Child Soldier Recruiter List

Context: Recently, the United States of America has added Pakistan and 14 other countries to a Child Soldier Recruiter List published under its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report.
About

• The List identifies that how foreign governments having government-supported armed groups that recruit or use child soldiers.

Who is a child soldier?

• The recruitment or use of children below the age of 15 as soldiers is prohibited by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
• Currently, 193 countries have ratified the CRC.
• The CRC requires state parties to “take all feasible measures” to ensure that children under 18 are not engaged in direct hostilities.
• It further prohibits the state parties from recruiting children under 15 into the armed forces.
• It is considered a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

In addition, the Optional Protocol to the CRC further prohibits kids under the age 18 from being compulsorily recruited into state or non-state armed forces or directly engaging in hostilities.

• The United States is a party to the Optional Protocol.

Legislation of Child Soldier

• The United States Congress adopted the CSPA in 2008, as an amendment to the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection and Reauthorization Act of 2008.
• It prohibits the US government from providing military assistance to countries identified as having government or government-supported forces that recruit and use child soldiers.
• It requires the US Secretary of State to designate portions of the annual Human Rights Report to the issue of child soldiers.
• It allows the President to issue a “national interest waiver” for countries even if they are in violation of the Act.
• The President has the authority to provide assistance if that country has taken “steps” to come into compliance with the law.

About UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

• The CRC was adopted on November 20, 1989 and entered into force on September 2, 1990.
• 193 countries have ratified the CRC.
• The CRC requires state parties to “take all feasible measures” to ensure that children under 18 are not engaged in direct hostilities.
• It further prohibits the state parties from recruiting children under 15 into the armed forces.
• In 2000, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict.
• The Optional Protocol raises this age to 18 while the CRC requires states to refrain from using children under 15 in direct hostilities.

What are prohibited for countries in the list?
The following types of security assistance are prohibited for countries that are in the list:

• Licenses for direct commercial sales of military equipment
• Foreign military financing for the purchase of defense articles and services, as well as design and construction services
• International military education and training
• Excess defense articles
• Peacekeeping operations

The countries will also not be eligible for the US Department of Defence’s “train and equip” authority for building the capacity of foreign defense forces.
Key Criticism of the treaty

• International treaties like CRS are valuable and necessary tools to establish international norms as they raise awareness regarding human rights abuses.
• However, these treaties are limited in scope and nature, and they tend to be idealistic rather than practicable.
• The UN’s mechanisms only bind state parties that ratify the treaties.
• It, therefore, has no authority over countries that are not parties to the convention or are non-state entities, such as rebel militias recruiting child soldiers.
• While the UN views its treaties and conventions as binding on state parties, it has no police power mechanism to enforce its decisions.

Therefore, the CRC and its Optional Protocol are limited by the signatories’ willingness to comply. Somalia, for example, is a signatory but it hasn’t ratified the convention.