In January 2011 Afghanistan agreed to disband child soldiers in the security forces. Killid reporters Hasan Ghulami and Nematullah Taneen investigate to find not enough has been done.
In January 2011 Afghanistan agreed to disband child soldiers in the security forces. Killid reporters Hasan Ghulami and Nematullah Taneen investigate to find not enough has been done.Naqeeb Gul says he joined the Afghan National Police (ANP) at 17 years. From Khost province, he says he has been working in the police for one year. According to Gul, he had to plead with recruiting officers to enlist him. “At first they rejected my recruitment because I was underage. But then they agreed when I insisted I needed the job to be able to feed my family.”
Security Commander of Khost, Sardar Mohammad Zazai, does not deny the existence of underage personnel in the police ranks. Fraud in the age mentioned on the National Identity Card (NIC) may be to blame, he thinks. “Most of the young in Khost are jobless. So they may get NICs in which their ages have been altered. This document can be used during the recruitment,” he says.
An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier in uniform who looks younger than 18, admits his date of birth has been changed in the NIC. The soldier from Ghazni province had just returned from vacation. He told Killid, on the condition he would not be named, “I had not completed age 18 at the time of my recruitment. But they amended my age in the NIC because I was very keen to become a soldier and to work for the defence of my country.”
Afghanistan is party to the optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. The protocol sets 18 as the minimum age for participation in hostilities, for both government forces and opposition armed groups. It also obliges the Afghan government to assist in the rehabilitation of children who have been recruited and used in violation of international law.
Time to act
In January last year, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Zalmai Rasoul signed an Action Plan with Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN’s special representative on children and armed conflict to take Afghanistan off a list of some 14 countries that still recruit and use children as child soldiers. Coomaraswamy has successfully signed such agreements with countries like Myanmar, Chad, Colombia and non-state parties like the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in South Sudan.
Zalmai said then, “By signing the Action Plan the government of Afghanistan is obliged to demobilise children under age 18.”
Coomaraswamy underlined the Action Plan, a UN Security Council-mandated process, has provided the opportunity for the Afghan government to “follow (up on) the political commitment in this regard and put the plan in practice”.
General Zaher Azimi, spokesperson, Ministry of Defence, insists the age criteria is strictly enforced in recruitment. Sidiq Sidiqi, spokesperson, Ministry of Interior Affairs, also confirms the national police has been ordered not to enlist underage applicants.
Commander of Police Recruitment Department, Western Zone, Sayed Omar Habib, says the orders issued by the Ministry of Interior warns anyone recruiting children under 18 years be considered “war criminals”. “Ten such cases were identified and prevented in police divisions,” Omar Habid asserts. Mohammad Yasin, head of the Human Rights Department in the police recruitment office, Western Zone, says, “All applicants for the police are being screened by the special commission which considers all the (eligibility) criteria.”
Bad for morale
Herat provincial council member Fateema Jafari, while expressing concern, says she believes the widespread manipulation of the age on NICs is the reason for underage recruitment. Also, retired General Abdul Ahmad Ahmadyar, an expert in military affairs, says the presence of child soldiers “tarnishes the image of the country, and has a negative effect on the morale of the police, as the children grow up arrogant with improper morals.”
Mohammad is from Kandahar province. He is 17 years old but confesses, “My age is more than 18 years in my NIC. I am with the police for the sake of security and peace of my country.” The teenager is illiterate. “I can just about write my name.”
Basheer Ahmad in the police for one year has recently turned 18 years. Sanul Haq who voluntarily left the ANP, says his age on the ID card was inflated so he could join the police.
