Top UN rights official welcomes release of global report on child soldiers

Welcoming the release of a global report on the use of child soldiers, the United Nations top human rights official today called on governments to ratify the protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child that stipulates a minimum age of 18 for recruitment into armed forces.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson issued her statement to mark the release of the Global Report on Child Soldiers by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.

"This study draws attention to the continuing widespread abusive exploitation of children through their involvement in armed conflict," she said. "I recall vividly what children I met in Sierra Leone told me of their terrible life as child soldiers, and yet more than 300,000 children, boys and girls under 18, are fighting as soldiers with governmental armed forces and armed groups in more than 30 countries worldwide."

The High Commissioner pointed to the clear responsibility of States. "As we prepare for the special session on children in September, I call on States to give priority to the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 25 May 2000," she said. "Progress in ratification of the Protocol is quite slow despite the encouraging number of States who have signed it."

As of today, 4 States have ratified the Optional Protocol and another 76 have signed it. Six more ratifications are needed for it to enter into force.

The Optional Protocol establishes 18 years as the minimum age for direct participation in hostilities, compulsory recruitment in governmental armed forces and any recruitment in armed groups. It also calls on States to raise the minimum age from the 15 years set in 1989 by the Convention on the Rights of the Child for voluntary recruitment in governmental armed forces.

The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers was founded by six international non-governmental organizations - Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Save the Children Alliance, Jesuit Refugee Service, the Quaker UN Office-Geneva, and International Federation Terre des Hommes. The Coalition has maintained active links with the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, and the UN agencies for children (UNICEF), refugees (UNHCR), human rights (UNHCHR), and education, scientific and cultural issues (UNESCO).