Child soldiers in India
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{{Child soldiers}}
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Child soldiers in India is a common occurrence among non-state forces such as insurgent organizations and up to seventeen militant factions use child soldiers in the Kashmir region. According to a report from the Conflict Study Center, child soldiers are used in Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir; and that children were used by both state backed and anti-state insurgent groups. Use of children below the age of 18 in active conflict is a violation of the Indian Penal Code, the Geneva convention and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Chhattisgarh
In Chhattisgarh, it is estimated that up to 80,000 children are involved in the ongoing Naxalite insurgency. The majority of children are used by militants, though government supported self-defence militias also use them. The Asian Legal Resource Centre has stated that human rights groups have voiced concerns over the use of child soldiers by the state and the Naxalites. According to them, up to 118 districts in India are facing armed insurrection and that child soldiers were used by both sides in these conflicts. Human rights watch has also accused the Indian security forces of using children as spies and messengers,{{Failed verification|date=July 2021}} although the Indian government denies this allegation. The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers report in 2008 stated that there was recruitment of children by banned maoist militant group and terrorist groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir and north eastern states of India.{{Cite book|url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/pub/2008/children/Child_Soldiers_Global_Report_Summary.pdf|title=Child Soldiers Global Report 2008|publisher=Child Soldiers International aka Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers|year=2008|page=12}} although the majority of child soldiers were used by militants.
References
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{{cite book|last=Singer|first=Peter Warren|title=Children at War|date=7 April 2006|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0520248762|page=27}}
{{cite book|last=Whitman|first=Shelly|title=The Routledge Handbook of the Responsibility to Protect|date=19 June 2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415600750|pages=152–153|editor1=W Andy Knight|editor2=Frazer Egerton}}
{{cite book|last=Rosen|first=David M.|title=Child Soldiers|date=23 April 2012|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1598845266|page=[https://archive.org/details/childsoldiersref0000rose/page/6 6]|url=https://archive.org/details/childsoldiersref0000rose/page/6}}
{{cite web|last=Resource Centre|first=Asian Legal|authorlink=Asian Legal Resource Centre|title=India: Child soldiers being used as expendable pawns in armed conflicts|publisher=Asian Human Rights Commission|date=7 September 2007|url=http://www.humanrights.asia/news/alrc-news/human-rights-council/hrc6/AL-024-2007}}
{{cite book|last=Hartjen|first=Clayton|title=The Global Victimization of Children: Problems and Solutions|year=2011|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1461421788|edition=2012|author2=S. Priyadarsini|page=106}}
{{cite book|last=Doek|first=Jaap E.|title=Child Soldiers Global Report 2008|year=2008|publisher=Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers|page=170}}
{{cite book|last=McCracken|first=Kevin|title=Global Health: An Introduction to Current and Future Trends|date=14 June 2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415557573|page=244|edition=1st|author2=David R. Phillips}}
}}
Category:Human rights abuses in India