Children’s rights groups call on MoD to stop recruiting children
24/05/2016
Child Soldiers International
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.
The British Army should stop recruiting 16-year-olds
30/03/2016
The army's venerable tradition no longer makes financial sense.
Chatham House
New Deal Needed on Military Visits to Scotland’s Schools
12/02/2016
ForcesWatch – which scrutinises the military – and Quakers in Scotland, are today formally launching a petition at Holyrood calling for increased transparency and scrutiny of armed forces visits to schools.
ForcesWatch press release
Troops to Teachers scheme misses target
01/02/2016
A controversial scheme to turn former military personnel into teachers has trained just a sixth of its target number of veterans during the first two years.
TES, Hansard
After ‘cannon fodder’ outcry … Holyrood urged to investigate military visits to schools
27/01/2016
MSPs are being urged to hold an inquiry into the presence of the armed forces in Scotland’s schools after an outcry over plans to set up cadet units aimed at the poorest pupils.
Sunday Herald
Holyrood should protect Scottish schools from creep of cadets
19/01/2016
ForcesWatch is calling on the Scottish government to resist attempts to introduce Cadet units into the country’s state secondary schools.
ForcesWatch press release
RAF recruitment in schools
06/01/2016
The MoD recently acknowledged that the RAF's Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths (STEM) road show in schools - run in partnership with the weapons company BAE Systems - is 'recruitment'.
Hansard
Children have no place in the British army
22/12/2015
Britain is the only country in Europe to recruit 16-year-olds into its armed forces. The cynical targeting of underprivileged youngsters must end
The Guardian
Army urged to stop using armed teenagers to guard barracks
16/12/2015
ForcesWatch report calls on UK military to stop recruiting minors altogether, as armed forces bill due for third reading
The Guardian