More than 400 children in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were recruited by armed actors in January and February this year, with some as young as 14 years and some reported picked up from schools and the streets and put at immediate risk of violence, said Save the Children.
Save the Children’s local partners working on child protection in North and South Kivu documented more than 400 cases of children newly associated with armed groups between January and February 2025, when violence escalated in the eastern region of the country. Some of the children were reported to have been picked up from their communities and taken to the bushes to be trained to handle weapons against their will.
Save the Children programmes provide support to children who have been released from armed groups. In 2024, the organisation assisted at least 220 children formerly associated with armed groups in Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu. These children receive both psychosocial and economic support to help them reintegrate into their communities. Depending on their age, some children return to school, while others receive vocational training in practical skills such as tailoring, carpentry, or mechanics, equipping them with the tools to build sustainable livelihoods.
The recruitment, use, and abduction of children in armed conflict is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and may constitute a war crime, said Save the Children. These practices expose them to extreme violence, and cause severe, long-term physical and psychological harm.
Children are often targeted for recruitment because they are cheap, easier to control and manipulate, and because they look to adults to protect them. Usually unpaid, they are used to do tasks adults do not want to do and may also be coerced into carrying out acts of violence, or have violence perpetrated onto them – for example, as girls recruited to be ‘wives’ of soldiers.
Save the Children has observed that the number of grave violations against children in the eastern DRC has increased. UNICEF has reported that grave violations have tripled since the latest escalation of violence which began on 24 January 2025 [1]. These violations include recruitment and use of children in armed groups, killing and maiming, rape and other forms of sexual violence, and abduction.
Junior*, 17, who has been supported by Save the Children said:
“I was taken by force by a group of armed men when we were going to school with my friends, so they took us into the bush to train us to handle weapons to defend the country. We were very closely watched so that no one could leave the training area”
Greg Ramm, Save the Children’s Country Director in DRC, said:
“The situation is unacceptable, and urgent action is needed to protect the children of the DRC. We call on all parties to the conflict to take immediate measures to prevent and end these grave violations. The international community must ensure that independent human rights monitors have unrestricted access to affected areas to conduct rigorous and child-sensitive investigations and perpetrators of such acts must be held into account”.
The DRC has made progress in recent years in addressing the issue of child recruitment, including the adoption of an Action Plan in 2012 and the establishment of a Joint Technical Working Group to coordinate implementation. However, much work remains to be done to ensure the protection of children from all forms of violence.
“We urge the government of the DRC, the international community, and all stakeholders to work together to address the root causes of these violations and to ensure that children are protected from harm,” said Christian Selemani*, the child protection partner.
Save the Children started working in eastern DRC in 1994, and is currently working with 13 local partners, as well as international partners and government authorities, to deliver critical health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, child protection and education support to children and their families.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Save the Children.
