The UK is the only country in Europe that recruits 16 year olds into the armed forces and currently one quarter of British Army recruits are under 18. Much of our early work focused on campaigning to raise the minimum age of recruitment to 18 years.
Concerns about the way that young people are not supported to make an informed choice about enlistment – and the consequences of this – were at the heart of our decision to set up ForcesWatch. The armed forces target recruitment activities at children and teenagers, and are involved in the education system and youth organisations and visible in many online and gaming platforms. Military life is promoted in a sanitised and glamourised way, without concern for the risks and ethical questions it poses.
Research over the last 15 years has indicated again and again that military environments are not suitable for those under the age of 18. Even though personnel are not deployed until they are adults, they face significant risks during training. Many drop out before completing training or after very short careers, and often face further difficulties. Youth and pre-existing vulnerabilities can make the impact much greater than for older recruits. They, and all armed forces personnel, face restrictive terms and conditions of service. Military institutions are not adequately accountable in relation to their duty of care for individuals within them, and there are high levels of bullying, harassment and assault. The military justice system often exacerbates the harmful impact and the limited reforms that have been implemented have yet to address the scale of the problem.
We continue to monitor recruitment practices – including military marketing – and the wider politics and culture around recruitment to the armed forces.
We support the work of partner organisations to highlight concerns and risks, and to ask questions about the ethics of armed forces recruitment practices and the moral impact of military service.
Child Rights International Network (CRIN) are leading the campaign to raise the age of recruitment into the UK armed forces. You can find their briefings, reports and other materials here.
If you are thinking of joining the armed forces – or you know someone who is – Before You Sign Up is a valuable resource for information and questions. See more resources here.
Useful resources
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.
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.
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.
Centre for Military Justice
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.
Kids with guns
Should the armed forces encourage young people to interact with weapons and military vehicles?
Our new web resource looks at why is this happening and asks if it is right and how can it be challenged?
Issues relating to Service Complaints system and the youngest armed forces personnel
Selling the Military films
At the launch event for our report with Medact on Selling the Military: A critical analysis of contemporary recruitment marketing in the UK, contributors and participants told us why they think this is an important issue. And a longer film of the presentation summarising the report.
