Raising the minimum age of army recruitment in Britain

Date: 30th April 2013
Category:

Child Soldiers International makes the case for raising the minimum age of army recruitment to 18 (currently set at 16) in the British armed forces, in a new report published in April 2013.

Titled 'One Step Forward: The case for ending recruitment of minors by the British armed forces', the report argues that recruiting children under the age of 18 into the British armed forces is unnecessarily costly and leads to operational pressures due to the legal requirements governing their recruitment and deployment.

Child Soldiers International makes the case for raising the minimum age of recruitment to 18 (currently set at 16), by presenting compelling financial, operational and duty of care concerns to that effect. The report also argues that raising the minimum age of recruitment to 18 would better serve young people's interests.

• Find out more and download the report here.