Human Rights Violations

Recruiting child soldiers is violating the rights of children. The United Nation adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the child on the involvement of children in armed conflict in the year 2000, which came into practice on the 12th of February 2002.There has been more than 100 countries that have ratified so far to this convention however there are children still being used as soldiers (Kindernothilfe, 2012).This protocol prohibits government and armed groups from recruiting children under the age of eighteen. Article 1 “States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that members of their armed forces who have not attained the age of eighteen years do not take a direct part in hostilities.” It also prohibits compulsorily recruitment for a person that is under the age of eighteen as Article 2 “States Parties shall ensure that persons who have not attained the age of 18 years are not compulsorily recruited into their armed forces.” This Convention also forbids voluntary recruitment under the age of eighteen unless there is consent from a parent or legal guardian and the person is informed of his or her duties as well as providing proof of age, as Article 3 “States Parties that permit voluntary recruitment into their national armed forces under the age of 18 years shall maintain safeguards to ensure, as a minimum, that: (a) Such recruitment is genuinely voluntary; (b) Such recruitment is carried out with the informed consent of the person's parents or legal guardians; (c) Such persons are fully informed of the duties involved in such military service; (d) Such persons provide reliable proof of age prior to acceptance into national military service” . The facts about child soldiers from the Human Rights Watch suggest all these Articles have been violated as it elucidates there are still hundreds of thousands of children between the ages of eight and eighteen years old that are still participating in government forces and armed groups. Children are also being recruited by force or abducted by armed groups (Human Rights Watch 2008).

The Convention on the Rights of the child from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has also been violated. This convention was adopted on the 20th of November in 1989 by the General Assembly of the United Nation. This convention prohibits a child from participating in a work environment that could be damaging in any way to the child. Article 32 “1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.” This is being violated as child soldiers are used to serve as cooks, porters, messengers, guards or spies. They are also forced into combat to the front lines or sent ahead of older troops into minefields and are also used in suicide missions. Article 34 has also been violated as it “States Parties undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. For these purposes, States Parties shall in particular take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent:(a) The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity.” It is stated a third of child soldiers are females. These girls are used for sexual pleasure from the soldiers and are forced into marriage.