Rehabilitate Children in Armed Groups
Indian security forces and Naxalite rebels should immediately end the use of children in the conflict in Chhattisgarh state in central India, Human Rights Watch said today. Using children under age 18 in armed operations places them at risk of injury and death and violates international law.

All parties to the Chhattisgarh conflict have used children in armed operations. The Naxalites, a Maoist armed group, admit that it is their official practice to recruit children above age 16 in their forces, and have used children as young as 12 in armed operations. Government-backed Salwa Judum vigilantes have used children in violent attacks against villages as part of their anti-Naxalite campaign. The Chhattisgarh state police admit that they had recruited children under age 18 as special police officers (SPOs) due to the absence of age documentation, but claim that all children have been removed from the ranks. However, Human Rights Watch investigators in Chhattisgarh found that underage SPOs continue to serve with the police and are used in counter-Naxalite combing operations.

“A particular horror of the Chhattisgarh conflict is that children are participating in the violence,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocate for Human Rights Watch and member of the research team. “It’s shameful that both India’s government and the Naxalites are exploiting children in such a dangerous fashion.”

Human Rights Watch urged the Indian central and Chhattisgarh state governments to develop a scheme to identify, demobilize, and rehabilitate both underage SPOs and children among Naxalite ranks.
Link to HRW