We look at the following issues:
- Young people are not adequately supported to make an informed choice about enlistment, and a sanitised or glamourised view of military life and warfare is promoted.
- The armed forces target recruitment activities at children, and are involved in education and youth organisations.
- Military environments are not suited to recruits under the age of 18, and the armed forces do not accept full duty of care obligations.
- Problems such as bullying and harassment are common in the armed forces.
- Armed forces personnel are subject to unduly restrictive terms and conditions of service.
- Too little recognition is given to the moral impact of military service and subsequent mental health problems.
Useful resources
The Recruitment of Children by the UK Armed Forces: a Critique from Health Professionals
Medact’s report on the long-term impacts of the British military’s recruitment of children under the age of 18, presents evidence linking ‘serious health concerns’ with the policy, and calls for a rise in the minimum recruitment age. It looks at the psychological and psychosocial vulnerabilities of adolescents in the context of military recruitment marketing strategies and making long-term risky decisions and examines the evidence that under 18 recruits face greater risks to health than adult recruits, across the course of an armed forces career.
UN observations on UK and childrens’ rights
Soldiers at 16: Sifting fact from fiction
Published by Child Soldiers International, this short and accessible booklet addresses questions often raised about under-18s in the armed forces, presenting the facts - based on extensive research - rather than the fiction. Also contains very useful quotes and statistics. Great when talking to your MP or for those thinking of enlisting!
‘Commonsense and Understanding’: Recommendations from the Defence Committee’s Duty of Care report that are still outstanding 10 years on
This report highlights seven recommendations from the Defence Committee’s report Duty of Care: Third Report of Session 2004-05 which have not been partially or fully implemented, and around which substantial concerns remain.
This report then discusses the concept of 'in loco parentis' and 'moral obligation' with regard to the army's duty of care towards young recruits, noting that the Defence Committee were concerned in 2005 that the MoD distinguished too rigidly between legal and moral obligations, with the latter as less important.
In 2005, the Defence Committee discussed the lack of balance beween training needs and considerations for operational effectiveness, and thus made its recommendations. Ten years on, it is apparent that operational arguments, and current difficulties meeting recruiting targets, continue to prevent the armed forces from reviewing both their position on enlisting under-18s, and their recruitment practices and materials.
Concerns about armed forces visits to secondary schools in Wales
This briefing is a response to the 2012-13 Welsh Assembly Petitions Committee’s investigation into UK armed forces ‘recruitment’ in schools in Wales, following the petition Stop the Army Recruiting in Schools (P-04-432) submitted by the Fellowship of Reconciliation Wales. The Petition Committee’s final report on their consideration of the petition was published in June 2015.
UK’s compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: Report from the Joint Committee on Human Rights
Army Recruitment: Comparative cost-effectiveness of recruiting from age 16 versus age 18
This paper, published by ForcesWatch and Child Soldiers International, shows that the taxpayer would save approximately £50 million per annum if the minimum age of recruitment were raised to 18; it would also result in the army needing to find about 211 fewer new recruits annually, based on current numbers joining the trained strength.
The paper concludes that the case to cease recruiting from age 16 is now overwhelming and urges a full, independent review of the policy, with a view to phasing out the recruitment of minors as an unnecessary, cost-ineffective, and fundamentally unethical practice.
National polls show growing public support from raising UK army recruitment age
How did Britain let 250,000 underage soldiers fight in WW1?
A BBC resource. Includes a final section on 'could this happen today'?
At the outbreak of war in 1914, the British Army had 700,000 available men. Germany’s wartime army was over 3.7 million. When a campaign for volunteers was launched, thousands answered the call to fight. Among them were 250,000 boys and young men under the age of 19, the legal limit for armed service overseas.
