About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 [1] (November 6, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdclk0001 and id is 1 raw text is: %4 iEstrc 3 Child Soldiers Prevention Act: The recruitment and use of children in armed conflict is broadly viewed as a human rights problem, a form of trafficking in persons, among the worst forms of child labor, and a war crime. The United Nations (U.N.) has identified the recruitment and use of child soldiers as among six grave violations affecting children in war and has established numerous monitoring and reporting mechanisms and initiatives to combat this practice. The U.N. affirmatively verified over 7,000 children as having been recruited and used as soldiers in 2019 alone; more than 90% of these cases were attributed to recruitment by non-State actors. U.S. efforts to eradicate this phenomenon internationally are guided largely by the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 (CSPA, Title IV of P.L. 110-457), which defines the term child soldier under U.S. law and restricts certain security assistance to countries that recruit or use child soldiers, among other provisions. The Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2018 (Title II, Subtitle B of P.L. 115- 425), which became law in January 2019, strengthened some of the CSPA's provisions. The recruitment or use of persons under age 15 as soldiers is prohibited by both the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions, and is considered a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. In addition, the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the involvement of children in armed conflict further prohibits persons under age 18 from being compulsorily recruited into state or nonstate armed forces or directly engaging in hostilities (while permitting voluntary recruitment of persons at least 15 years old). The United States is a party to the Optional Protocol. Congress, through the CSPA, has defined child soldiers in a manner consistent with the Optional Protocol. Under the CSPA, the term child soldier refers to persons under age 18 who: * take direct part in hostilities as a member of governmental armed forces, police, or other security forces; or * are compulsorily recruited into governmental armed forces, police, or other security forces (or are under 15 years old and are voluntarily recruited), including in noncombat roles; or * are recruited or used in hostilities by nonstate armed forces, including in noncombat roles. C2SPA Re portingz' and Secu~rity Assitance CSPA aims to combat the recruitment or use of children as soldiers by publicly identifying countries that recruit or use Updated November 6, 2020 Security Assistance Restrictions child soldiers and restricting certain types of U.S. security assistance to these countries. In particular, the law requires that the Secretary of State publish annually a list of countries within which governmental armed forces, police, or other security forces, or government-supported armed groups, including paramilitaries, militias, or civil defense forces, recruited or used child soldiers during the previous year. Pursuant to CSPA, the State Department, since 2010, has published a list of countries within the annual State Department Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report). The following types of security assistance are prohibited for countries designated pursuant to the CSPA (subject to exceptions and waivers, discussed below): * licenses for direct commercial sales (DCS) of military equipment; * foreign military financing (FMF) for the purchase of defense articles and services, as well as design and construction services; * international military education and training (IMET); * excess defense articles (EDA); and * peacekeeping operations (PKO). Department of Defense (DOD) train and equip authority for building the capacity of foreign defense forces, codified at 10 U.S.C. Section 333, may also be subject to prohibition for CSPA-listed countries. This authority is restricted where such security cooperation is otherwise prohibited by any provision of law. Presidential waiver determinations and State Department reports have referenced the authority as being potentially restricted by the CSPA. Other forms of U.S. security assistance (not listed above) to CSPA-listed countries may continue to be provided under the law, although constraints may be applied as a matter of policy. The President may provide military education and training through certain institutions and/or nonlethal supplies to a CSPA-designated country upon certifying that the recipient government is taking steps to demobilize, reintegrate, and rehabilitate child soldiers and that such assistance will support military professionalization. Similarly, the prohibition on PKO assistance does not apply to programs that support military professionalism, security sector reform, respect for human rights, peacekeeping preparation, or the demobilization and reintegration of child soldiers. The President has authority under CSPA to waive all, or certain types, of security assistance restrictions to a given country if the President determines that doing so serves U.S. national interest and certifies to Congress that the relevant government is taking effective and continuing steps to address the problem of child soldiers. The President may similarly reinstate any assistance that would \\\\'\\ L N \ \I \M,\ \\ \ \ Q\\ \\\ \\\

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most