Comment, analysis, news

Last of the boy soldiers? Bid to end centuries of tradition by banning the Army from recruiting under-18s

Sir Nick Harvey describes policy is 'increasingly anachronistic'; Believes 16 and 17-year-olds more likely to die or be seriously wounded; Also claims millions of pounds is wasted due to high drop-out rates

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Conscientious objector Joe Glenton on being jailed for refusing to fight

Joe Glenton, a former soldier in the British army, has served his country and risked his life in Afghanistan. He’s also been called a coward. The reason? After returning to Britain after his first tour of Afghanistan, he became a conscientious objector (CO) and refused to go back.

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Alex Cunningham MP: Stop armed forces recruiting children

Ahead of his debate today, Labour MP Alex Cunningham argues that the UK’s "routine" practice of recruiting 16 year olds into the armed forces has to stop.

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Recruiting British soldiers at 16 isn’t just morally wrong. It’s bad economics

The Ministry of Defence wastes £94 million every year training minors for army roles which could be filled more cost-effectively by adult recruits, says a new report launched today by human rights groups Child Soldiers International and ForcesWatch.

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Army recruitment at 16 ‘should stop’

The "outdated" practice of recruiting 16-year-olds into the Army is wasting up to £94m a year and should stop, two human rights groups have said.

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Millions ‘wasted’ on junior army recruits, report claims

Tens of millions of pounds is wasted on training young soldiers for roles that could be filled more cost effectively by adults, a report has found.

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Army recruitment of under-18s wastes £94 million every year, claims new report

The Ministry of Defence wastes up to £94 million every year training minors for army roles which could be filled more cost-effectively by adult recruits, according to a new report launched today by human rights groups Child Soldiers International and ForcesWatch.

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Nuclear Weapons and Militarisation in the UK

A society has to be militarised for a government to justify the development and maintenance of nuclear weapons to its citizens; militarisation creates a culture of acceptance. It popularises military euphemisms such as ‘Defence’, ‘Security’, and – particularly relevant to nuclear weapons – ‘deterrent’, and makes it hard to for those challenging these to be seen as credible.

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The inescapable psychological cost of conflict

A study published in the Lancet called Violent offending by UK military personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan has found that men in the UK armed forces are more likely to have been convicted of violent offences than their civilian peers. The study shows a strong link with age – that fighting and being traumatised by it tends to make those in younger age groups more likely to be violent afterwards.

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Unpacking ‘recruitment’: what does the MoD mean when it says the armed forces do not run recruitment activities in schools?

Our education campaigner looks at the MoD's assertion that the armed forces do not go into schools for recruitment purposes. This is based on a definition of 'recruitment' that limits it to 'signing up' there and then. We argue that the armed forces are indeed recruiting in schools and that 'recruitment' is a broader activity that involves interesting young people in the idea of enlisting by engaging in the range of activities from careers talks to visits to bases.

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