Child soldiers: The expanding practice of minors recruited to become foreign fighters

Abstract

The phenomenon of conscripting, enlisting or using children to take part in hostilities, as combatants or in other capacities, is not new on the international agenda. For centuries children have been involved in military campaigns, e.g. as child ratings on warships or as drummer boys on the battlefields across Europe. However, in recent years this practice has reached its peak, becoming one of the darkest features of many armed conflicts. In early 2014 UNICEF estimated that the number of children associated with armed forces or groups amounts to 300,000 boys and girls under the age of 18, participating in more than 30 conflicts worldwide. The ongoing armed conflicts in the Middle East are not exempt from this phenomenon. An unknown number of children have joined parties fighting in Syria and Iraq and many of them fall within the category of foreign fighters. The presence of children in the foreign fighters’ ranks has also been ascertained by the UN Security Council in Resolution 2178, which has explicitly called on States to prevent radicalisation to terrorism, address the threat posed by ‘foreign terrorist fighters’, and prevent the recruitment of individuals, including children. The present contribution will seek to address the questions stemming from the unique features of the current events, including the effectiveness of the existing international framework in preventing and prohibiting the recruitment of children, the unprecedented challenges that the international community has to face in order to counter the present situation and the importance of social recovery and reintegration within the communities of origin. To this end the chapter pursues a threefold aim, analysing the current set of norms that governs children’s recruitment and use in hostilities, focusing on how such framework applies to the phenomenon of foreign fighters and discussing the possible routes to foster accountability, prevention and rehabilitation of children in the ranks of foreign fighters.