The Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2007
A bill recently introduced in the U.S. Senate would put restrictions on U.S. military assistance for governments that use child soldiers. World Vision urges support for the legislation to encourage governments to prohibit, demobilize, and rehabilitate child soldiers from national forces and government-supported militias.
Introduced by Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sam Brownback (R-KS), S.1175 Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2007 would curtail U.S. military assistance to governments that fail to take steps to demobilize and stop recruiting children into the armed forces or government-supported militias. Countries that take steps to demobilize child soldiers would be eligible for certain forms of assistance in that process for up to two years, to help professionalize their forces and ensure U.S. taxpayer dollars are not used to finance the exploitation of children in armed conflict.
“This bill creates strong incentives for foreign governments to end any involvement in the use of children as soldiers,” said Mettimano.
Ten Countries Use Child Soldiers
Although many child soldiers are found in non-governmental armed opposition groups, the U.S. State Department reports that governments in nine countries are implicated in child soldier use.
The U.S. government provides military assistance to eight of them. They include:
Burundi
Chad
Colombia
Cote d’Ivoire
Democratic Republic of Congo
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Uganda
U.S. military assistance to these countries ranges from small amounts of funding for military training to hundreds of millions in weapons, training, and military financing.
http://www.worldvision.org/donate.nsf/child_news/tawv_chsoldiers_20070424
A bill recently introduced in the U.S. Senate would put restrictions on U.S. military assistance for governments that use child soldiers. World Vision urges support for the legislation to encourage governments to prohibit, demobilize, and rehabilitate child soldiers from national forces and government-supported militias.
Introduced by Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sam Brownback (R-KS), S.1175 Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2007 would curtail U.S. military assistance to governments that fail to take steps to demobilize and stop recruiting children into the armed forces or government-supported militias. Countries that take steps to demobilize child soldiers would be eligible for certain forms of assistance in that process for up to two years, to help professionalize their forces and ensure U.S. taxpayer dollars are not used to finance the exploitation of children in armed conflict.
“This bill creates strong incentives for foreign governments to end any involvement in the use of children as soldiers,” said Mettimano.
Ten Countries Use Child Soldiers
Although many child soldiers are found in non-governmental armed opposition groups, the U.S. State Department reports that governments in nine countries are implicated in child soldier use.
The U.S. government provides military assistance to eight of them. They include:
Burundi
Chad
Colombia
Cote d’Ivoire
Democratic Republic of Congo
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Uganda
U.S. military assistance to these countries ranges from small amounts of funding for military training to hundreds of millions in weapons, training, and military financing.
http://www.worldvision.org/donate.nsf/child_news/tawv_chsoldiers_20070424
