CIAO DATE: 08/04

Children Used as Soldiers in Iraq

Rachel Stohl

Center for Defense Information

November 2002

During the decades of war in Iraq, the images of suffering children have become commonplace. Experts estimate the under–5 mortality rate to be 130 deaths per every 1,000 live births. Moreover, the effects of years of sanctions are well known as an estimated 22 percent of Iraqi children under 5 years old suffer from moderate and severe forms of malnutrition. But the 11 million children under 18 (nearly fifty percent of the Iraqi population) are not only suffering the effects of war from sanctions and landmine injuries. Many children are also directly involved in the ongoing fighting in Iraq.

Existing Iraqi law perpetuates the use of children as soldiers, as it has for many years. Children are believed to have been used during the 1991 Gulf War and the Iran–Iraq War. Current Iraqi law allows voluntary recruits at age 15, and during war allows conscription of those younger than age 18. Currently, approximately 1,000 children are believed to be in the official Iraqi government armed forces. However, Iraq doesn’t just rely on traditional recruits or conscripts to fill its military ranks.

For decades Iraq has developed several military training programs to prepare youths for war and militarize Iraqi society and culture. Both boys and girls participate in these military programs, some as young as 10. Some of the best known of these programs include: “Raad” and “Al Anfal,” which have trained over 23,000 children, and “Saddam Cubs,” military training camps for 8,000 Iraqi children. In these three–week programs for children aged 10 to 15, children are trained to rappel from helicopters, take part in hand–to–hand combat, infantry tactics, and small arms use. Some of these programs are known to last up to 14 hours a day, and according to the State Department’s Human Rights Report on Iraq, families that refused to enroll their children in these programs were threatened with the loss of their food ration cards. In other cases, the State Department reported that children were denied school examination results if they hadn’t registered in one particular program, the Fedyayeen Saddam (Saddam’s Martyrs). This particular unit is reported to be made up entirely of children and contains between 18,000 and 40,000 troops. These children report to the Presidential Palace (not the government army) and undertake patrolling and anti–smuggling responsibilities.

The one international treaty protecting children under the age of 18 from use as soldiers, the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, has not been signed by Iraq. Indeed, Iraq has taken no steps towards preventing the use of children in its military, or cutting back on military training programs for young children.

Armed opposition groups within Iraq are also known to use child soldiers. In 1998, the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) was believed to have 3,000 child soldiers in its forces, more than 10 percent of which were girls. Reports indicate that the PKK has used children since 1994 and even developed a children’s battalion named Tabura Zaroken Sehit Agit. A child as young as seven was reported in the PKK’s ranks. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), another Iraqi opposition group is also believed to use children as soldiers. Reports have indicated children as young as 10 serving within the PUK’s ranks.

As the United States sends more troops to the region and plans for a possible ground invasion, occupation, or other kind of operation, the fact that Iraq has thousands of military trained children should not be taken lightly or ignored completely. U.S. military forces may come into contact with child soldiers in the course of military operations in Iraq, as the number of children in the Iraqi military and opposition groups will increase during times of active fighting. The U.S. military needs to provide training to its soldiers before deploying to Iraq to help troops prepare for the reality of facing children in combat. The first U.S. casualty in Afghanistan was reportedly due to the gunfire of a 14–year–old child. The U.S. military would be well served to address the likelihood of direct combat with children before troops are deployed to avoid the shock and horror of seeing armed children renders U.S. troops defenseless.

Rachel Stohl is senior analyst at the Center for Defense Information, Washington.