The New York times

Friday, January 21, 2000

New U.N. Draft Accord Agreed to Ban Child Soldiers

By Reuters

GENEVA (Reuters) - In a move to prohibit the use of child soldiers, negotiators from 70 countries reached a draft agreement Friday to raise the age for military conscription and participation in combat to 18 from 15, U.N. officials said.

But campaigners expressed disappointment that the draft accord, the fruit of six years of negotiations, failed to set 18 as the minimum age for voluntary recruitment into armed forces.

Instead, government armies may recruit volunteers aged 16 who have parental consent and give proof of their date of birth.

The compromise reflects a concession to Britain and the United States, who recruit from 17 and 16 respectively.

However, states must make ``all feasible measures'' to ensure recruits do not take a direct part in hostilities before the age of 18, a provision welcomed by campaigners.

Armed rebel groups may neither recruit under-18s nor send them into combat, although governments' ability to enforce this measure is questionable.

The United Nations estimates that 300,000 under-18s take part in combat worldwide, mainly in African conflicts.

Negotiators erupted into applause upon the adoption, by consensus, of the draft text, hammered out in two weeks of talks at the United Nations in Geneva. It will be known as the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

``We have a protocol. May I even say it has been adopted by acclamation,'' said Cathrine von Heidenstam, a Swedish diplomat who chaired the talks. ``It should increase protection of children and help children who are victims of atrocities and other abuses.''

The United States and Somalia are the only two countries not to have ratified the 1990 Convention on the Rights of the Child, which sets the military minimum age at 15.

``The international community is saying for the first time that the use of children in armed conflicts is wrong,'' said Jo Becker of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. ``But the protocol is much weaker than we would have liked.

She said its greatest failure was not to make 18 the minimum age. ``We've always said that the only way to ensure that children are not used in war is not to recruit them in the first place.''

The text will be sent to the U.N. General Assembly, where diplomats and campaigners expect it to be approved. Campaigners called for its ``swift and broad ratification'' by national governments.