The big dilemma of small soldiers: recruiting children to the war in Syria
Despite calls from host countries and the United Nations for better monitoring, existing knowledge on children’s participation in armed groups and armed forces in Syria remains scattered. This report considers child recruitment to the war in Syria from the refugee populations in Jordan based on interviews with international and Jordanian officials, as well as Jordanian citizens and Syrian refugees. The report highlights some of the dilemmas and political, economic and social sensitivities facing those seeking to help Syrian children refugees. The report echoes the call for more systematic monitoring as the basis for providing services that enhance protection, engagement and policing.
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Authors
Mark B. Taylor is a research director at the Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research, Oslo. His research covers human rights and security, as well as a range of issues pertaining to both the Middle East and the economies of armed conflict.
Tone Sommerfelt holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of Oslo and is a senior researcher at the Oslo-based Fafo Research Foundation. She has considerable field experience of Muslim West Africa, including three years of fieldwork in The Gambia. She has recently worked on a project commissioned by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs entitled “Religious Reorientation in Southern Mali” that investigates the politico-religious dynamics following the crisis in northern Mali. In addition to Mali, she has conducted fieldwork in Morocco.
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