Terrorist recruitment of children & youth in violent conflict zones

Despite the threat level remaining low in non-conflict areas, terrorist groups continue to be a serious threat in conflict zones around the world.

In many conflicts children participate in combat. However, their roles are not limited to fighting. Many girls & boys are also used?in support functions that also entail great risk & hardship. Their tasks vary from combatants to cooks, spies, messengers & sex slaves. Moreover, the use of children to carry out acts of terror, including suicide bombing has emerged as a phenomenon of modern warfare. Each year, the UN receives reports of children as young as 8-9 years old being associated with terrorist/militant groups.

Children who are associated with parties to conflict are exposed to acute levels of violence – as witnesses, direct victims & often, as forced participants. Many are injured & have to live with disabilities for the rest of their lives.

Today, tens of thousands of children are involved in violent conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Mali, Nigeria, Yemen, Central African Republic, Libya, Myanmar (Rakhine), Gaza & elsewhere.

Children do not “opt” into conflict, rather they “grow” into it. Conflict structures the information they see & the choices they make. It pulls & pushes them in many directions. Conflict erodes their relationships while exacerbating their needs & exposes them to untold risks. Conflict shapes their identity & heightens their need to find meaning in their lives. Ultimately, the forces of conflict narrow the paths available to children & tragically for many, lead to exploitation, violence & more trauma.

A multiplicity of causes

Children's association with terrorist/militant groups in conflicts are multifaceted. Children become involved with such groups for interrelated reasons that range from extreme coercion to the mundane. Some of the specific factors that influence involvement today overlap significantly with factors that influenced child involvement including physical & food security, family & peer networks, financial incentives, coercion, status & identity. Moreover, the stressors of conflict appear to put children at risk for a range of adverse outcomes beyond NSAG association. Each child’s trajectory is determined by a personalized cocktail of interconnected risks, needs & resilience factors.

The fallacy of neutrality

In many of today’s violent conflicts, it is virtually impossible for children to remain unaffiliated with a party involved in the conflict. When terrorist/militant groups are the only employer & exert physical control over the populace, joining a terrorist/militant group may well be the only realistic survival strategy. In parts of Syria where unemployment is rampant, there are few options for children to support themselves & their families other than to turn to the terrorist/militant groups that control the area.

When the state assumes that all adolescent boys & young men in a given territory are affiliated with rebel groups, as was the case in Aleppo, neutrality has no benefit.

It is highly unlikely that children can avoid association with terrorist/militant groups when their families & entire communities are engaged. This is the case in Mali, where community mobilization is dominant pathway of children into such groups.

The social appeal of terrorist/militant groups

It can be difficult to ignore the allure of terrorist/militant groups. For many children & youth inside conflict zones, such groups provide a ready-made identity, community & sense of significance, as well a semblance of order amid chaos. Terrorist/militant groups deliberately exploit children’s greater tendency towards altruism & group bonding. Furthermore, terrorist/militant groups can confer individual perks to children & youth, from food & financial incentives to less tangible benefits. In Mali & Nigeria’s strictly hierarchical societies, such groups can provide a way for young people to express themselves & attain a level of status beyond what society would usually allow for someone of their age. Finally, even if children do not willingly join a terrorist/militant group, once inside, group processes may lead to identification & bonding with the group & its members, vastly complicating any exit.

The unemployment, illiteracy, common poverty & deficiency of the rule of law could cause the recruitment & exploiting of children by terrorist groups. Terror groups have many ways to exploit children such as coercion, financial aid or proposing protected status for children or their family. The rising violence & insecurity in the world make it easy for terror groups to reach & convince the children. In some places such Syria & Afghanistan, terrorist organizations offer 2 choices to families; give some money every month or give one of their children. Families often choose the latter because of poverty & the reality of large families.

Terrorist organizations can also influence the education system in the region under their control in such a way that they can train new members. This is another method for terrorist organizations to recruit children. Terrorists exploit children because they can quickly gain their trust. Terrorist organizations train children as suicide bombers & many children exploited in this manner are not even aware of what they are doing.

Trauma & bereavement are psychological vulnerabilities that greatly aids in terrorist recruitment

When a family member is harmed or killed, it is the responsibility of family members to seek out the perpetrator & make him pay. This ideology of revenge is strictly codified & does not spread beyond seeking out the perpetrator & repaying his evil act.

However, with widespread war traumatization & bereavement, & the importation of a terrorist mentality, this mindset is changing: revenge is becoming generalized in the minds of many. Families & victims no longer regarded revenge as a duty to find & repay in kind the person who had harmed their family, but instead generalized their revenge – to enact harm on the people from where the harm had originated.

With this change in mentality & active terrorist networks operating in violent conflict zones, youth who have been harmed by the conflict are the most vulnerable to being drawn to this revenge & terrorist ideology.

In times of violent conflict, losing a family member traumatically is not a rare event. When a father or brother is dragged from the home & his body is found later with the marks of torture clearly evident or bombs exploding overhead kill a parent – these events riveting & life changing.

Traumatic events are by defined by the person experiencing it. When a person is severely traumatized it is normal for him to be unable to accept the enormity of the experience he has undergone. His view of the world is dramatically altered & normalcy no longer exists. Frequently his mind is unable to allow the full impact of the event into consciousness & the traumatic memory exists in a highly charged sensory state retriggered in flashbacks, nightmares & arousal states that occur with reminders of the traumatic event.

The experience of psychological trauma has shattered their lives & they are unable to rebuilt. Part of healing from a traumatic event is to find a way to allow this highly charged memory to find a way to be processed into normal memory in a manner that creates new meanings, new behaviours & new outlooks that are able to process the highly charged & painful emotions that were experienced.

For some, healing occurs in fits & spurts as avoidance strategies are enacted to keep the traumatic memory at bay until little by little, it is accepted into the conscious narrative of one’s life story.

For others, active seeking occurs when the individual searches for a new frame into which to place the traumatic memory within the context of one’s life that gives it meaning which is acceptable versus overwhelming in grief, shame, fear & sorrow. For these seekers of a new cognitive frame – the terrorist recruiters are a grave danger. Every trauma survivor seeks to place his traumatic experience within the context of his own life, past, present & future. For many, the shame, fear, guilt & danger that the traumatic event posed make it a exceedingly difficult thing to do.

Some individuals find themselves drawn to a mosque espousing radical & violent ideologies where they found other father figures who guided & taught them. And they were drawn to Allah – the ultimate father figure. One who neither abandons nor forgets. At the mosque, they were taught a way where they could right the world, to regain a sense of control & self-esteem by enacting social justice. They could join a jihad to become a martyr. They could go to the homes of their enemies, to do what had done to his family. They would have to give their lives to achieve this goal but it is a small price to pay for the peace it gave them.

Terrorism recruitment & traumatic stress responses

Victims of traumatic stress generally feel very alienated from others. Realizing that their experience is overwhelming & incomprehensive to themselves; they do not expect others to be able to be able to understand or bear their pain with them. When surrounded by other trauma victims they often learn that to speak of their own pain only triggers off reactions of hyperarousal, flashbacks, anger, avoidance & fear states in others similarly traumatized. As such, the trauma victim is often lonely & alone.

In attempts to calm their flashbacks & states of hyperarousal they will avoid things that previously brought pleasure & isolate themselves from people & activities that may trigger negative emotional states. They are searching for meaning & the means to weave the traumatic event into their life narrative. They are desperately searching to understand & accept what had happened.

Trauma victims often feel a sense of a foreshortened future. They no longer believe the world is benevolent, predictable or that they deserve not to have chaotic evil events befall them. They know by experience that no matter how much self-esteem they previously had, no matter how much control they thought they had & no matter how good the world seemed – it can all come crashing down in a moment.

Trauma victims often suffer survivor guilt where they cannot understand why others died while they did not. They are pained by their powerlessness to keep their loved ones alive, by their inability to act in frozen terror, or if they did act - the failure of their actions to make a positive effect. Some are depressed & welcome death. All are seeking for ways to find an acceptable meaning to assign to their experiences that allows them to re-enter life in a way that makes it possible to live without a constant state of emotional pain.

Adolescence & terrorist recruitment

Being an adolescent is much more difficult in times of violent conflict. During this age when an adolescent is still seeing things in black & white – versus abstract thinking, the experience of violent conflict can greatly complicate matters. Traumatic events even for adults often engenders a primitive thinking process where perceptions are narrowed down to a concentration on the threat & if possible, fighting back or escaping it. In the face of grave threats, everything recedes from conscious awareness.

Teenagers typically go through a process of alternating between depending & rejecting their parents. During this time of growing into an independent self, the young person typically begins to see the weaknesses of their parents & to bond with peers & others in attempt to distance themselves from their parents.

Terrorist recruiters typically understand this struggle & offer a powerful family for the confused & frightened adolescent to join.

Fictive kin are offered in the form of the brotherhood of Muslims & bonds of loyalty are forged which often achieve the developmental task of leaving parents. Dependencies are transferred from one to the next “family”.

In such instances, the teen typically separates himself completely from his family of kin & joins the fictive family of the Muslim brotherhood. In training he learns to carry out terrorist acts & trains in the mission of martyrdom. He is shown pictures & films of atrocities toward children, women & elderly men. His anger & his longing to enact justice are kindled, while “family” ties are cemented through singing about Jihad & experiencing the training together.

In many ways, this experience differs only slightly from typical military “boot camp” training where recruits are removed completely from their own families & “family ties” while the brotherhood of the military is forged by group experiences & the values of loyalty & the honour of giving ones’ life in service of country are instilled. Many young military recruits will admit that the service functioned as a surrogate parent & family for them in leaving troubled homes where they were lost & in need of guidance to grow into responsible adults.

Recruitment of bereaved children

Often young children from families where the father has been killed are recruited. The mother is often experiencing trouble supporting them adequately & is often quite grateful that her children can receive an education & may not understand the price her child will have to pay to receive such an education.

It is relatively simple to play on the fears & vulnerabilities of mother & child. Without a father, the child is eager for a father figure. Furthermore, when sympathy & comprehension are extended for their loss, strong bonds are forged. Then it is relatively easy to steer the child beyond traditional views of duty to avenge the death of one’s parents into generalized views of revenge & from there into the tactics of terrorism.

Combating terrorism recruitment in vulnerable populations

It is possible to combat terrorism recruitment, but it requires the outreach & support on a community level – something currently the militant mosques are more successful at achieving than any other entity.

One of the ways to do so is to offer alternatives to turning to militant religious organizations to find meaning, solace & community, following traumatic bereavement. While religion is where most individuals find meaning in matters involving death & the search for the meaning of life, militant fundamentalism is not the answer.

Schools can offer treatment to traumatized children to help them find meaning other than offering one’s life in a martyrdom mission to attain peace, Paradise & honourable escape from the pain of this life.

Naturally the costs of such programs are expensive, but so are the costs of doing nothing. As long as the youth continue to be vulnerable to terrorist recruitment & terrorist organizations continue to desire to wage war, there will be youth who will be drawn to & selected into martyrdom missions.

The rehabilitation of formerly recruited children is another problematic issue. Due to lack of sufficient support for reintegration, these children could easily choose to return to terrorist groups.

Regardless of how children are recruited & their roles, child soldiers are victims whose participation in conflict bears serious implications for their physical & emotional well-being. They are commonly subject to abuse & most of them witness death, killing & sexual violence. Many are forced to commit violent acts & some suffer serious long-term psychological consequences. The reintegration of these children into civilian life is an essential part of the work to help child soldiers rebuild their lives.

Endro Sunarso is an expert in Security Management, Physical Security & Counter Terrorism. He is regularly consulted on matters pertaining to transportation security, off-shore security, critical infrastructure protection, security & threat assessments, & blast mitigation.

Besides being a Certified Protection Professional (CPP?), a Certified Identity & Access Manager (CIAM?), a Project Management Professional (PMP?) & a Certified Scrum Master (CSM?), Endro is also a Fellow of the Security Institute (FSyl) & the Institute of Strategic Risk Management (F.ISRM).

Endro has spent about 2 decades in Corporate Security (executive protection, crisis management, critical infrastructure protection, governance, business continuity, loss mitigation, due diligence, counter corporate espionage, etc). He also has more than a decade of experience in Security & Blast Consultancy work, initially in the Gulf Region & later in South East Asia.