A/HRC/40/28 34. Children of foreign fighters may be at particular risk of forcible recruitment. In resolution 2178 (2014), the Security Council required States to prevent individuals from travelling for the purpose of perpetrating, planning, preparing or participating in terrorist acts, or providing or receiving terrorist training, while providing that any measures adopted must comply with international human rights law. In particular, such measures must not impinge on the right to freedom of movement. 32 In resolution 2396 (2017), the Security Council called upon States to distinguish between suspected foreign fighters and accompanying family members. Where a child is in imminent danger of recruitment by a caregiver, or of being obliged to accompany a caregiver to a territory where the child risks forced recruitment, the State should take appropriate protection measures in the best interests of the child, including in some cases temporary removal from the family environment. Any such decision must be taken on the basis of actual risk to the child’s well-being, and should comply with the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children. 33 B. Motivation of child recruits 35. There is limited empirical research on the drivers of child recruitment and that which does exist disproportionately focuses on the recruitment of children from developed countries to terrorist groups whose leaders and primary operations are in another country. The research available indicates that the drivers of recruitment are different for those children who live in areas directly affected by terrorism, but that in all cases there is no single factor or group of factors that reliably predict child association with terrorist groups.34 36. Children do not enjoy the independence, agency and range of choices open to adults. Even when they are not forcibly recruited, most child association with terrorist groups involves some form of coercion or constraint. If a terrorist group controls territory, children may be unable to avoid association. Where States indiscriminately target a particular territory, claiming that everyone in it, including children, is necessarily associated with a terrorist group, they are likely to remove any perceived advantage to remaining unaffiliated. 37. Children who exercise some degree of agency in joining a terrorist group often cite meeting basic needs, financial incentives, opportunities for advancement, resolving grievances and defending or promoting the interests of their families or communities as the attractions of terrorist groups. 35 They may also perceive terrorist groups as a route to identity, significance and status. The participation rights recognized in the Convention on the Rights of the Child are inherently preventive, in that where they are fully respected children can exercise agency and make choices in their daily lives, and adults have a responsibility to take the views of children into account. In such circumstances, society demonstrates to children that they are valued, whereas children who feel disenfranchised and unappreciated are more vulnerable to terrorist recruitment (see A/HRC/33/29). 36 C. Role of the community 38. Terrorist groups generally rely on a degree of community support, whether based on a perception that they respond to legitimate grievances, or because they provide basic services in the absence of State provision. In its resolution 2178 (2014), the Security Council encouraged States to engage local communities and non-governmental actors to 32 33 34 35 36 See International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 12; United Nations Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force, “Guidance to States on human rights-compliant responses to the threat posed by foreign fighters” (2018); and A/HRC/28/28. See also Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comments No. 14 (2013) on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration and No. 6, in particular para. 54. See generally Cradled by Conflict: Child Involvement with Armed Groups in Contemporary Conflict. See Siobhan O’Neil, “Trajectories of children into and out of non-State armed groups”. See also Paramjit T. Joshi and Deborah A. O’Donnell, “Consequences of child exposure to war and terrorism”. 9