Armed Forces Bill - Under 18s in the Army - June 2011
Under 18s in the Army
Quakers in Britain have campaigned for many years to raise the age of enlistment to 18 and to give a discharge as of right to under 18s. Sixteen year olds joining the Armed Forces are currently required to serve for six years while those joining at eighteen are required to serve for four. After an initial six month’s training under 18s have no discharge as of right.
After a debate on New Clauses 7 and 11 of the Armed Forces Bill, on June 14th, the Government has agreed to introduce secondary legislation so that all those under the age of 18 would have the right to be discharged up to the age of 18. Although the age of enlistment remains 16, the granting of this ‘discharge as of right’ for under 18s is a significant step in the direction of implementing, fully, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict.
New Clause 7, tabled by Julian Huppert, Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, would have entitled under eighteen year olds to leave the Armed Forces by giving two weeks’ notice. New Clause 11, tabled by John McDonnell, would have raised the age of recruitment to eighteen.
- On December 1st 2010, 5 under eighteen year olds were serving sentences in the Military Corrective Training Centre Colchester for having gone absent without leave
- Britain is now the only EU country to regularly recruit at the age of sixteen.
- Between 1 January 2002 and 21st February 2011, 535 UK Service Personnel died in Afghanistan or Iraq. Of these 125 (23%) were under the age of 22. (MOD)
- Between April 2007 and April 2010 three 17 year old Service personnel were deployed to Afghanistan and two to Iraq. (MOD)
- There are currently 580 sixteen year olds and 1,970 seventeen year olds serving in the armed forces (MOD figures)
- Between April 2007 and April 2010 three 17 year old Service personnel have been deployed to Afghanistan and two to Iraq. (MOD)
- Parliament’s Human Rights Committee has recommended raising the age of recruitment and safeguarding the rights of young people in the army. See: Http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt200809/jtselect/jtrights/157/15709.htm#a21
"Quakers in Britain are committed to the values of peace, equality and human rights. We oppose in principle the military training of those who are still legally children. The current regulations regarding under 18 year olds in the armed forces are inconsistent with the highest international standards of child protection. A change to the law is long overdue."
Michael Bartlet,
Parliamentary Liaison Secretary,
Email: Michaelb@quaker.org.uk
Telephone: 020 76631107
14th June 2011
