Population: 14.0 million (7.8 million under 18)
Government Armed Forces: 5,300
Compulsary Recruitment Age: age not specified in law
Voluntary Recruitment Age: age not specified in law
Voting Age: 18
Optional Protocol: not signed
Other Treaties: GC AP I, GC AP II, CRC, ILO 138, ILO 182, ACRWC, ICC

There were no reports of under-18s in the armed forces. Some pupils at the military school received firearms training from as young as 13. No information was available on the use of under-18s by armed groups.

Context:

The Movement of Nigeriens for Justice (Mouvement des nigériens pour la Justice, MNJ), a new Tuareg armed group, claimed responsibility for an attack on an army base in northern Niger in February 2007.1 As of October 2007, reports indicated that attacks led by ethnic Touareg had killed at least 45 government soldiers since February.2 The MNJ's stated objectives included full implementation of past peace agreements, measures to address development and political representation issues in northern regions, and the holding of a national forum to debate political reform.3

The final stage of implementation of a socio-economic reintegration program for some 4,000 former combatants from armed groups, provided for by three peace agreements signed between April 1995 and August 1998, was ongoing in 2007 following the late release of funds for the implementation of the program targeting over 3,000 former combatants in the Aïr-Azawak region.4

Government:

National recruitment legislation and practice

The constitution stated that it was the duty of every citizen to defend the nation and territorial integrity, and that military service was compulsory under the conditions set down by law. In 2001 Niger had reported to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that military service was governed by Ordinance No. 96-033 (1996), obligatory except for those who were unfit or exempt, and could "take the form of military service, national civil service or national participatory service".5 In practice, military service was currently not enforced due to financial and material constraints.6

There was no minimum age for voluntary or compulsory recruitment. Recruits had to be of Nigerien nationality and be unmarried and physically able. There was no evidence, however, of under-18s in the armed forces.7

Military training and military schools

There was one military school, the Prytanée militaire de Niamey, governed by Decree No. 97-459/PRN/MDN. Sixty pupils, including ten pupils from neighbouring countries, enrolled in the school each year. No minimum age was specified for entry, but admission was open to boys at the age at which they would enter secondary-school (approximately 10-12 years old). Admission was through examination (concours) and applicants had to be no more than 13 years old at the time of the examination.8

Pupils were given both academic and military instruction. In the third year of study at the school, at the age of approximately 13-15, pupils were taught basic handling of firearms, and in the sixth year, at the age of 16-18, further military weapons training was provided, as was physical training during a month in military camps. After completing the school, pupils could enter a military training school for officers (école des officiers). Around 70 per cent of pupils were reported to enter the armed forces.9

Armed Groups:

No information was available on the use of child soldiers by armed groups.

Developments:

At a February 2007 ministerial meeting in Paris, Niger and 58 other states endorsed the Paris Commitments to protect children from unlawful recruitment or use by armed forces or armed groups and the Paris Principles and guidelines on children associated with armed forces or armed groups. The documents reaffirmed international standards and operational principles for protecting and assisting child soldiers and followed a wide-ranging global consultation jointly sponsored by the French government and UNICEF.

1 "Niger: Touareg attack army in the north", IRIN, 9 February 2007, www.irinnews.org.

2 "Niger: Humanitarian crisis feared in the North", IRIN, 22 October 2007.

3 Programme des revendications du Mouvement des nigériens pour la Justice (MNJ), 9 April 2007, www.temoust.org/spip.php?article1958.

4 Information from Association nigérien pour la défense des droits de l'homme (ANDDH), April 2007.

5 Initial report of Niger to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, UN Doc. CRC/C/3/Add.29/Rev.1, 17 October 2001.

6 ANDDH, above note 4.

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid.

9 Ibid.

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