Thursday, February 08, 2018

Child Soldiers

Hundreds of 16- and 17-year-olds are being trained at the Army Foundation College in North Yorkshire.

The UK is the only European country to recruit soldiers at 16. Other countries to take the same approach include Mauritania, Zambia, Bangladesh, Tonga and Papua New Guinea. In the US, the age limit is 17.

The army has resisted raising the age from 16, the school leaving age, partly because, struggling to find recruits, it finds it easier to attract the young – the salary is a big incentive for many from deprived areas – and partly, critics say, because soldiers at that age tend to be more malleable, and easier to establish in a habit of obedience. 

The MoD is adamant that none of those who graduate will be sent to a conflict zone until they are 18, though the MoD admitted in 2007 that 15 under-18s had been “inadvertently” sent to Iraq. Critics argue that the point is not that they might end up in combat zones but the long-term damage caused by military training at such a young age, including learning to kill.

A court martial is scheduled to begin on Monday of 10 instructors accused of physically abusing teenage recruits in 2014. Charges include holding junior soldiers’ heads underwater, forcing animal shit into their mouths and beating them.

Rachel Taylor, director of programmes at Child Soldiers International, said: “As a government department, the MoD shows a remarkable lack of concern for some of society’s most vulnerable young people.” The college does not meet the legal minimum education or safeguarding requirements of a sixth-form college, she said. Taylor disputes the college’s claim to have a pass rate of more than 75%. “Although the MoD highlights the handpicked testimony of successful recruits, it says nothing about the one in three Harrogate recruits who is thrown out or quits during training, or the 40% of minors who leave the army within four years.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/feb/08/inside-the-college-that-trains-the-uks-youngest-soldiers

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Another example of the UK leading the way on democracy and human rights.