An Entertainment Abuses Article used with permission from All-Creatures.org

The National Link Coalition reports on the investigation by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child into the permitted use of firearms by children for hunting in Spain.

UN Scrutinizes Spain’s Allowing Children to Hunt with Firearms
From March 2026 LINK-Letter, The National Link Coalition
March 2026

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Following the landmark declaration in 2023 by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child that children must be protected from exposure to domestic violence and violence inflicted upon animals (See the October 2023 LINK-Letter), the Committee has questioned a country – Spain – for allowing children and adolescents to participate in hunting activities involving firearms.

The Committee’s General Comment No. 26 cited scientific evidence regarding detrimental effects of exposing children to violence against animals. On Jan. 21-22, the Committee met in Geneva to assess Spain’s compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has been in force in Spain since 1991.

The meeting was triggered by CoPPA – the Coordinadora por la Prevención de Abusos – who submitted a report warning of the risk of physical or psychological harm to children and adolescents. The report documented numerous cases of hunting accidents involving firearms in Spain, as well as incidents in which minors were witnesses to, or even responsible for, the death of other persons — including that of a child who accidentally killed his father. This is believed to be the first time the hunting issue has been brought before the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.

CoPPA documented that hunting activities involving firearms combine multiple risk factors, including: children’s and adolescents’ exposure to the inherent violence of the activity; accidents and deaths arising from access to firearms and proximity to gunfire; psychological trauma from normalization and early exposure to violence; and elevated risks of adolescent suicide. “Occurring together, these factors increase the likelihood of physical injuries and psychological harm, with potentially long-lasting—or even tragic—consequences,” CoPPA said, highlighting children’s hunting as being incompatible with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Spain allows minors to use firearms for hunting beginning at age 14, although some communities permit or even encourage children even younger to attend hunts. CoPPA added that the presence of family members not only fails to mitigate many of these risks but can, in some cases, even exacerbate them.

The UN Committee and the General Comment have also been cited in efforts to restrict children from participating in trophy hunts across the African continent (See the December 2025 LINK-Letter).

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Posted on All-Creatures.org: April 3, 2026
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