• Child Soldiers Worldwide

    Around the globe, Human Rights Watch has documented the recruitment and use of children as soldiers. Today, child soldiers are fighting in at least 14 countries:

    Afghanistan – Insurgent groups, including the Taliban and other armed groups, use children as fighters, including in suicide attacks. The UN also reports recruitment of children by the Afghan National Police.

    Burma – Thousands of boys serve in Burma’s national army, with children as young as 11 forcibly recruited off the streets and sent into combat operations. Children also serve with some of the armed ethnic opposition groups. Read more in our report, "Sold to be Soldiers."

    Central African Republic – Hundreds of children, some as young as 12, serve with various rebel groups. The Lord’s Resistance Army has abducted children in the southeast of the country. 

    Chad – Thousands of children have served in both government and rebel forces in Chad. In 2011 the government signed an action plan to end its use of child soldiers and recruitment has decreased sharply. Read more in our report, "Early to War."

    Colombia – Thousands of children—both boys and girls—serve in Colombia’s irregular armed groups. The majority serve in the FARC guerrillas, with smaller numbers in the UC-ELN guerrillas. Children are also recruited into successor groups to paramilitaries. Read more in our report, "You’ll Learn Not to Cry."

    Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – Children serve in the government armed forces as well as various rebel forces. At the height of DRC’s war, the UN estimated that more than 30,000 boys and girls were fighting with various parties to the conflict. Most have now been released or demobilized, but active recruitment continues in the east of the country. The Lord’s Resistance Army also abducts children in northeastern Congo. It uses both boys and girls as fighters, and girls as sex slaves. Read more in our report, "Trail of Death."

    India – Maoist “Naxalite” rebels in Chhattisgarh use children as soldiers. The Maoists induct children as young as six into children’s associations and use children as young as 12 in armed squads that receive weapons training and may participate in armed encounters with government security forces.   Read more in our report, "Dangerous Duty."

    Iraq – Al-Qaeda recruits children to spy, scout, transport military supplies, plant explosive devices, and actively participate in attacks against security forces and civilians, including suicide attacks.

    Philippines – Children are recruited by rebel forces, including the New People’s Army, Abu Sayyaf Group, and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The Philippines army has fabricated stories that children taken into custody are rebel “child warriors.” Read more in our latest press release.

    Somalia – All parties to the conflict in Somalia recruit and use child soldiers. The Islamist armed group al-Shabaab forcibly recruits children as young as 10, often abducting them from their homes or schools. Some are coerced into becoming suicide bombers. Children also serve in Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces. Read more in our report, "No Place for Children."

    South Sudan – The South Sudan government has pledged to end its use of child soldiers, but continues to recruit children and has not yet demobilized all children from its forces.

    Sudan – In Darfur, over a dozen armed forces and groups use child soldiers, including the Sudanese Armed Forces, pro-government militias, and factions of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army.

    Thailand – Separatist insurgents called Pejuang Kemerdekaan Patani (Patani Freedom Fighters) have recruited hundreds of ethnic Malay Muslim children as messengers, couriers, scouts, and in some cases, combatants, in the insurgency in Thailand’s southern border provinces. The National Revolutionary Front-Coordinate (BRN-C) has systematically recruited children and used them to support armed attacks. 

    Yemen – Government forces have recruited children as young as 14. Prior to the Arab Spring, the government used children in its armed forces to fight Huthi rebels in the north, who also used children. In 2011, rebel forces in Taizz deployed children to patrol roads and operate checkpoints. Some had previously served with government forces before defecting. Read more in our latest press release.

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Reports

Global

  • Human Rights Watch: Prestigious Journalism Award
    Apr 5, 2012
    Human Rights Watch multimedia features on Russia and Papua New Guinea have won prestigious awards in the field of broadcast journalism, a rare honor for a nongovernmental organization.
  • Letter to UN Special Rapporteurs on Involuntary Sterilization of Women and Girls with Disabilities
    Mar 9, 2012
    An alarming number of women and girls with disabilities have been, and continue to be, denied their rights to experience their sexuality, to have sexual relationships and to found and maintain families through the practice of forced sterilization.
  • Getting children off the battlefield
    Feb 13, 2012
    The experience of the last decade, shows that the governments and groups still using child soldiers are increasingly considered pariahs, and that strategic pressure and the new consensus of international law can protect children from war. The challenge now is to build on the momentum that exists, and to make better use of the existing tools — including sanctions, prosecutions, and UN negotiations — to persuade the remaining outliers that children have no place in war.
  • World Report 2012: Strengthen Support for ‘Arab Spring’
    Jan 22, 2012
    Many democracies have allowed their ties with repressive allies to temper their support for human rights in the Arab Spring protests, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2012.
  • People with Disabilities: Law Reform Needed
    Jan 22, 2012
    Governments around the world should reform laws that limit the capacity of people with disabilities to vote, to make independent decisions, or to live in the community, Human Rights Watch said today in an essay in its World Report 2012.
  • Submission to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
    Dec 20, 2011
    This submission is based on research and advocacy conducted by Human Rights Watch. Women and girls with disabilities face a heightened risk of physical and sexual violence. Many factors contribute to this risk, including limitations in physical mobility, isolation, and common myths about women and girls with disabilities.
  • Sterilization of Women and Girls with Disabilities
    Nov 10, 2011
    Across the globe, women and girls with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to forced sterilizations performed under the auspices of legitimate medical care or the consent of others in their name. The practice of forced sterilization is part of a broader pattern of denial of the human rights, including reproductive rights of women and girls with disabilities.
  • Denial of Pain Treatment and the Prohibition of Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
    Nov 1, 2011
    According to the World Health Organization, 'most, if not all, pain due to cancer could be relieved if we implemented existing medical knowledge and treatments.' The failure of governments in many countries to ensure the adequate availability of pain treatment services clearly raises questions of whether these countries live up to their obligations under the right to health, which requires states to ensure the availability and accessibility of health services, including, of course, treatment for pain.
  • Disarming schools: strategies for ending the military use of schools during armed conflict
    Oct 31, 2011
    The past two decades have seen increased awareness, attention and action in response to the plight of children affected by armed conflict. However, one issue that has not received much attention, despite the regularity with which it occurs, is the phenomenon of military forces and other armed groups using school buildings. Of particular concern is when armed groups occupy and convert schools into military bases on a medium- or long-term basis.
  • UN: Report Is Milestone for Reproductive Health
    Oct 25, 2011

    Human Rights Watch joined other human rights groups and health groups in issuing the following statement today following the release of a report about reproductive health by Anand Grover, the UN special rapporteur on the right to health. 

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