 Not all armed groups use children, and approximately 60 that used to do so have entered agreements to reduce or end the practice since 1999.For example, by 2017 the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the Philippines had released nearly 2,000 children from its ranks, and the FARC-EP guerilla movement in Colombia agreed in 2016 to stop recruiting children.In other situations, the use of children was increasing in 2017, particularly in Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria and Syria, where Islamist militants and groups opposing them intensified efforts to recruit children.