Problems With Current U.S. Policy.

Although critical of the use of child soldiers in certain contexts, the U.S. government--particularly the Department of Defense--has consistently opposed widely popular international efforts to raise the minimum age for soldiering to 18. For the past five years, the U.S. has led efforts to block the development of an Optional Protocol to the CRC that would raise the minimum age for soldiering to 18, consistent with other internationally recognized children's rights and norms. Even though a 1998 sense of Congress resolution attached to the Defense Appropriations Authorization Act for 1999 urged the U.S. not to block this process, the nonbinding resolution has been ignored by U.S. representatives to ongoing UN negotiations.

Furthermore, Washington has not even ratified several international treaties (the CRC and the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions) that specify a broad range of special protection for children. And the U.S. has opposed the creation of a strong International Criminal Court (ICC), which has the potential to deter the recruitment of child soldiers. "The 1998 Rome Statute of the ICC includes among its list of war crimes tactics targeting civilians or civilian institutions as well as the conscription or enlistment of children under age 15 and their use as active participants in hostilities."

Specific U.S. measures to block international efforts to prevent children from becoming soldiers have also occurred outside of governmental and UN arenas. During Summer 1999 negotiations on the International Labor Organization's (ILO) Convention No. 182 on the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, the U.S. lobbied strongly against banning all forms of soldiering by children under 18. Thus, the final text specifically condemns only forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.

Successive U.S. administrations have argued that a minimum age of 18 is unacceptable and unrealistic. Recently, Pentagon officials, backed by the State Department and the administration, have contended that raising the minimum by 2 years, to 17, is acceptable and that the difference between 17 and 18 is only "peripheral." This position corresponds with U.S. law, which allows 17-year-olds to join the military. U.S. opposition to age 18 is also fueled by Pentagon concerns about possible interference with its domestic recruitment practices, especially in the wake of current enlistment shortfalls. The Pentagon has greatly expanded its outreach and advertising activities for young people, including Junior-ROTC in high schools and various other military programs for children as young as eight.

Not only is the U.S. resisting current international endeavors, it is also actively engaged in creating the conditions leading to the use of child soldiers. Of the 42 armed conflicts that occurred in 1994-95, 39 involved armed forces that had received U.S.-supplied weaponry. As of November 1998, the U.S. was providing military support to 11 of the 22 governments engaged in armed conflict whose armed forces or supported paramilitaries were known to use children under 17. (These countries are Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Colombia, Congo-Brazzaville, Pakistan, Peru, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Uganda.) In fiscal year 1997, the U.S. authorized nearly a quarter billion dollars in foreign military sales and excess defense articles, provided more than $3 million in training, and authorized more than $10 million in commercial military sales to these 11 governments or their sponsored groups.

In 1997 in Colombia, for example, where documentation showed more than 15,000 children serving as soldiers in government forces, U.S. foreign military sales and giveaways of excess defense articles surpassed $26 million, plus $403,000 in military training through the International Military Education and Training (IMET) and Joint Combined Education Training (JCET) programs. Additionally, U.S. companies were authorized to sell Colombian state entities 30,000 grenades, one million rounds of ammunition, and 7,000 M-16 assault rifles. On the African continent, where the use of child soldiers is widespread, U.S. military training is taking place on an unprecedented scale and with virtually no congressional or public oversight: 34 of 53 countries had U.S.-conducted JCET training between 1995 and 1997.

Key Problems

* The U.S. has failed to ratify major treaties protecting children's rights.

* The U.S., based in part on its domestic recruitment practices, has consistently blocked international efforts to raise the minimum age for soldiers from 15 to 18.

* The U.S. provides arms transfers, military aid, and military training to countries using children in armed conflict, exacerbating these conflicts and facilitating the use of child soldiers.