Chapter 13 - U.S. Flouts U.N. Protocol on Child Soldiers
The U.S. has come under fire from the UN's Committee on the Rights of the Child regarding adherence to the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC). In short, the treaty calls for criminalizing the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict under the age of 18. The Committee notes that approximately 10% of recruits enrolled in the U.S. armed forces are under 18 years of age.
According to OPAC 3.3,
States Parties that permit voluntary recruitment into their national armed forces under the age of 18 years shall maintain safeguards to ensure, as a minimum, that:
(a) Such recruitment is genuinely voluntary;
(b) Such recruitment is carried out with the informed consent of the person's parents or legal
guardians;
(c) Such persons are fully informed of the duties involved in such military service.
The U.S. fails miserably on all three accounts.
The U.N. has called out the United States for a list of actions that violate the treaty. The committee charges the military recruitment quota system undermines the safeguards contained in the Optional Protocol regarding the voluntary nature of the recruitment of children. The Committee notes that schools are required to provide military recruiters access to secondary school students’ names, addresses, and telephone listings, and parents are not always informed of their right to request not to release such information. The Committee also says the ASVAB is sometimes required and students take the test in school without parental consent.
Despite herculean efforts by a handful of activists to publicize U.N. concerns, these issues have been largely ignored by the mainstream American media.
According to OPAC 3.3,
States Parties that permit voluntary recruitment into their national armed forces under the age of 18 years shall maintain safeguards to ensure, as a minimum, that:
(a) Such recruitment is genuinely voluntary;
(b) Such recruitment is carried out with the informed consent of the person's parents or legal
guardians;
(c) Such persons are fully informed of the duties involved in such military service.
The U.S. fails miserably on all three accounts.
The U.N. has called out the United States for a list of actions that violate the treaty. The committee charges the military recruitment quota system undermines the safeguards contained in the Optional Protocol regarding the voluntary nature of the recruitment of children. The Committee notes that schools are required to provide military recruiters access to secondary school students’ names, addresses, and telephone listings, and parents are not always informed of their right to request not to release such information. The Committee also says the ASVAB is sometimes required and students take the test in school without parental consent.
Despite herculean efforts by a handful of activists to publicize U.N. concerns, these issues have been largely ignored by the mainstream American media.
