How Children and Adolescents are Recruited Into Terrorism

 Abstract

Children's minds that are still developing and the fact that they have a poor classification of what is right and wrong is one of the attributes that have been making them rife to terrorists. The exploitation that is meted on the children and adolescents is not a new issue, with terrorist groups as book Haram, ISIS and the Pakistani Taliban being on the forefront of recruiting youth into terrorism. The increasing desire by the terrorists to use the youth in carrying out their terrorist activities is a move that has been cited as being strategies and shocking. One the issues that have been considered as reasons that the terror groups are using the youth is in their intention to receive greater media attention as well as offering the terrorists an opportunity to recruit more loyal members.

Introduction

There is an escalation in the trend of the children and adolescents who are being seen as the most active members of the diverse terrorist organizations. One of the issues that have been considered as the main reason that the terrorist organizations are increasing concentrating on the children and adolescents is the fact that they are easier to recruit and indoctrinate as well as the fact that this age group offers less resistance as they are not fully conversant with their individual mortalities. This research paper presents an explanation of the manner in which children and adolescents are recruited into terrorism as well as the reasons that terrorists are attracting and misusing these children. Further, the paper addresses the challenges that this recruitment has on the world.

For an extended duration now, the school-aged youth have been participating in an assortment of organizations that encourage and in other cases accomplish acts of violence. The youth have been helping in the filling of the military ranks, gangs, militias, as well as terrorist groups. Although the roles that these young individuals play in the terrorist organizations they revolve around the provision of logistical support, raising funds, acting as “lookouts” actively participating in battles and carrying out attacks (Kellerhals & Merle, 2007). It is additionally evident that the processes through which the youth are involved in the groups vary, with some of them being born into radical environments that endorse violence, others are “spotted” and directly recruited by groups. There is also another faction of the youth that self-selects themselves into the group, while there are those who are forced into membership.

 

Children and Adolescent Recruitment

Although most of the attention and study on the issue to date has emphasized on of children as soldiers in diverse rebel armies, there is an increase in the evidence supporting the assertion that the youth are drawn into the cadres of terrorist organizations that operate around the world. One of the issues that have been established encompasses the assertion that there does not a single “sketch” that describes the young persons who have been recruited by the terrorist groups. The assessment of this topic leads to the conclusion that the children and adolescents recruited or radicalized span an assortment of ages as well as developmental stages (Onuoha, 2014). These have included both males as well as females, and possess varying skill sets and levels of education levels. Additionally, these recruits appear to have been brought up in diverse environments.

One of the prevailing issues, however, is that some of these groups employ a selection process meant to aid discover new recruits. In certain cases, the group could be looking for more skilled, educated, or committed children and adolescents to fill certain roles in the organization as that of future leaders or operational planners. In the other cases, the organizations are seen to be interested in merely filling their ranks. The means that this terrorist employ in the vetting of the new recruits has been seen to take place through the use of gateway organizations (Kohrt, Yang, Rai, Bhardwaj, Tol, & Jordans, 2016). These gateway organizations have included groups that are similar to the Boy Scouts and other youth organizations, as those allied with universities and religious institutions. In most occasions, these gateway organizations are funded by the terrorist organizations as a means of allowing them to “grow” the future members. In the other cases, the groups could utilize the organization(s) as an avenue for them to “spot” the probable recruits (Özeren, Sever, Yilmaz, & Sözer, 2014). The Internet has additionally been a rich avenue that these groups have been using to vet prospective members via evaluating their language capabilities, particular ideological knowledge, as well as passion.

There is additionally a new trend that has been leading to the conclusion that there are variations within the groups in due course about the issue of who is recruited. In this case, as the goals of the terrorist organization and situational context change, and as they are impacted by the retention challenges as well as losses of members owing to confinement or death, the nature of recruits they are prepared to bring on can change (Kellerhals & Merle, 2007). In those cases that the organizations have enjoyed extensive support from the community, they have managed to be more discerning about recruits (Onuoha, 2014). Conversely, when support grounds are less and that the demand for personnel increases, the trend has an impact on the types of children and adolescents recruited. The overall trend is that the organizations have decided to go for even younger recruits who have less familiarity of the organization’s fundamental ideology.

The Recruiters

Through the assessment of the different studies on the topic, it is evident that, the categories of individuals who to play a role in recruiting children and adolescents as been emerging. These individuals have been seen to include although not limited to religious figures as well as teachers, and family members and peers (Özeren, Sever, Yilmaz, & Sözer, 2014). These parties are members or supporters of the terrorist organization they recruit for and that they have access to the youth, as in religious institutions, schools or social situations. In the case of the regions that the terrorist organizations possess extensive community endorsement, family members have been known to persuade their children, sibling, niece/nephew, and grandchild to support the group (Özeren, Sever, Yilmaz, & Sözer, 2014). Similarly, friends, as well as the close social networks that are significant and prominent in the lives of these young individuals, have also been an element of the recruitment process.

The teachers at the various levels of the children and adolescent have been seen to recruit as well as attempt to recruit students to join and support diverse terrorist organizations. The one issue that is unclear in the assessment is whether these individuals go into the line of work for the function of being in a position to radicalize children or whether they take advantage of their position as a guide to persuade recruitment. The recruitment via the different individuals is not the only means that the children and adolescents are recruited (Lombardi, Ragab & Chin, 2014). On occasions, the youth are familiar with the organizations while others are recruited and radicalized of their will. The use of the internet by these organizations has been taunted as the main means that they are using to arrive at this goal.  Additionally, the children and the adolescents have used the internet as a means of familiarizing themselves with radical ideologies of the groups while others have used the internet to identify other compatible individuals that can supply additional information along with access.

Recruitment Options

The recruitment of the children and the adolescents has been found to occur across an extensive assortment of venues. Although not all-encompassing regarding all locations that the youth and children are recruited, the common settings employed by the groups include: the schools as well as after-school activities, religious events, and institutions, refugee camps, along with the Internet. For the majority of the terrorist organization, the education system has been used as a way of recruiting or radicalizing the young students (Onuoha, 2014). These terrorist organizations have managed to run some education systems, infiltrate the teaching as well as the student unions, and exert full control over curricula. It follows that the overall the capability of the terrorist group to access the schools has been as a result of the weak governmental management over the education system.

Other cases have seen the terrorist organizations sponsor youth groups, after-school activities, as well as summer camps whose core aim is for the provision of additional opportunities for programming and training. The activities present an outlet for the youth to mingle with their peers, moreover take part in leisure activities and at the same time allowing the group additional opportunities for the identification as well as training of the qualified recruits (Özeren, Sever, Yilmaz & Sözer, 2014).

The religious institutions, with greater emphasis on the mosques, have been some of the most promising locations for the terrorist organizations to recruit new young followers. There exist numerous examples of both radical mosques that preach Salafist ideologies and radical individuals within the mosques, which have attempted to employ the venue as a means of spotting the potential recruits (Onuoha, 2014). In most cases, it is manifest that the recruiters would lure the more promising young individual away from the mosque into a lesser setting where additional in-depth recruitment takes place with less fear of being noticed by the most restrained members of the worshippers.

Refugee camps, on the other hand, have been rich sources for the terrorist organizations to recruit their followers. The fact that most of the refugee camps are found in the war-ravaged nations and are seasoned with poverty and deplorable living conditions have provided the organizations with an ample environment to recruit young followers.  These groups play upon the helplessness of a large number of young displaced individuals by recruiting through promises of greatness and using them in battles governments and other factions that are against them (Onuoha, 2014). The Internet as a recruitment point offers thousands of sites that offer radical propaganda disseminated by terrorist organizations. The propaganda is targeted at reaching the young and potential recruits. The emerging trend is that all the terrorist groups have some form of internet presence, with the scope to which they are online varied.

Why Children and Adolescents are attracted by Terrorist Organizations

There are numerous reasons that can be used in explaining why the young people are joining the different terrorist groups. It is, however, evident that one of the main reasons that the terrorist organizations have managed to flourish in the poor and conflict led societies is the promises of financial gain. The fact that these societies are riddled with poor majorities and high levels of social injustice offers the terror groups with an avenue to recruit followers as they promise to address the suffering that these children suffer (Kellerhals & Merle, 2007). For these young people joining the different organizations, the group presents them with an opportunity to meet their specific needs. These needs fall under the personal, social as well as welfare, which is not being met by their social or familial networks.

In most of the regions with the biggest presence of the terror groups, huge sections of the children and adolescent population is living in poverty, lacking food and shelter and that they have limited access to education. The terrorist organizations have consequently made use of these situations to their gain by promising the youth population what they are lacking (Lombardi, Ragab & Chin, 2014). These organizations have additionally brainwashed the children into believing that the only way of their sufferings is through martyrdom. It follows that not all youth who have been vulnerable to recruitment and radicalization essentially come from the poverty-stricken region are uneducated or come from conflict zones (Bizina & Gray, 2014). The membership of the diverse terrorist groups additionally offers a sense of family, community, as well as friendships that the young individuals, rich or poor, could be lacking. Further, the membership of these terrorist groups additionally appears to offer the youth with a sense of prestige, identity, and pride, responsibility, acceptance, outlets for disappointment, moreover excitement. When critically assessed, it is clear that these are all factors that can be used to lead youth the violent as well as non-violent groups.

Effects of Recruiting Children and Adolescents into Terrorism

The effects of the trend with the increasing number of children who are joining terrorist groups are both diverse and adverse in the entire world. The prevailing impact is that we lose an entire generation of leaders and productive people to these organizations. The fact that the recruitment of these youths leads to the pledge to a life of crime implies that the affected society does not recover from the loss of youth. The families of these children further suffer the most in that other than losing breadwinners, they are branded terrorists, an issue that has the grave impact on their advancement. On the country level, there is immense suffering regarding losing productive individuals as well as setting funds to fight the activities of these groups. These are the funds that could have been used in the other productive projects in the society (Kellerhals & Merle, 2007). Overall, the world suffers greatly with any successful recruitment of a child into a terrorist organization. The fact that the minds of children are still developing implies that these organizations can indoctrinate the children into whatever functions they want, with the case of suicide bombers being the most apparent issue.

Conclusion

Terrorism is one of the core issues that are affecting the world negatively, with the issue of children and youth recruitment being the rifest subject. The fact that the children minds are still developing make the opportune recruitment targets by the terrorist organizations. The increase in the war and poverty riddling the world are some of the attributes that are making it easy for these organizations to recruit the young followers. Further, the increasing infiltration by the members of these groups into the diverse social groups has further increased the ease with which the terrorist groups are recruiting the children. The internet age has further served to increase the ease of recruitment as the children can access the terrorist ideologies online and at their convenience. The overall harm that the joining of terrorist groups has in the entire world, denying the opportunities for productive youth to leave their mark as well as increasing the perception of insecurity are enough to warrant the introduction of the diverse measures that address the situation.

References

Bizina, M., & Gray, D. H. (2014). Radicalization of Youth as a Growing Concern for Counter-Terrorism Policy. Global Security Studies, 5(1), 72-79.

Kellerhals, Merle (2007). “Using Children as Suicide Attackers Increases Sense of Barbarity.” America.gov. 23 October 2007
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Kohrt, B. A., Yang, M., Rai, S., Bhardwaj, A., Tol, W. A., & Jordans, M. J. (2016). Recruitment of child soldiers in Nepal: Mental health status and risk factors for voluntary participation of youth in armed groups. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 22(3), 208.

Lombardi, M., Ragab, E., & Chin, V. (Eds.). (2014). Countering radicalisation and violent extremism among youth to prevent terrorism (Vol. 118). IOS Press.

Onuoha, F. C. (2014). Why Do Youth Join Boko Haram?. Special Report, US Institute for Peace, Washington, DC.

Özeren, S., Sever, M., Yilmaz, K., & Sözer, A. (2014). Whom Do They Recruit?: Profiling and Recruitment in the PKK/KCK. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 37(4), 322-347.

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at Melda Research in best nursing writing services if you need a similar paper you can place your order for custom nursing papers.