Current Policy

In the United States of America, the policy of child soldiers is very strict. The United States does not allow any person under the age of 18 to join or to be forced to join any military service. However, there is a twist to the Law and Policy. The United States, allows 17 year olds to volunteer in service in its armed forces, although they can volunteer, these 17 year olds have to show proof of age and parental consent. Under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Children in armed conflict, government can allow those in age 16 and 17 to volunteer but only under certain conditions. Optional Protocol, doesn’t allow any obligatory recruitment of children under the age of 18 to join any armed forces. If citizens under the age of 18 are recruited, State Parties have to make sure those that are under the age limit don’t take part in hostilities. The United States government calls the obligatory of children attending armed forces to be “the worst form of child labor”, stated by the International Labor Organization. Under an act called, Appropriations Act, it restricts the United States to provide assistance to foreign groups, militias, armed groups, etc. that recruit or use child soldiers. Although this issue has been solved in the United States, there are a lot more countries that use the practice of recruiting children for their armed forces. Because this is happening, the U.S is trying to improve the situation. The Bureau of Democracy, Bureau of Africa Affairs, Bureau for International Organizations Affairs and many more organizations are trying to make this issued be solved worldwide. These groups and many more want to stop the use of children in armed forces. How do they help? Well in 2006, the United States’ government gave over $100 million to UNICEF, which is an organization that focuses on improving the life of children around the world. In 2008, DRL is funding two grants of $1 million for child soldier reintegration programs in Burundi, but mainly focus on girl child soldiers. The Department of Labor has over $20 million in funding that are going to five projects that focus on child soldiers in countries like Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Nepal, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. This department has also helped children from other countries to be educated so they can prevent to go back to their old life of being child soldiers. Because the United States has a well-developed government and it is free, the issue of child soldiers has been solved a long time ago. But due to the lack of government power in other countries, child soldiers and recruitment of children is becoming a big issue that governments can’t stop. The only place that there has been a policy establishment has been in the United States and other countries like Colombia. Governments in other countries are trying to fight the rebels and the armed forces in their countries to stop the recruitment of child soldiers and many other inhuman practices. This comes hard to them because sadly their country is very poor and don’t have the support and forces to fight these groups. This is why, the United States is helping countries to stop these recruitments by giving them funding and at some times, sending military troops to help. Sadly the issue hasn’t stopped, by it has diminished a little since the 1990’s. This issue wont be fixed unless other countries accept to come together and fights these rebellious groups from recruiting children for their dirty work and stopping them from making any other inhuman decisions.

http://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/111480.htm

Wolf, F. R. (2001). Sudan: Living in Terror. Mediterranean Quarterly, 12(4), 27.

Debchaudhury, S. (2014). No Freedom from Fear: Child Soldiers in Burma. Global Studies Journal, 7(3), 41-51.