Save the Children's Resource Centre

Recruitment into armed forces, groups and gangs

The recruitment of girls and boys by a variety of armed actors is recognized as one of the most egregious violations of children's rights. Children are targeted for recruitment because of a number of reasons: they are easier to control and manipulate, they look to adults to protect them, they are seen as cheap substitutes for adult soldiers and children can handle and carry weapons with high impact as a result of the development of small arms.

The involvement may be forced or voluntary. The children take on a range of roles including fighting, acting as spies or messengers, cooks and porters, to lay mines, as suicide bombers and for sexual purposes. Usually unpaid, they are performing tasks adults do not want to do and may also be coerced into carrying out grotesque acts of violence, including killing family members. In cases where children join voluntarily, they may do so to get food and shelter in a chaotic existence where attacks, abuse and poverty might have become the rule. Children can also join for cultural or ideological reasons or get influenced by the peer pressure that often occurs in war zones. Some children could be driven by the desire for vengeance against those who have carried out atrocities against their family.

Nepal: The Maoists’ conflict and impact on the rights of the child

Supplementary report to Nepal's second periodic report on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which concerns the adverse impact of the armed conflict between the Government of Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists)

Publication year: 2005 Publisher(s): Asian Centre for Human Rights
Children not soldiers- Guidelines for working with child soldiers and children associated with fighting forces

"Children not soldiers" provides guidance for those working with children directly involved in armed conflict on these and other key areas. Drawing on existing and emerging lessons of experience from different countries, it highlights issues of special co

Publication year: 2001 Publisher(s): Save the Children UK Author(s): McConnan, Isobel | Uppard, Sarah
NGO Complementary notes on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child- Sierra Leone

Supplementary report to Sierra Leone's country report on the implementation on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by the World Federation Of Methodists & Uniting Church Women. This report, which is written in conformity with Article 45 (a) of th

Publication year: 2000 Publisher(s): World Federation of Methodists & Uniting Church Women
Report of the Secretary-General: The Role of United Nations Peacekeeping in Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (reference: S/2000/101)

The Secretary General's report to the United Nations Security Council relating to the United Nation's role in Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR), with special attention being paid to the problems of disarmament and demobilisation of child

Publication year: 2000 Publisher(s): United Nations Security Council
Untapped potential: Adolescents affected by armed conflict- A review of programs and policies

A desk study that highlights programmes and policies which focus on the needs of refugee, internally displaced and returnee adolescents. The literature compiled is described in the annotated bibliography. Chapters include an introduction to adolescents, t

Publication year: 2000 Publisher(s): Women's Refugee Commission Author(s): Lowicki, Jane
Resolution 1460 (2003) adopted by the United Nations Security Council at its 4695th meeting, on 30 January 2003

Resolution 1460 was adopted unanimously by the Security Council at its 4695th meeting, on 30 January 2003, reaffirming its resolutions 1261 (1999) of 25 August 1999, 1314 (2000) of 11 August 2000 and 1379 (2001) of 20 November 2001, which contribute to a

Publication year: 2003 Publisher(s): United Nations Security Council
Stolen Children: Abduction and recruitment in northern Uganda

Supplementary report to Uganda's 2nd periodic report on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child presented by Human Rights Watch. This report was published in March 2003 as Vol.15 No.7(A), and is based on field research conducted

Publication year: 2003 Publisher(s): Human Rights Watch Author(s): Becker, Jo | Tate, Tony
Colombia: Children affected by armed conflict

This Alternative Report was submitted by Human Rights Watch at the 25th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which concerns children affected by armed conflict in Colombia. Political violence continues to harm children, both as victims and

Publication year: 2000 Publisher(s): Human Rights Watch
Faktablad- Barnsoldater

A fact sheet that describes why children become child soldiers and the adverse physical and psychological effects it has on them. Save the Children's achievements against the use of child soldiers in all circumstances are raised in this document.

Publication year: 2000 Publisher(s): Save the Children Sweden Author(s): Häggström, Henrik
Children in Hostilities. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child regarding the use and recruitment of children in hostilities

The minimum age of recruitment into the military should be 18 years. At present, under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, it is 15 years. The change could be achieved through the adoption of an Optional Protocol to the Convention. Existing interna

Publication year: 2000 Publisher(s): Save the Children International
Relativo a la aplicación de la Convención sobre los derechos del niño por el Estado de Colombia

Report presented to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child by Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture, which concerns human rights violations against children, adolescents and a large portion of Colombia's population, despite the significant institut

Publication year: 1994 Publisher(s): Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture