ISIS use of children, youth increasing at an unprecedented rate

The authors note that notwithstanding some limitations — for example, the data provides a partial snapshot of the reality (in January 2016, there were 85 suicide operations in Iraq and Syria, only 53 of which were reported in photographic propaganda) – the database remains the first such database of its kind, and that it provides a baseline for future research on violent extremist organizations’ (VEOs) utilization of children and youth.

Yet despite these limitations, the authors say that they are confident in their conclusions that the use of children and youth has been normalized under ISIS rule. Instead of hailing them as young heroes, ISIS media merely celebrate them as heroes. Indeed, the actual age of the martyr is never mentioned, even in passing. In exceptional cases, ISIS supporters might celebrate children and youth, but, aside from one instance in which a pre-adolescent boy is photographed while bidding farewell to his father before a mission, there is no special consideration given to age or separation from family. If anything, to ISIS propagandists, the youth of the martyr is incidental.

The author note that when considered in the context of the child soldiers in other conflicts, this is somewhat counterintuitive. Historically, when militant organizations enlisted children, they did so surreptitiously, a pattern that emerged with the release of the Machel Report on children in armed conflict in 1996 and the UN resolutions against youth recruitment that followed. “The Islamic State bucks this trend brazenly by boasting about its young recruits, something that is indicative of the fact that it is using them differently than the child soldier norm,” the authors say. “The data suggests that the Islamic State is not recruiting them to replace lost manpower —  children and youth only constitute a small proportion of its battlefield losses overall — and they are not engaging in roles in which they have a comparative advantage over the adults. On the contrary, in most cases, children and youth are dying in the same circumstances as adults.”

Additionally, existing research argues that children and youth will be used more to attack civilian targets among whom they can blend in better. However, the data shows that Islamic State’s children and youth have been used to attack civilians in only 3 percent of the cases.

The study concludes that “It is clear that the Islamic State leadership has a long-term vision for youth in its jihadist efforts. While today’s child militants may well be tomorrow’s adult terrorists, in all likelihood, the moral and ethical issues raised by battlefield engagement with the Islamic State’s youth are likely to be at the forefront of the discourse on the international coalition’s war against the group in years to come. Furthermore, as small numbers of children either escape or defect from the Islamic State and as more accounts emerge of children’s experiences, there is an urgent need to plan and prepare for the rehabilitation and reintegration of former youth militants.”

— Read more in Mia Bloom et al., Depictions of Children and Youth in the Islamic State’s Martyrdom Propaganda, 2015-2016 (Combatting Terrorism Center, 18 February 2016)