recruitment age

The politics of the military recruitment crisis

Young people are often a scapegoat for the diminished size of the armed forces but analysis suggests a far more complex picture, and a high level of risk and dissatisfaction for many of those that join.

---

Start Thinking Gamer: the British military’s new recruitment frontier

After the British Army pulled its planned Fortnite promo due to criticism it could target children, we explore how military recruitment is moving into the unregulated domain of online gaming.

---

At particular risk: women and girls in the military

The Women in the Armed Forces report evidences abuse and harassment on a systemic scale. Can the gap between good intentions and bad practice ever be bridged in a military culture? As the army launches its recruitment advert aimed at women, what are the particular implications for girl recruits under 18.  

---

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.

---

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.

---

The Armed Forces Bill: lost opportunities and some dubious proposals

The Armed Forces Bill proposes important changes to the military justice system and will make civil society obligations under the Armed Forces Covenant a legal duty. We look at these and other matters of interest that have come up in the process.

---

Army dreaming

The Army are exploiting adolescent vulnerabilities and utilising crude stereotypes in order to attract record numbers of young recruits. We should be concerned about the gap between the dream sold by these advertising campaigns and the reality of military life.

---

The British armed forces: Why raising the recruitment age would benefit everyone

A briefing (Child Soldiers International, 2019) making the case for setting 18 as the minimum age for recruitment.

---

Conscription by poverty? Deprivation and army recruitment in the UK

This report from the Child Rights International Network, Conscription by poverty? Deprivation and army recruitment in the UK, states that the UK is the only country in Europe to recruit from age 16 and more soldiers are recruited at 16 than any other age.

---

British army targets youngest and poorest for riskiest roles

A new report from the Child Rights International Network shows that the British army is intentionally targeting young people from deprived backgrounds for the roles carrying the greatest risks in war.

---