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GLOBAL ESTIMATES
More than 300,000 children
under 18 are fighting in armed conflicts in over 30 countries worldwide.
Of that total, approximately 120,000 can be found in Sub-Saharan
Africa.
While the majority of child
soldiers are between the ages of 15 and 18, children as young as
7 or 8 years old are known to participate in armed conflicts.
KEY INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS
The "forced or compulsory
recruitment of children for use in armed conflict" is recognized
as one of the worst forms of child labor under International Labor
Organization Convention No. 182, which the United States ratified
in 1999.
In December 2002, the United
States also ratified the UN Optional Protocol on the Use of Children
in Armed Conflict, which raises the minimum compulsory recruitment
age to 18 for service in State Party armed forces. The Optional
Protocol also calls on ratifying governments to work to ensure that
members of their armed forces who are under 18 do not take direct
part in hostilities, and it promotes international cooperation in
the rehabilitation and social integration of victims of acts contrary
to the protocol.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
EFFORTS TO ASSIST CHILD SOLDIERS
Between fiscal years 1995
and 2002, the Department of Labor provided over $230 million in
technical assistance to combat international child labor.
In 2001, the Department
of Labor funded a project through the International Labor Organization
to gather vital information about the extent and nature of children's
involvement in armed conflicts in Central Africa. The project covers
the countries of Burundi, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, and Rwanda.
In 2000, the Department
of Labor funded a rapid assessment survey on child soldiers in the
Philippines.
The Department of Labor's
efforts are in addition to various programs supported by the U.S.
Department of State, the US Agency for International Development
and other US Government agencies to assist children affected by
war in countries around the world.
Global Estimate statistics
provided above are available from the International Coalition to
Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
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