Afghanistan’s endorsement of UN pact can get it off the child soldier ‘List of Shame’

BRUSSELS —The Afghanistan military’s shameful practice of forcing children into its ranks might be nearing an end at last.

Last month, the government of Afghanistan took an important step toward ending such abuses by endorsing a United Nations road map that includes screening and verification procedures to check birth dates and circumstances of recruitment of soldiers and police.

Afghanistan is one of only seven countries whose national security forces are included on the United Nations Secretary-General’s “list of shame” for recruiting and using children. These forces are primarily the Afghan Local Police (ALP), locally based paramilitary units, as well as the army and the Afghan National Police (ANP), which functions regularly as a counterinsurgency force.

The UN list of shame documents 25 cases of Afghan government forces using child soldiers — including instances where children carried out dangerous military activities, such as checking suspicious objects for explosive devices, and serving as porters during foot patrols.

Incidents of child soldiers are under-reported. Current numbers likely represent only a fraction of the actual number of cases. Typically, child soldiers are prey to rampant sexual violence as well as exposure to combat.

The Afghan government has agreed to a 15-point “Road Map toward Compliance,” which involves screening all police units to weed out child recruits. The plan also calls for the establishment of a system to investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible for recruiting children under 18.

The pact has been three years in the making, following a January 2011 agreement between the UN and Afghanistan. The government agreed to protect children affected by armed conflict and to prevent their recruitment into the national armed forces.

While child protection units have successfully prevented children from being recruited, some government forces have actually increased their recruitment of children as the final withdrawal of international military troops looms at the end of 2014.

Although the Afghan government may deserve credit for its commitment to eliminate child soldiers from military forces, implementing the ban is a serious challenge.

The Afghanistan military has a dismal record of disciplining military and police units for other human rights abuses. The ALP is notorious for targeted killings, beatings and illegal detentions. The national police have also been responsible for arbitrary detentions and torture.

The Taliban and other insurgents have also recruited hundreds of children into their forces. They are free to do so because they are not party to the government agreement. According to the Secretary-General’s report, the recruitment of child soldiers was prevalent among the Taliban and other armed opposition groups, including the Haqqani Network. Such children are often recruited as suicide bombers or to manufacture IEDs.

In February 2010, the UN special representative for children and armed conflict documented cases of Taliban child suicide bombers. Journalists have also confirmed cases of children being trained by the Taliban in Pakistan to act as suicide bombers against NATO targets in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is a party to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, which prohibits both state and non-state armed groups under any circumstances from recruiting or using in hostilities anyone under the age of 18. The recruitment or use of children under the age of 15 is a war crime.


The Taliban’s use of children as suicide bombers also directly contravenes its code of conduct, the Layha, which was created in 2006 and has since been revised twice.

On May 11, 2011 the Taliban issued a denial of the use of child soldiers and child suicide bombers and described such allegations as “propaganda,” saying:

“We would like to make it clear for all that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has strictly banned participation of adolescents in Jihadic operations as per its policy.”

The onus is on the Afghan government and the Taliban to make good on their promises, to meet their international obligations, and to finally stop their unlawful abuse of children in their combat forces.

Patricia Gossman is the Afghanistan senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.