Islamic State is using child soldiers at "an increasing and unprecedented rate", according to a report released yesterday. The death rate for children recruited by and fighting for ISIS has doubled since January 2015.
ISIS has used children in a number of its propaganda campaigns, but analysis of the use of child and youth "martyrs" by ISIS between January 2015 and January 2016 discovered that they are being used on a grander scale than previously recognised.
"The Islamic State has so heavily championed the mobilisation of children – on a scale rarely associated even with violent extremist organisations – that it suggests organisational concerns that far outweigh short-term propaganda benefits," the report by the Combating Terrorism Centre in New York said.
Researchers analysed 89 recorded deaths of child soldiers via social media and encrypted communications app Telegram.
"The data unambiguously suggests that the Islamic State's mobilisation of children and youth for military purposes is accelerating," the report said.
"On a month-by-month basis, the rate of young people dying in suicide operations rose, from six in January to 11 in January 2016.
"The rate of operations involving one or more child or youth is likewise increasing; there were three times as many suicide operations involving children and youth in January 2016 as the previous January."
While most children involved were described as "adolescent", some were also believed to be under 12 years old.
Charlie Winter, one of the authors of the report, noted that, unlike many other extremist organisations, ISIS was not using children in a markedly different way to how they used adults.
"The way children are being used is perhaps counterintuitive in the context of child soldier precedence. They aren't just being used to buoy the ranks of ISIS nor are they being used in roles that adults can't engage in," he said.
"Children and youth don't really receive any special treatment from ISIS propagandists. They're celebrated in exactly the same way adults are. And they're celebrated alongside adults rather than being given any recognition for their age... It's almost an incidental fact."
Almost 40 per cent of the children's deaths were in car and truck bombs, another third were killed on the front line as fighters, and a fifth were killed attacking enemy fighters. Six per cent died while working as "propagandists".
The use of child soldiers is expected to rise, according to the report. "They are an effective form of psychological warfare – to project strength, pierce defenses, and strike fear into enemy soldiers' hearts," it said.
"We can expect that, as their implementation increases, so too will the reported rate of child and youth deaths."
The report also warned that ISIS' leadership had "a long-term vision for youth in its jihadist efforts" and that it was likely to be a source of challenge to ethical discourse surrounding military action.
"While today's child militants may well be tomorrow's adult terrorists, in all likelihood, the moral and ethical issues raised by battlefield engagement with the Islamic State's youth are likely to be at the forefront of the discourse on the international coalition's war against the group in years to come," it said.
