Marrakech – Morocco will host Africa’s first ministerial conference dedicated to the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) of child soldiers on Thursday in Rabat, an event aimed at strengthening coordination and advancing continental initiatives to address the crisis of child militarization.
Held under the theme “Building Sustainable Pathways for Children Affected by Armed Conflict,” the conference seeks to create a structured and effective political program to prevent the recruitment and use of children in armed conflicts across the continent.
The meeting comes as African conflicts become increasingly complex and dynamic, including the expansion of transnational armed groups, mass displacement, cyber-recruitment, and deepening community vulnerabilities.
According to the event organizers, Africa remains one of the regions most affected by child recruitment, necessitating renewed regional mobilization and cooperation.
Globally, the problem is far broader. The militarization of children – the recruitment, use, or exploitation of minors by armed forces and non-state armed groups – remains a grave worldwide concern.
These practices transcend continents and cultures, occurring in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.
UNICEF reports that more than 105,000 children were verified as recruited to engage in conflicts between 2005 and 2022, though the real figure is believed to be significantly higher.
Human Rights Watch notes that children serve in diverse roles: frontline fighters, scouts, porters, spies, guards, cooks, and, in some cases, child wives or sexual slaves.
The Council on Foreign Relations stresses that the consequences are devastating: severe trauma, interrupted education, loss of childhood, and long-term social exclusion. Without effective reintegration programs, many are at risk of being recruited again.
African realities: acute, widespread and deeply rooted
In Africa specifically, the phenomenon is both acute and systemically entrenched. Approximately 21,000 children were recruited on the continent by armed groups and government forces in the past five years, according to ISS Africa.
Child soldiers have become the unfortunate emblem of decades-long conflicts in Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic.
Academic studies from Cambridge University Press and humanitarian testimonies from MSF underscore how entire generations were scarred by these conflicts.
Researchers point to mass displacement, poverty, limited schooling, weak child-protection systems, and prolonged instability as factors that heighten vulnerability. ISS Africa notes that the militarization of children becomes both a symptom and a driver of conflict cycles, undermining peacebuilding and the prospects for stable, cohesive societies.
A separate concern spotlighted by Morocco involves the situation of Sahrawi children in the Polisario-run Tindouf camps, which officials say illustrates the urgency of coordinated African action.
In late March 2022, Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita warned that “the indoctrination and recruitment of children by the armed militias of the ‘Polisario’ constitute an inhuman crime,” arguing that the practice violates UN Security Council resolutions and “fuels instability in North Africa and the Sahel.”
At the time, he noted that the number of children living in conflict zones and at risk of recruitment has tripled globally – from 99 million in 1990 to 337 million in 2020 – while 170,000 children have been released from armed groups over the past 25 years, though only “a limited number” have been successfully identified and reintegrated.
The Tindouf case, Bourita asserted, lays bare how Polisario’s lawless control and Algeria’s neglect create a breeding ground for child militarization – camps where governance collapses, exploitation thrives, and children are turned into tools of an armed separatist agenda.
Why Morocco is hosting
The Rabat gathering aims to strengthen political coordination against the recruitment of children in armed conflicts and advance regional cooperation to prevent, demobilize, and reintegrate affected minors. It also seeks to lay the groundwork for a future African legal instrument dedicated specifically to DDR for child soldiers.
Beyond prevention and demobilization, the conference highlights the need for holistic reintegration approaches that integrate education, mental health support, family reinforcement and socio-economic inclusion. Another core objective is to encourage research collaboration and promote the exchange of expertise among African states.
Organizers say the choice of Rabat reflects the country’s accumulated experience in peace and security initiatives, its participation in African capacity-building efforts, and its growing diplomatic engagement on continental child-protection issues. The conference is presented as a platform to energize a more ambitious, coordinated African agenda against the recruitment of minors.
In 2022, Morocco inaugurated the International Research Center for the Prevention of Child Soldiers in Dakhla, positioning the city as a regional hub for documenting violations, supporting reintegration strategies, and countering the recruitment of children in armed conflicts, including those occurring in the Polisario-run Tindouf camps.
The Rabat ministerial conference seeks to mark a new phase in Africa’s collective response – one more coherent, more forward-looking, and more embedded in the realities faced by communities across the continent.
Read also: Stolen Lives, Shattered Dreams: Child Soldiers in Africa (and elsewhere)
