The South says no to child soldiers

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Casey Kelso, former Amnesty researcher and coordinator for the international coalition against the use of child soldiers, made a short trip to Oslo in April. He wanted to know why Norway still has not ratified the optional protocol to the convention of the child which bans the use of soldiers under the age of 18. Norwegian authorities are fixing some formalities and promise to ratify very soon.

"When the optional protocal entered into force in February last year, that was a great victory," says Kelso. "It determines that no one under the age of 18 shall be enrolled to military service, and it also applies to non-state armed groups. That gave countries like Colombia, Uganda and Sri Lanka arguments against national guerilla groups and rebel forces which commonly abduct children and force them to be soldiers."

"In spite of the depressive fact that there are at least 300,000 child soldiers in the world, we in the coalition think there have been many major steps made in the right direction. The optional protocol is one, the new ILO convention on child labour another, and the Security Council resolution pointing out a number of countries where the use of child soldiers have been documented is a third. At the same time, the realisation of the International Criminal Court has scared off generals and rebel leaders. If they use child soldiers under the age of 15 it will be a war crime they now can be punished for. The age limit should of course be 18, but still, the world is making progress.

The Coalition

"The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers" was established five years ago and consists of a number of organisations, including Amnesty. The coalition has offices in more than 43 countries.

You can read more about the coalition and participate in actions on www.child-soldiers.org