New CTED Trends Alert highlights urgent challenges as children face multiple forms of exploitation by terrorist groups.
The Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) has released a new Trends Alert documenting the accelerating exploitation of children by terrorist groups worldwide, with Member States reporting increasing concern about their capacity to protect children who are subjected to multiple forms of physical and psychological harm.
The Trends Alert details how terrorist groups have developed sophisticated systems for exploiting children that combine traditional physical methods with increasingly advanced digital strategies. Groups employ “funnel strategies” online, guiding children from mainstream platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to encrypted messaging apps like Telegram and Signal. They exploit gaming environments, including Discord, Steam, and Roblox, where young people spend significant time and form social connections. Groups use gender-differentiated strategies, targeting boys with “masculine crisis narratives” and girls through messaging centered on family roles and religious messaging.
Traditional offline methods of exploitation also persist. Abduction continues in conflict zones, with groups like Al-Shabaab abducting children as young as three years old. Terrorist organizations filling governance gaps by providing essential services, creating dependency relationships that facilitate exploitation. Human trafficking has become increasingly central to terrorist operations, creating situations where children experience overlapping victimization through trafficking and terrorist exploitation.
Member State face an “acceleration gap”, where terrorist groups adapt their strategies within weeks, while States require months or years to develop protective policies. Many lack specialized juvenile justice systems for terrorism cases, with children often processed through adult courts. Without proper age determination protocols, some States default to treating individuals of uncertain age as adults, potentially exposing exploited children to severe penalties and inappropriate detention.
Children exploited by terrorist organizations require specialized trauma treatment, educational support, family reconciliation, and long-term support – resources most Member States currently lack. Many exploited children exhibit elevated post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, depression, and other psychiatric disorders, yet specialized therapeutic capacity is inadequate.
CTED will continue its engagement with Member States to collect and share challenges, good practices, and lessons learned to strengthen responses that protect children from terrorist exploitation.
Read the full Trends Alert here.