement’ giving the service a commitment of 22 years. This can be broken after three years once 12 months notice has been given, but the years up to the age of 18 do not count (termed the ‘six year trap’ as 16-year-olds have to wait that long to leave – though only the British army still does this as the Air Force and Navy have abolished it).

The UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child, agreed in 1989, was felt to be weak on the usage of soldiers under 18 in combat situations. Therefore the Optional Protocol was devised to prevent this practice, which the UK has fully ratified. The Protocol came into force in 02 but doesn’t actually forbid recruitment into the armed forces, which is still permitted at the age of 16.

“Until the UK signed up to the Optional Protocol, soldiers went out as soon as they were trained,” argues Hetherington, “so, in the previous wars Britain was involved in – The Falklands and the first Gulf War –17-years-olds fought, and were killed in battle.”

The Optional Protocol prevents the UK from repeating this policy of deployment. However, a recent report from the UK government to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child also shows that, whilst soldiers under 18s did not actually enter combat in Iraq, they came very close to the frontline.

“They admitted that 15 under 18s did get sent out, but then they realised what was happening and pulled them back,” points out Hetherington. “One of them was just weeks away from his 18th birthday and was held back at base. The others were sent back to the UK, but it does go to show how near it was.”

According to Withers this sends a “contradictory message to other countries.” She says that the positive support of the UK government is important in tackling all aspects of the problems of child soldiers.

Hetherington argues that the longer the UK actively recruits soldiers under 18 (even if they are not going into active war zones) a message is transmitted that children can be treated as ‘cannon fodder.’

“There was an official parliamentary report from the Armed Forces Bill Select Committee in 01 which actually used the word ‘caught’, as in if they are not ‘caught’ at 16 then they will be lost from the armed forces forever. They are saying that if we do not recruit them at that age then they might actually go to college and get some decent accreditations. We should let kids make up their own minds and, if they decide they don’t want the army, then good luck to them.”

words: Andrew Laughlin