Today, the use of children by NSAGs involved in extreme violence poses a range of risks to the children themselves, their families, and their communities, and also to international security more broadly. Moreover, responding to child recruitment and use by such groups in complex security and political environments presents operational, safety, legal, ethical, and reputational risks for the UN and its partners. These risks are particularly acute for UNICEF, and DPKO's Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration Section (DDRS) as their staff regularly come in contact with children associated with these groups and lack programmatic guidance for how to effectively handle such situations. Given the threat posed by contemporary NSAGs, it is essential to develop empirically-grounded, principled, and effective strategies that can be deployed across agencies, funds, and programs to both prevent the recruitment and use of children and to disengage those who have come to be involved with NSAGs. "Contemporary NSAGs" such as ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Shabaab, and Ansar Allah are not unique in their use of children, but emerging trends suggest children are being recruited at increasing rates and used for extreme acts of violence.
