ISIS Grabbing Children for War

Carrie Dedrick | Updated: Nov 24, 2014

ISIS Grabbing Children for War

ISIS is reportedly targeting children to join its forces. The Muslim extremist organization reportedly has many children working for the group, though an exact figure is unknown. 

Fox News reports that teenagers are receiving militant training and many are going into battle; an 18-year-old recently carried out a suicide bombing. Younger children are given other roles as spies, guards, nurses and cooks. 

The UN released a report saying that ISIS "prioritizes children as a vehicle for ensuring long-term loyalty, adherence to their ideology and a cadre of devoted fighters that will see violence as a way of life.” 

ISIS is not quiet about recruiting and kidnapping children for its ranks, unlike other militant groups have been in the past. 

Laurent Capuis, UNICEF’s regional child protection adviser for the Middle East and North Africa said, "What is new is that ISIS seems to be quite transparent and vocal about their intention and their practice of recruiting children.” 

 Leila Zerrougui, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative for children and armed conflict said, "They are abducting children and forcing them to join, they are brainwashing children and indoctrinating them to join their group. All the tools used to attract and recruit children are used by this group.” 

Publication date: November 24, 2014



ISIS Grabbing Children for War