Global II

Hidden recruitment Despite widespread accounts of child recruitment and the presence of children in armed groups, the subject remains taboo within rebel groups and the national army in Chad (ANT). Gen Béchir Ali Haggar, commander of the inter-army military schools group and representative of the Ministry of Defence working with humanitarian actors, told IRIN "officially" there are no longer children in the army. "When [rebel groups] integrated into the army [in 2007] they took many children and some [military] leaders tried to keep them. But the children were not paid by the army." But a senior army officer recognised that there "could be some children". And a soldier who recently worked in the east of the country told IRIN: "There are children, but not just in the army, the rebels have them [too]. This is a war, we need everyone".

18 years of age for selective compulsory and voluntary military service; 2-year conscript service obligation, with reserve obligation to age 45 (2006)

owever, a law adopted the following year states that although volunteers must be 18 years of age, a non-emancipated minor can be enrolled with the consent of his tutor.4 It is not clear how these two laws can be legally reconciled. Moreover, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation indicated that there is no minimum age for the participation in an armed conflict

Chadian public prosecutor, quoted in the report, denounced recruitment by the gendarmerie of children aged between 12 and 15 which were used at checkpoints to arrest the so-called ‘codos’ (members of armed opposition groups). He added that these children frequently denounced people who were not members of the opposition groups. The authorities have admitted this unlawful recruitment

Over 100,000 people have been uprooted by raids by the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in the past two months, Andrej Mahecic, a UNHCR spokesperson, told reporters in Geneva.

This research has, so far, involved more than 100 World Bank and external researchers, including several from Part II countries.