Parliament urged to end UK’s recruitment of ‘child soldiers’

Children and young people’s rights groups are calling for a change in the law to end the recruitment of 16 and 17-year-olds into the UK armed forces. Their call comes ahead of the second reading of the Armed Forces Bill, which the Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, will present to the House of Commons tomorrow (10 January).

The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, together with War Child, UNICEF UK, the Children’s Society, and the Children’s Rights Alliance for England today insisted that the Bill be amended to end the “outdated practice” of recruiting soldiers aged under 18.

Amnesty International UK and the United Nations Association have given their backing to the call.

So far, Liam Fox and the Ministry of Defence are resisting the pressure to raise the age of recruitment to 18, but some question how long they can keep to this position.

The UK is one of a diminishing number of countries that still recruit under-18s into the armed forces, and one of fewer than 20 countries which recruit from the age of 16. Other countries recruiting from this age include Iran, North Korea and Zimbabwe.

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