End of year Individual Research Projects

unpopular among the population, it may be harder to recruit adults. In such
cases, recruiting children proves easier for the groups.
● Economic considerations and effectiveness: When recruiting children,
terrorists benefit from notable economic advantages. Children are usually paid
less (if at all) and require less food to survive. The evolution of warfare and
the prevalence of small arms have reduced the effectiveness gap between a
child and an adult. Children remain less expensive than adult combatants, but
not necessarily less effective when used to carry out violence.
● Control: Children are more easily intimidated and easier to control, both
physically and mentally, than adults. They are also more likely to show loyalty
to authority figures and are especially susceptible to following beliefs and
behaviours of those who they love and respect. The terrorist groups may see
children as an ‘investment in the future generation’.
● Tactical advantages: Children, particularly girls, are increasingly being used
as spies for delivering messages, carrying materials and undertaking suicide
attacks. The reason for this is that children have less understanding of the risk
they face, hence they display less anxiety. They are also more likely to do as
they are ordered, and they arouse less suspicion which can be crucial in
getting closer to the targets.
The practices employed to recruit children may vary according to a number of
factors, including the situation of the group and that of the child.
● Forcible recruitment: Children may be kidnapped, adducted, coerced through
threats or purchased from traffickers. Children living in poverty, without
parental care, and street children are particularly vulnerable to forcible
recruitment.
● Recruitment through ties between the group and community leadership:
Sometimes people support terrorist groups because the group is perceived as
defending the community from other armed groups. Families and community
leaders may encourage children to join the armed group.
● Economic enticement: The groups may offer food, accommodation and
protection, encouraging loyalty.
● Transnational recruitment: Some children crossing borders to join terrorist
groups do so on their own, some travel with a parent or grown-up relatives
and others are forcefully abducted and therefore cross borders.
14