AGREEMENT ON A CHILD SOLDIERS PROTOCOL IS WITHIN REACH

The United Nations estimates that more than 300,000 children around the world are currently engaged in armed conflicts. Children, in some cases as young as nine or ten, are often forcibly recruited into armed combat where they may be maimed or killed, brutalized or sexually abused. Those who do survive are often so physically damaged that they are unable to resume a normal life.

The U.S. government and the American people share the world's determination to stop this practice. The United States has provided more support than any other country to war affected children in such places as Angola, Liberia, Uganda and Sierra Leone.

International outrage about the use of child soldiers in some of the most savage armed conflicts in the postwar era has led to a movement to raise the minimum age at which children can be recruited. The current age limit is 15.

The United States wants to see a strong international consensus develop around a higher minimum age, and believes the international community should act promptly to raise the age limit for recruitment. This is consistent with the new International Labor Organization convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labor which President Clinton recently signed. That convention raised the standard for forced or compulsory recruitment to 18. In addition, the United States has formally presented strong language to the working group on an optional Protocol to the convention on the Rights of the Child to set a standard of 18 for non-state actors. The United States believes the problem of non-state actors is of utmost importance.

The United States believes a different standard should be set for voluntary recruitment. Currently, under U.S. law, 17-year old, high school students can be recruited with parental permission to serve in the military upon graduation This is in keeping with long standing law and practice in the United States. It is not controversial.

The U.S. believes that opportunities should be given to minors a little younger than 18 to participate in national militaries so long as there are strict safeguards. In the U.S., which has an all-volunteer military, participation by minors younger than 18 is totally voluntary and their parents must give their consent. This practice has provided many opportunities, particularly to minorities and economically disadvantaged teenagers, and especially in the area of education and training, that are not always easily available in civilian life.