1.1. Recruitment and desertion/defection

Generally, men, women and children are frequently recruited by the local (not external) parties to the ongoing war in Somalia. Al-Shabaab and the Somali National Army (SNA) as main Somali opponents try to access, sometimes by force, recruits and those providing logistic support and other services (including sexual services).13 Over the last years, thousands of children (basically between 11 and 17 years old) have been recruited by all sides, but the majority of them were recruited by Al-Shabaab.14 For more details see the EUAA COI report on Somalia: Defection, Desertion and Disengagement from Al-Shabaab from February 2023.15

• 1.1.1.    Recruitment of men, women, and children by Al-Shabaab
  (a)    Repercussions for refusing to be recruited
  (b)    Repercussions for deserters and defectors from Al-Shabaab
• 1.1.2.    Recruitment of men, women and children by other actors
  (a)    Repercussions for refusing to be recruited
  (b)    Repercussions for desertion