Webinar | Online Recruitment of Children into Armed Groups: Trends, Legal Implications, and Prevention Strategies

The Alliance CAAFAG Task Force is pleased to invite you to an upcoming webinar on Online Recruitment of Children into Armed Groups: Trends, Legal Implications and Prevention Strategies.

The recruitment of children is increasingly occurring in digital spaces, including online gaming platforms and social media. These evolving recruitment strategies challenge traditional prevention, monitoring and response mechanisms and call for strengthened collaboration between child protection actors, policymakers and technology companies.

By bringing together experts, and practitioners, we seek to foster a collaborative environment that encourages learning about new trends and opportunities to support prevention.

Objectives of the Webinar: 

• Present recent research findings on the new recruitment trends through online gaming and digital platforms.
• Examine country-level evidence and trends, including lessons from Colombia.
• Clarify the legal framework applicable to online recruitment and discuss how international law applies.
• Share current advocacy and outline opportunities for strengthened prevention.

The webinar will be facilitated by Sandra Maignant, CAAFAG Advisor at Plan International and Co-lead of the CAAFAG Task Force.

The session will feature contributions from:

• Galen Lamphere Englund, Senior Counter Terrorism and Conflict Prevention Advisor – Research on Recruitment through Online Gaming Platforms
• Ottavia Galuzzi, Associate Expert, UNICRI - Findings from Research Conducted in Colombia on Online Recruitment
• Vanessa Murphy, Legal Adviser, ICRC – Legal Implications and the Application of International Law in Digital Contexts
• Kristin Skoberne, Political Affairs Officer, OSRSG CAAC – Advocacy Initiatives

The webinar will conclude with a moderated discussion and opportunity for questions.

We hope you will be able to join us for this timely and important exchange!