They are forced to kill and loot, they have to go to the front, are driven by mine fields or used for espionage. 250,000 children and adolescents are abused as a soldier worldwide. If the war is over, many are traumatized and urgently need support. Start with us to ensure that this serious child rights violation will be stopped and these girls and boys get a chance to return to civil society.
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Child soldiers - data and facts
No recruitment of children!
They are forced to kill and loot, they have to go to the front, are driven by mine fields or used for espionage. 250,000 children and adolescents are abused as soldiers worldwide - both by regular armies and rebel groups. Depending on the conflict, there are also five to 20 percent girls. That is often forgotten.
Children are an integral part of the military infrastructure in many armed warring parties. Your everyday life is characterized by violence, her upbringing is based on unconditional obedience. Children are easier manipulable, more obedient and fearless than adults. Light and cheap small weapons - also from Europe - enable the warlords to also send young children to the front.
Once the war is over, they urgently need support so they have a chance to return to civilian society. Many are traumatized and unable to earn a living. They often have neither received any training nor attended school. Terre des Hommes offers these children a new perspective: In projects, they receive psychological support and training. At the political level, Terre des Hommes is committed to ensuring that no child under the age of 18 is recruited and that arms exports to countries with serious human rights violations are stopped.
Worldwide use against the recruitment of children
In Germany, Terre des Hommes coordinates the "German Alliance for Child Soldiers" together with Kindernothilfe. Worldwide, Terre des Hommes works against the abuse of children as soldiers in networks such as the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict and with partners such as Coalico in Colombia and Child Soldiers International.
definition
Children's soldiers are
»... all persons under the age of 18 who are recruited or used by armed forces or armed groups (…), including children who were used as fighter, chefs, sponsors, news transfers, spies or for sexual purposes.«
Definition according to the Parisian Principles (2007), signed by 105 states, including Germany
Where are there child soldiers?
According to estimates, around 250,000 children in over 20 countries are recruited and used in over 20 countries by armed groups and armies. They are kidnapped or lured with false promises and a small wage and drilled military. They are often made compliant by ill -treatment, drugs or money. Girls and boys are often sexually abused. The long -term consequences for the psychological and physical well -being of the children are catastrophic: they are forced to absolute obedience, the self -confidence disappears, they dump off cruelty, are traumatized and seriously injured.
In Germany, boys and girls under the age of 18 are recruited into the Bundeswehr every year. In 2022, the total was 1,773, including 327 girls – a 43 percent increase over the previous year. Terre des Hommes is committed to ensuring that the Bundeswehr also adheres to the international 18-year standard and stops the recruitment and recruitment of minors – this is also demanded by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Children's Commission of the German Bundestag. In September 2017, Terre des Hommes more than 30,000 signatures to Defense Minister von der Leyen and emphasized its demands in a meeting at the Ministry of Defense.
250,000 children and adolescents are used in more than 20 countries worldwide as soldiers, most of them in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
- In Syria, thousands of children are misused as soldiers, by the Islamic State, by the Free Syrian Army as well as Kurdish and in the past of Pro Assad groups.
- In Colombia, 7,000 Farc fighters were disarmed and demobilized in Colombia as a result of the peace treaty signed at the end of 2016, including many minors. In other armed guerrilla groups such as the ELL, ELP, FARC splinter groups and in paramilitary groups and criminal gangs, there are still minor soldiers.
- More than 8,000 children, including many girls, have been recruited by Boko Haram in Nigeria since 2009 and partially forced to blow themselves up as suicide bombers. Hundreds of children also recruited against Boko Haram.
- In Myanmar there are also thousands or possibly tens of thousands of child soldiers, precise numbers are not known. The cases of recruits to the state army initially declined after the signing of a UN campaign plan in 2012, but increased massively again from 2020. Armed opposition groups such as the Kachin Independent Army Kia also use minors as soldiers to a large extent.
- In India, numerous armed opposition groups recruit children, such as the Naxalites and many groups in Northeast India, and cases of recruitment and illegal detention of minors have also been documented repeatedly within the state army. Terre des Hommes has conducted a study on this.
- Also in the DR Congo, Cameroon, Sudan, Südsudan, Mali, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Somalia, Lebanon, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Israel / Palestine, Lebanon, Afghanistan, the Philippines and other countries are recruited and exploited as soldiers.
In addition to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Children and the additional protocol of children in armed conflicts, important standards have been enforced against the recruitment of children in recent years. These include:
- The establishment of the International Criminal Court in the Hague, which, among other things, pursues the recruitment of children as a war crime
- The name of a special representative of the UN for children in armed conflicts and the establishment of a monitoring and reporting procedure
- A discussion of the situation of the children in decisions by the UN Security Council, in peace missions and peace agreements.
But this is far from being enough, because many regulations are not implemented in practice. Even the most serious children's rights violations usually have no consequences, neither criminal nor at an international or diplomatic level.
This culminated in June 2016 when Saudi Arabia threatened UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that it would stop all payments to the UN if it was not removed from the UN's so-called List of Shame. Saudi Arabia had been listed there after massive bombings of hospitals and schools in Yemen, resulting in numerous civilian deaths, including many children. Ban Ki-moon reluctantly agreed but made this blackmail public. Terre des Hommes and many other NGOs protested, but international pressure largely failed to materialize. From 2017 to 2019, the military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) waging war in Yemen was then listed on the List of Shame as an actor responsible for the killing and maiming of children. However, this is no longer mentioned in the 2020 and 2021 reports, even though the military coalition continues to bomb civilian markets, schools, and hospitals, resulting in many deaths. In 2019, several human rights organizations filed criminal complaints with the International Criminal Court in The Hague for aiding and abetting war crimes against European companies such as Airbus, Rheinmetall, Leonardo, and BAE Systems, as well as against state actors in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Italy. Members of the military coalition, especially Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt, remain among the world's largest arms importers and are receiving massive arms buildups, primarily from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The German government has suspended arms exports to Saudi Arabia since the end of 2018 due to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but has approved some deliveries via other European countries.
In general, there has been a very high degree of child rights violations in armed conflicts in recent years. The UN Security Council and influential countries such as Germany urgently need to become active and give the protection of children in war areas.
Demands and goals
Terre des Hommes and the German Alliance Against Child Soldiers are calling on international policymakers and the German government to improve the situation of child soldiers.
1. "Straight 18"
Children under the age of 18 may neither be recruited or forcibly recruited or used as soldiers. This applies regardless of the function and whether you wear a weapon. All girls and boys under the age of 18 have to be released from armies and armed groups. In principle, under 18-year-olds must not be advertised for armies or armed groups. This also applies to the Bundeswehr, who has recruited and advertises 17-year-olds.
2. Punishment of the responsible
persons, states and armed groups who recruit children and use them as soldiers must be publicly named and punished.
3. Care, protection and help for fled child soldiers
Medical and psychological care, protection against renewed recruitment, as well as school and vocational training are vital for all former child soldiers - especially if they come to other countries as refugees.
4. Granting of political asylum
former child soldiers must be granted in all countries to which they have fled, protection and political asylum must be granted - also in Germany and other industrialized countries.
5. Stop the arms exports to countries with armed conflicts or serious violations of human and child and child rights- especially to those countries in which one of the six serious child rights violations take place in armed conflicts (according to UN definition: the recruitment of children as soldiers, killing and mutilating children, the kidnapping of children, sexual violence against children, attacks in schools and sick houses, Refusal of access to humanitarian aid).
6. More money for child soldiers aid programs
The state and international funds for prevention and reintegration programs for child soldiers have to be increased significantly. There are no means of such programs in many countries with child soldiers.
Never 18! This should also apply to the Bundeswehr
1. Stop of the recruitment of 17-year-old minors to the Bundeswehr, increasing the minimum age for recruitment to 18 years.
2. Stop of the Bundeswehr advertising, which is aimed specifically at minors: at schools, in youth media, on youth sites on the Internet, at sports, adventure and music events for minors, etc.
3. Peace education binding in the curricula and anchoring in teacher training
4. Granting of political asylum and support for refugee child soldiers or minors who have fled before recruitment. A safe residence status, medical and psychological care as well as school and vocational training are vital for them. There are major problems here in Germany.
5. Stop the arms exports to countries with armed conflicts or serious violations of human and child and child rights- especially to those countries in which one of the six serious child rights violations take place in armed conflicts (according to UN definition: the recruitment of children as soldiers, killing and mutilating children, the kidnapping of children, sexual violence against children, attacks in schools and sick houses, Refusal of access to humanitarian aid).
6. More money for child soldiers aid programs : The state funds for prevention and reintegration programs for child soldiers in crisis regions must be increased significantly.
What you can do
Terre des Hommes is committed to protecting children in armed conflicts at various levels. In addition to participating in initiatives to combat child recruitment terre des hommes supports numerous projects in war and crisis zones. The following aspects are important to Terre des Hommes ' project work:
- Prevention work, i.e. the protection of children from violence and forced recruitment
- Efforts for discharge, rehabilitation and reconciliation for active or former child soldiers
- Help and support for injured and traumatized former child soldiers
- Help for former child soldiers who come to Germany as refugees
Please support our work against the abuse of children as soldiers with a donation. Every donation helps!
Your contact person
Ralf Willinger
Speaker children's rights and peace culture