enlist personnel from age 16 and accept applications from children aged 15 years, 7 months. Parental consent is required prior to enlistment. , 23% of enlistees to the British armed forces were aged under 18. Most child recruits were enlisted for the army, where 30% of the intake in the year 2021-2022 was aged under 18; more new soldiers were 16 than any other age. Army recruits aged between 16 and 17.5 train initially at the Army Foundation College, a military training centre dedicated to the age group. , the centre is graded 'outstanding' for welfare by the education inspectorate Ofsted, although multiple allegations of abuse at the centre, some proven, are on the army's record. In 2021, nine investigations were opened into sexual offences against 22 girls at the centre; in one investigation, three of the suspected perpetrators were members of staff. The revelations were the subject of a Vice News report in July 2022. As per the OPAC, the UK does not normally send child recruits to participate in hostilities, although it does not rule out doing so. The UK inadvertently deployed 22 personnel aged under 18 to Iraq and Afghanistan between 2003 and 2010. The committee on the Rights of the Child has urged the UK to alter its policy so as to ensure that children cannot take part in hostilities under any circumstances. In negotiations on the OPAC during the 1990s the UK joined the US in opposing a global minimum enlistment age of 18. Children's rights bodies have criticised the UK's continuing reliance on children to staff its armed forces. Oceania Australia The Australian Defence Force allows personnel to enlist with parental consent from the age of 16. Personnel under the age of 18 cannot be deployed overseas or used in direct combat except in extreme circumstances where it is not possible to evacuate them. New Zealand , the minimum age for joining the New Zealand Defence Force was 17. Movement to end military use of children The military use of children has been common throughout history; only in recent decades has the practice met with informed criticism and concerted efforts to end it. Progress has been slow, partly because many armed forces have relied on children to fill their ranks, and partly because the behaviour of non-state armed groups is difficult to influence. Recent history 1970s–1980s International efforts to limit children's participation in armed