terre des hommes demands the end of the recruitment of minor soldiers and stopping weapons exports to conflict areas
Osnabrück/Berlin/Geneva, 05.09.2022 - On the occasion of the upcoming survey of the Federal Government by the UN Committee for the rights of the child on Monday and Tuesday in Geneva, the International Children's Aidswerk terre des hommes of the Federal Government accuses of disregarding children's rights. "Germany is responsible for serious children's rights violations in minor soldiers in the Bundeswehr and the consequences of German arms exports in conflict regions," said Beat Wehrle, board spokesman for terre des hommes . »Germany has been ignoring the repeated request of the UN Committee and child protection organizations since 2008 to raise the recruitment age for soldiers to 18 years and to stop arms exports in conflict regions in which children are recruited as soldiers. The traffic light coalition now has the opportunity to protect children and adolescents as prescribes international law. This is not a courtesy for young people, but the fulfillment of a contractual obligation. "
The Bundeswehr recruits 17-year-olds as a soldier every year. In 2021 there were 1,239, the tendency is rising. »The rights of these girls and boys are regularly massively injured in the Bundeswehr. Defense Ministry of 2021 shows that underage soldiers were affected by sexual violence from 2018 to 2020 and suffered serious physical and mental damage such as mental disorders or accidents, «says Beat Wehrle. "In addition, the demolition rate of young recruits is above average."
Furthermore, terre des hommes criticizes that many children are dying or forced in war zones from German weapons to fight as child soldiers. For example, in the Yemen War, in which numerous children are misused as soldiers, at least 3,550 children were killed by the military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, mostly by bombing from the air. Rheinmetall bombs, tornado and Eurofighter combat jets and assault rifles were used by Heckler & Koch. »Members of this military coalition such as the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have long been among the main recipients of German arms exports. In 2021 arms exports of over four billion euros were approved for Egypt alone, a new record value, «said Beat Wehrle. »Here, too, the federal government urgently has to accomplish and stop arms exports in regions with armed conflicts and serious child rights violations. This must be anchored in the new arms export control law. "
The UN Right of Children's Rights Committee is the body anchored in the UN Convention on the Rights of Children, which examines compliance with this constitutional law by the contracting states every five years. He has asked Germany several times since 2008 to raise the recruitment age for soldiers to 18 years to protect children and to stop weapon exports to conflict areas in which children's soldiers are used. So far, this request has been ignored by the federal government.
terre des hommes has fed into the ongoing UN reporting process several studies and documents that document serious child rights violations in connection with the military and armed conflicts, including the shadow report of child soldiers and the study "small hands in small hands-German arms exports violate children's rights". They can be ordered free of charge terre des hommes downloaded here