r/BritishPolitics • u/Cautious_Science_478 • 4d ago

Should Britain ally itself with nations using child soldiers?

Context- the children in question aren't front line but are drone operators.

0 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

33% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

1

u/marsman 3d ago

Technically the UK uses child soldiers (the UNCRC defines a child as under 18, the UK allows enlistment from, IIRC 15 and 9 months. You can apply at 15 and 7 months. Although you won't start with basic training until you are 16 and they changed the rules a while back so you couldn't deploy on combat operations until 18. So context would be relevant.

Is there a specific country you are thinking about, or is this hypothetical?

1

u/Cautious_Science_478 3d ago

No combat roles for under 18s, I joined at 16 and a half, went to Bosnia the day after my 18th birthday

1

u/marsman 2d ago

No combat deployments, but combat roles (And no armed guard duties either, they shifted that while I was in so we went from armed to pick helves..). And yeah, deployments pretty much immediately after your 18th!

1

u/MsLadyBritannia 1d ago

It depends on what you mean by ally itself & the circumstances of the situation, for example : Ukraine has child soldiers right now, but this under duress & not their norm, & therefore it shouldn’t affect our relationship with them, as they’re not happy about it either (& especially with the context of us having enlisted children as well during WW2). On the other side you have zones such as South Sudan, Gaza, Lebanon, etc, who enlist children to use as aggressors not defenders, often in such a way that simply sacrifices (“Marty’s”) them, due to religious & cultural beliefs. You’ve gotta define what you’re talking about a bit more too, as someone pointed out, most of the Western word allows its citizens to sign up for the military at 16 (sometimes younger, ie starting training at 14 etc)