Definition

A child soldier is any person under the age of 18 (it was 15 before 2000 as per international norms) engaged in deadly violence (non-criminal) or “combat support” as part of a state armed force or non-state armed group by conscription (compulsory/obligatory military service), voluntary enlistment or forced recruitment.

Total Strength

Over 300,000. Asia ranks second to Africa among the continents with most child soldiers. Of 300,000 children estimated to participate in armed conflict in over 41 countries around the world, 150,000 can be found in Africa and more than 75,000 in Asia. Myanmar ranks first with most number of child soldiers.

Countries where Child Soldiers are found

Child soldiers are actively fighting in nearly 30 armed conflicts in 41 countries either on the side of the government forces or armed opposition groups or both. Those countries are Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Cambodia, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, East Timor, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel (Palestine), Lebanon, Liberia, Mexico, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan.

Age Range

Mostly between the ages of 15 to 18, in many cases children wield guns as early as 7 years. Proliferation of light weapons like AK-47s or M-16s has in fact made the age factor redundant. Such weapons in the hands of children are no less deadly than adults.

Role

Apart from direct combat activities, children are used as spies, messengers, sentries, porters, servants, laying and clearing landmines, and suicide missions. Young girls, besides performing above functions, act as sex slaves. Some armed groups use children to commit atrocities against their own communities.                                           

International Legal Framework banning Child soldiering

1. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (enacted 25 May 2000 and entry into force 12 February 2002). The Optional Protocol’s plan, known as the “Straight 18” position,

   • prohibits governments and armed groups from using children under the age of 18 in conflict;

   • bans all compulsory recruitment of under 18;

   • bans voluntary recruitment of under 18 by armed groups;

   • raises the minimum age and requires strict safeguards for voluntary recruitment

2. The 1977 Additional Protocols I and II to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) set 15 as the minimum age for recruitment and deployment in war. (the age was later raised to 18 under Optional Protocol of the Convention).

3. The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, adopted by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1990 which came into force in November 1999, is the only regional treaty in the world which addresses the issue of child soldiers.

4. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998) provides jurisdiction to the ICC over the use of child soldiers in both international and intra-national armed conflicts.

5. ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention was adopted on 17 June 1999 and came into force on 19 November 2000.

6. UN Security Council Resolutions 1261 and 1314 that condemned the use of children in armed conflicts and called for concerted international action to stop the menace.