At UNSC, Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla expresses worry over children being recruited by terror groups

New Delhi: Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla on Monday (June 28, 2021) expressed worry over children being recruited by terror groups and this being compounded by pandemics via online ways of radicalization. 

Shringla's comments came during an address at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict.

The Foreign Secretary said, "We are witnessing a dangerous and worrying trend in global terrorism and that is an increase in the number of children that are being recruited and involved in terrorism-related activities."

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FS @harshvshringla speaks at the #UNSC Open Debate on Children and armed conflict #CAAChttps://t.co/aLbF4xjbrm@MeaIndia pic.twitter.com/SWt930MvEt — India at UN, NY (@IndiaUNNewYork) June 28, 2021

He added that the terror groups take advantage of the fact that children are the most susceptible. 

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"School closures due to the pandemic have provided an even greater opportunity to these terrorist groups to target children, including through online avenues, for radicalization and indoctrination in violent extremist ideologies," Shringla stated.

The FS said that there is a need for a more coordinated approach in implementing the child protection and counter-terrorism agendas.

He added, "States need to demonstrate the greater political will to hold the perpetrators of terrorism and their sponsors to account, and to fulfill the Council's child protection obligations."

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“States need to demonstrate greater political will to hold the perpetrators of terrorism & their sponsors to account, & to fulfill the Council’s child protection obligations.”

FS @harshvshringla at the #UNSC Open Debate on Children & armed conflict #CAAC@MeaIndia pic.twitter.com/iAWKe5bSSp — India at UN, NY (@IndiaUNNewYork) June 28, 2021

A global treaty came into effect in 2002 that forbids non-state armed groups from recruiting anyone under the age of 18. The treaty 'Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict' has 180 Signatories and includes all the countries in South Asia.

This is to be noted that the office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, with parties engaged in armed conflict, has resulted in the release of 12,643 children over the last year.