step five: developing a policy about child soldiers

Children and Parents Criminal Court Judges Finance and Trade Advisors	Human Rights Activists Mental Health Professionals Military Advisors

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Criminal Court Judges

As Criminal Court Judges, it is your job to enforce the laws of your country. You must address the fact that many of the acts child soldiers commit are criminal in nature—including rape, torture, and murder. In addition, most of the children under 15 years old who participate in armed conflict are found in paramilitary and opposition groups. And so they can be considered traitors if they are caught by governmental forces during the conflict, or if the opposition fails.

Treason is often seen as an adult crime and often punished by death. As a group you must decide whether these children should be tried and punished as adults—or if they should be punished at all.

Before developing a policy for child soldiers, your group needs to:

• Find out if the country you’re representing has signed or ratified either the Convention on the Rights of the Child or the Optional Protocol. If it has signed the OP, look through the "Declarations and Reservations" section to find the minimum age it has set for voluntary military recruitment.
• Read Facts about Child Soldiers.
• Read The Voices of Children at War by having members of the group chose roles and read the play aloud.
• Read the Paris Principles, especially sections:
* 1.14 and how they relate to the CRC and OP
* 6.0 which gives information about how children become soldiers

Use the information from these resources to help you answer the questions below. Your answers to these questions will help you set policies regarding child soldiers.

Group Name:

1) Has the country you're representing signed or ratified the CRC? Yes
No

2) Has it signed or ratified the OP? Yes
No

3) If the country you're representing has not signed or ratified the OP, do you want to recommend that they do as part of your policy statement? Yes
No

If you do, be sure to include a minimum age for voluntary recruitment in your policy.

4) Based on the treaties the country you're representing has signed or ratified, what are the legal minimum ages for compulsory and volunteer recruitment ?

5) Based on the Web sites listed above, why do children become soldiers? List at least three reasons.

6) What actions do the government and/or civil society need to take to address the different reasons why children become child soldiers?

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Illustration: Felicity O. Yost. Source: Marie, In the Shadow of the Lion, by Jerry Piasecki. © United Nations, 2001