12 Year Olds Now Serving in Iran War

 

Children can now fight for Iran. Not teenagers, or those almost eighteen – children aged 12. “Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (the IRGC) has lowered the minimum age for participation in war-support roles to 12, a senior official acknowledged on state television, in remarks cited by the Iranian news channel Iran International.” How desperate is the nation that puts its children to war. These 12 year olds will join the IRGC forces manning checkpoints and patrols repressing Iranian citizens. What heartbreaking calamity.

The move comes despite Iran's commitments under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which expressly and outright prohibits the use of children in military activities.

Child soldiering is a problem around the world, particularly with CRC signatory nations in conflict, because desperate regimes recruit children for their easy obedience, attracting them with ideology and perception of community strength they might gain from soldiering. Children in poverty who lack opportunity and education are easy targets. (See my research on this at  Suffer the Children: How the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Has Not Supported Children, 22 N.Y. Int’l. L. Rev. 57 (2009); and A Brief Assessment of the 25-Year Effect of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 23 Cardozo J. Int’l. & Compar. L. 323 (2015).

Furthermore, such a move to have children age 12 joining the IRGC defies United Nations treaty authority enforcement. In truth, enforcement has always been a weakness of the CRC, as the plight of children all over the world by CRC signatory states is not improving. It is as if the CRC is a triumph of international law that has enjoyed little success of the rule of law for the lives of children. This new decision by the IRGC is clear evidence of that.

Working on my sabbatical project casebook Children and the Law, my mind immediately rushed to the focus of our book – trauma informed lawyering on behalf of children. When children experience adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), they endure some level of trauma. ACEs are traumatic events that happen as a child grows up. Offering a new and pragmatic perspective, this casebook covers not only essential theory and practice, but accommodates expected law student demands for various expertise in child advocacy, particularly dealing with children who have experienced trauma. Having contact with the law in nearly any form can create a traumatic experience for a child. This casebook is designed to prepare and train lawyers, both experienced and new, in the rising interest toward the involvement of children in the law. Recognizing that a new approach is needed to this area of law and child advocacy, our goal is to provide a tool that will teach in an interesting and engaging manner by offering a fresh perspective on the subject matter with a balance of practical training and tools. It is scheduled for publication in Fall 2026.

So as abhorrent the notions of children serving in a war in any capacity are, the trauma they experience in that service will affect them vividly and dramatically for their entire lives, if they survive their wartime service. The IRGC is showing its true colors on the value they place on children. And the CRC is not protecting these children from child soldiering despite express prohibitions that Iran has agreed to.

193 nations have signed the CRC treaty, leaving the United States as the only UN non-signer. While often debated in legal halls, the reasons for U.S. refusal to sign the treaty are held in our Judeo Christian infused values for children, as those deserving of the protection of their best interests, with their parents holding the right and the serious duty to do so. “United States family law jurisprudence requires the protection of children by the legally enforceable standard of the best interests of the child. This is not a rights framework, but rather it is a protective framework that requires adult obligations and duties to act in the best interests of children based on their parental rights. However imperfect the best interests of the child may be applied, it has been immeasurably more successful at the protection, provision, and participation of the child than the CRC could ever be.” (Suffer the Children, at p. 11).

The IRGC is now another tragic example of the failure of the CRC. While numerous Middle Eastern news outlets are reporting these steps taken by Iran to enlarge its army, western media are seemingly and shamefully silent on this latest use of child soldiers. Understanding rights and obligations and communicating them accurately will always be a heavy task, but ignoring facts is never good – and it is tragic for children.

Rooted in Jewish tradition as a gift from God (Psalm 127, 128), the value of children passed on into Christianity by Jesus Christ in the New Testament. (Matt. 19:14, Mark 10:14, Luke 18:16) Christianity brought a new and unfamiliar respect for children, in turn bringing a new view of children to the law which has manifested in the United States in the best interests of the child as a legal and statutory standard. This worth of children has become part of the fabric of our nation, setting us apart from many others around the world, especially the IRGC. 12 year olds should never serve in war in any capacity.