childrens rights

Animated poem about the military recruitment of young people

A spoken work poem by artist Potent Whisper, animator Neda Ahmadi, and sound designers Torch & Compass on the military recruitment of young people. See more from CRIN on Should the armed forces recruit children under the age of 18? including a comparison to a recent army recruitment advert and a learning resource from the Quakers in Britain peace education team, to encourage critical thinking about armed forces recruitment and its relationship to human rights.

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Stop recruiting children, rights groups tell MoD

Twenty major children’s and human rights organisations have written to the UK government today, calling for an end to the recruitment of children by the UK armed forces.

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Recruitment of children to the military in Welsh schools

A new report by Cymdeithas y Cymod, ForcesWatch and the Peace Pledge Union examines the issue of military recruitment in schools in Wales – an issue steeped in controversy and on which the Welsh government made a series of commitments in a report published in June 2015, following a public petition submitted in 2012. Since then, little tangible progress has been made against those commitments, yet military recruitment visits to Welsh schools have continued undiminished. 

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The militarisation of schools

The UK is one of few countries that allow minors to enlist. Despite calls to cease the recruitment of under-18s the Army is digging in to hold its ground.

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Children’s rights groups call on MoD to stop recruiting children

An open letter to the Ministry of Defence from national children’s organisations and rights groups calls on them to stop recruiting 16 and 17 year olds into the armed forces. The letter has been made public on the same day that the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child begins its periodic examination of the UK’s record on child rights. In 2008, the UN urged the UK to raise the enlistment age to 18.

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The UN, child rights and the UK military

This week the long-awaited consideration of the UK's implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child takes place. There are numerous issues being discussed, including many ways in which the rights of children are compromised or not adequately recognised by UK authorities. Also under scrutiny is the recruitment of 16 and 17 year olds, who are still legally children, into the UK armed forces, and UK's lack of education provision on peace and human rights. As an open letter to the MoD points out, the youngest recruits are 'actively sought' for frontline roles.

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The British armed forces: Why parental consent safeguards are inadequate

This briefing from Child Soldiers International explains why the armed forces cannot be confident that they routinely have the informed consent of parents before their child enlists, or that a child’s enlistment is “genuinely voluntary” in a meaningful sense.

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UK soldiers of 16 ‘too young’

THE children’s commissioner for England has accused the armed forces of breaching the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by recruiting soldiers from the age of 16.

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Education & the Military: A human rights & peace perspective

In this publication, QUNO questions the presence and influence of the military in primary and secondary education from a peace and human rights perspective. Concerned at the military’s involvement in schools and the militarisation of education, QUNO draws attention to relevant international human rights standards that promote education for peace.

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