legislation & policy

Campaigners welcome new right to leave the armed forces for under-18s

The government has today promised to give teenage soldiers the right to leave the armed forces up until age 18 if they are unhappy. ForcesWatch and other NGOs have been campaigning on this and other issues relating to under-18s in the armed forces as the Arned Forces Bill does through parliament.

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Court martial raises fears over forces personnel’s right to conscience

A medic in the Royal Navy, who is facing court martial, will argue in court tomorrow that he has a legal defence. Michael Lyons has been charged with "wilful disobedience" because he asked not to participate in rifle training last September after having applied for conscientious objector status.

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Armed forces report reveals MPs’ confusion over recruitment of under-18s

The report by the House of Commons Committee on the Armed Forces Bill has rejected proposals to raise the minimum age of recruitment to 18.  But ForcesWatch, an NGO that submitted evidence to the Committee, suggests that the wording of the report reveals a lack of clarity over the law in this area, even among MPs and senior military personnel.

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Informed Choice? Armed forces recruitment practice in the United Kingdom

An independent report by David Gee, published in 2007, highlighting the risks posed to young people through joining the military, how young people from disadvantaged communities are targeted, how information available to potential recruits is often misleading and how the terms of service are complicated, confusing and severely restricting. The research found that a large proportion join for negative reasons, including the lack of civilian career options.

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UK Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights report on Children’s Rights

In their report on Children's Rights, the UK Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights recommended that the 'UK adopt a plan of action for implementing the Optional Protocol, including these recommendations, fully in the UK, together with a clear timetable for doing so.' The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommendations under the Optional Protocol were that the UK 'reconsider its active policy of recruitment of children into the armed forces' and a number of other measures.

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United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict

The UK remains the only EU country to recruit 16 year olds into the military and one of very few EU countries to recruit 17 year olds. The UK has signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict yet there is evidence that the UK continues to target children from vulnerable groups and that safeguards to protect under-18s are not effective.

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