Chapter 15
Children Associated with Armed Forces In recent years, the international community has been progressively moving towards a position where the forced or compulsory recruitment, or use in hostilities, of persons under the age of 18 (girls and boys) by armed forces or armed groups is being considered illegal and one of the worst forms of child labour. In addition, the enlisting or use in hostilities of children under the age of 15 has been defined as a war crime. This shift has been supported by the development of a set of international legal instruments, including the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court, and has been reinforced by a series of United Nations Security Council resolutions on children and armed conflict. In referring to “children associated with armed forces”, the aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of practices, mechanisms, and procedures for ensuring the protection and enforcement of children’s human rights in OSCE participating States. In particular, this chapter considers three issues. First, it addresses those persons below the age of 18 who have been legally recruited into the armed forces on a voluntary basis. Second, it focuses on the children of armed forces personnel. The rationale for including this particular group is that the protection and well-being of children forms an integral part of the right to family life for all military personnel.309 Third, this chapter deals with children coming into contact with military thinking and personnel via cadet programmes. Cadet programmes in many states are aimed at young children (e.g., starting at 12 years of age) and form a grey area, as they are (mostly) not formally part of armed forces structures, but their programme includes military elements.
1. Issues at Stake The voluntary recruitment of children under 18 years of age into the armed forces raises a number of sensitive issues: the early exposure of children to the harsh conditions and hazardous activities typical of the military environment may seriously harm their psychological, physical, and social development. In many situations, it is extremely difficult to draw a clear dividing line between voluntary recruitment and potentially forced or coerced recruitment. The decision to join the armed forces can be truly voluntary, based on a balanced analysis of all the options available. In other cases, however, economic and cultural factors, coupled with aggressive or invasive recruitment policies by the military, such as active recruitment in educational institutions, could impinge on children’s freedom of choice as to whether to join the armed forces. Children may be encouraged to enlist voluntarily in armed forces for a variety of reasons. Economic and social factors such as poverty and unemployment make a military career one of the few opportunities available for children living in underdeveloped areas. 309 Art 23.1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states: “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.” See <http://www.hrweb. org/legal/cpr.html>. Art. 5 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child says: “States Parties shall respect the responsibilities, rights and duties of parents or, where applicable, the members of the extended family or community as provided for by local custom, legal guardians or other persons legally responsible for the child, to provide, in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child, appropriate direction and guidance in the exercise by the child of the rights recognized in the present Convention.” See <http://www.unhchr.ch/html/ menu3/b/k2crc.htm>.
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