Terrorism suspects in Belgium are children as young as 12

Belgian authorities are sounding the alarm over a troubling surge in terrorism-related cases involving minors, some as young as 12. According to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s 2024 report, the number of cases involving underage suspects has more than doubled in the past year, rising from 24 in 2023 to 55 in 2024.

While most radicalised minors are between 15 and 17 years old, officials are increasingly identifying suspects as young as 12 and 13, The Brussels Times said in an article on Tuesday.

The prosecutor’s report states that 16 terrorism-related cases were opened in 2022, 24 in 2023, and, last year, the number more than doubled to 55. “It mainly concerns younger people who are 15, 16, or 17 years old,” Kevin Volon, spokesperson for Belgium’s Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis (CUTA), told The Brussels Times. “But over the previous years, we noticed that these minors are becoming even younger.”  However, of the 380 terrorist-related suspects on CUTA’s database, fewer than 20 are minors. 

Increasingly active social media users

“In terms of radicalisation, they are also becoming increasingly active on social media, including with calls to proceed to action or express specific threats,” Volon added. “This way, propaganda spreads much more easily to and among underage people. That is certainly a trend that we remain vigilant for.”

Radicalised minors on CUTA’s watchlist are from across the country, Volon said. He explained that ideologies are mostly jihadism-related, about 75 per cent of them. The remaining 25 per cent are mostly linked to far-right extremism, and hardly any are left-wing extremists.

CUTA found that some minors are drawn by violence, although they have not fully matured in the concept or narrative yet.

“We observed they want to commit some form of violence toward society, or specific people or things. Only then do they try to attach a narrative to their interest in violence,” Volon said.

Radicalisation of minors is not new

Thomas Renard, Director of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism and Senior Associate Fellow at the Egmont Institute in Brussels, says radicalisation among youth is not new.

“Historically, young people have always got involved in terrorist activities. There are always exceptions, of course, but the average age of the people arrested and convicted for terrorism has always been in the early in their early to late 20s,” he told The Brussels Times.

“What is new here, however, is that it now concerns very young people. Children as young as 12, 13, and 14 years old are getting involved in these activities,” Renard said.

A growing security threat in Europe

On May 15th, the Wall Street Journal published an extensive article entitled “Teenage terrorists are a growing threat to Europe’s security.”

“In recent months, dozens of adolescents as young as 14 have been arrested across Europe for allegedly plotting attacks against music venues, shopping centres and sites of worship,” the article reads.

It shares the example of a 14-year-old girl from Montenegro who was arrested in Austria las year for allegedly planning a terrorist attack on “nonbelievers”. Police seized an ax, a knife and Islamic State propaganda from her house. Another 14-year-old was arrested in February of this year for plotting to attack a train station.

“Terrorists in Europe are getting younger, and authorities are struggling to find them,” the WSJ said. “Young people are increasingly drawn into online communities that propagate extremist views, conspiracy theories and violence.”

About 40 teenage extremists in Austria

Three Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna were suspended last year after three suspects aged 17 to 19 were arrested for conspiring on what the CIA described as a “well-developed” plot that could have killed hundreds.

Teenagers made up 67 per cent of the 60 Islamic extremists who were arrested on terrorism charges across Europe in the first eight months following the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, said Peter Neumann, professor of security studies at King’s College London.

Europe’s young far-right is also a growing threat. Belgian police in January arrested a 14-year-old boy with neo-Nazi views on suspicion of planning an attack on a mosque.

One-third of Belgian terrorism cases from 2022 to 2024 involved minors. In Britain, nearly one in five terror suspects is a child.