In news- US has put Pakistan, Turkey on the Child Soldier Recruiter List.
About Child Soldier Recruiter List-
- The US Child Soldiers Prevention Act (CSPA) requires the publication in the annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report a list of foreign governments that have recruited or used child soldiers during the previous year.
- The countries which have been added to the annual TIP list of the US State Department this year are: Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.
- This designation could result in restrictions on certain security assistance and commercial licensing of military equipment.
- The United States Congress adopted the CSPA in 2008, as an amendment to the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection and Reauthorization Act of 2008.
- The CSPA, which went into effect in 2009, prohibits the US government from providing military assistance to countries identified as having government or government-supported forces that recruit and use child soldiers.
- 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 recruitment or use of children below the age of 15 as soldiers is prohibited by both the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the additional protocols to the Geneva Conventions.
- The CRC was adopted on November 20, 1989 and entered into force on September 2, 1990.
- 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.
Source: TOI
