forced recruitment

Mon
23
Feb
2015
New translation available
Niños, hijos de una familia desplazada, jugando en el río Sarare, Guasdualito, estado Apure
Submitted by Gary

Boys, girls and adolescents in the country are “the most weak and vulnerable victims of the forced displacement among the overall population displaced by the country’s armed conflict” (Corte, 2008-b). As a result...

Sat
13
Jan

Elective Military Corps Programs in Schools Should Not Be Forced Upon Minority and Low-income Students

On December 11, 2022 the New York Times printed its lead story titled, “ Thousands of Teens Are Being Pushed Into Military’s Junior R.O.T.C.”

Sun
16
Apr

Veterans Push Back Against Military Recruitment in Schools

Image: US Department of Defense

The branches of the U.S. military have long seen high schools as optimal recruiting grounds. Some veterans are beginning to fight the propaganda and tell students the truth about military service.

Sat
12
Feb

The Israeli “Refusers”

 Israeli draft resisters. Source: www.refuser.org.

When Israeli children play with toy soldiers, it’s not just a game, a fantasy or an aspiration. It is a fact of life that they will serve in the military, usually right after high school. When children hear stories from family members about their time in the military, it is not just from a father or one aunt or cousin. Nearly all (male and female) adult family members have stories to tell about their time in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). There are exemptions for Orthodox Jews, the mentally or physically unqualified, young mothers, Arab Israelis, and a few others, but it is rare for a citizen to be deemed a conscientious objector. To seek CO status in Israeli society is considered the ultimate betrayal and a process that will bring certain suffering to the individual.

Wed
22
Dec

One in eight children found at risk of becoming child soldiers

Photo: Flickr Creative Commons

One in eight of the world’s children - more than 300 million - live in conflict zones where they are at risk of becoming child soldiers, the charity Save the Children warned. The Save the Children report published on 30th November said boosting school access was vital in fighting forced recruitment.

According to the report, during 2020 some 337 million children were living near armed groups and government forces that recruit children.

Nearly 200 million of them live in the world’s deadliest war zones, up 20% from 2019. 

The exact number of child soldiers is unknown, but in 2020 more than 8,500 children were recruited and used as fighters or in other roles by mostly non-state armed groups, according to U.N. data, a 10% increase from the previous year.

That number is likely to be only a fraction of actual cases, the charity’s report said. 

Wed
22
Dec

Myanmar Regime Makes Military Training Compulsory for Soldiers' Children

Photo: Flickr Creative Commons

Myanmar’s military has made it mandatory for children of its personnel to undergo military training as it seeks to prepare reserve forces, despite such training being against both Myanmar and international law. 

“Among the trainees are teenage children. The military has made the training mandatory for all children old enough to carry a gun. Even my child had to attend,” said a sergeant from a regional command who has now defected.   

However, Myanmar’s Child Rights Law expressly prohibits providing military training to children with the intention of using them to serve in the military, as does the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, said one child rights activist. 

Read the full story published on 07 December 2021 by The Irrawaddy here.

Wed
01
Dec

Syrian Kurds Demand End to Child Recruitment

Photo: Flickr Creative Commons

Dozens of Kurdish parents and activists protested outside the United Nations offices in Qamishli, Syria, on Sunday against the recruitment of children by local military groups.

The demonstration took place after several teenage girls were reportedly recruited by groups affiliated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led military organization that has been a key U.S. ally in the battle against Islamic State.

In June 2019, the SDF signed a joint action plan with the U.N. to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children under the age of 18 in areas under its control. But the U.N. said since then, at least 160 cases have been documented.

Khaled Jabir, co-chairman of the child protection unit at the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria, confirmed that his office recently received several complaints about child recruitment.

Thu
15
Jul

Underage 'martyrs': Recruiting child soldiers in Yemen

Photo: Flickr Creative Commons

In Yemen, families send their children to so-called summer camps. There, adolescents are given combat training and taught why they should fight for God. Both government forces and Houthi rebels use child soldiers.

The recruitment of child soldiers is without a doubt one of the most upsetting of the many human rights violations that have been documented during Yemen's civil war.

In their annual report on Children and Armed Conflict, published in May this year, United Nations researchers counted 211 cases of children being recruited to fight in Yemen in 2020. Of these, 134 were boys and 29 were girls recruited by the Houthis.

Mon
07
May

5th International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth to take place between 12-18 November

On 12-18 November this year, activists from across the world are taking action against the militarisation of young people in their countries, cities and towns.

Join us this November in this global action with your own nonviolent actions and events!

The International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth is a concerted effort of antimilitarist actions across the world to raise awareness of, and challenge, the ways young people are militarised, and to give voice to alternatives. The week is coordinated by War Resisters' International.

Fri
09
Mar

Young people are reviving the spirit of resistance in Eritrea

Hanan Mohamed Saleh, writer and educator

Overnight Eritreans begun repeating one name: Haj Musa Mohamed Nur, whether in support or opposition to him. He became a household name both at home and abroad after the Diaa Al Islam School uprising on the 31st October 2017. The school’s students and their mothers marched from Akhria, where the school is located, to Liberation Avenue in the centre of Asmara, where the Ministry of Education sits. The demonstration and student resistance on that day became a historic event for a people accustomed to 26 years of submission with all government edicts implemented without any discussion or opposition. This uprising is the first popular movement to rebel against repression and the arbitrary edicts forced on them.

Mon
20
Nov

This week is the International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth

This week (20-26 November) is the International Week of Action Against the Militarisation of Youth. During the week activists from various countries will be taking actions and organising events to raise awareness of how the military and military values are promoted to young people, and how we can challenge it.

In Czech Republic, NESEHNUTÍ is organising a screening of the movie “Výchova k válce” (Education for War), followed by a panel session on the militarisation of education in the country.

In Israel, activists from the Mesarvot network - a solidarity network supporting political conscientious objectors in Israel - is organising a demonstration in Tel Aviv in support of the young refuser, Matan Hellman, who's declaring his conscientious objection on 20th November.

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