Twenty Years of Stopping the Use of Child Soldiers
Reflecting on U.S. child soldier prevention efforts on the twentieth anniversary of the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict
February 12th is the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers, known as Red Hand Day, which marks the anniversary of the 2002 entry into force of the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict – a landmark treaty banning the use of child soldiers. Over the past twenty years, 172 countries have ratified the Optional Protocol, and significant progress has been made to stop the use of child soldiers. Still, the work is far from over. Between 2005 and 2020, at least 93,000 children were recruited and used by parties to conflict, including over 8,500 children in 2020 alone.
Ending the use of child soldiers is an enduring challenge, and one that’s intrinsically linked to the global arms trade. Many of the state and non-state forces that recruit and use child soldiers rely on weapons and military assistance from some of the world’s leading arms exporters, including the United States. As a result, arms exporters and military assistance providers have significant leverage that can be used to encourage recipient states to stop using child soldiers by conditioning access to military hardware and training.
The United States has a unique piece of legislation designed to encourage governments to stop recruiting and using child soldiers. The Child Soldiers Prevention Act (CSPA) requires the Secretary of State to publish an annual list of countries whose armed forces, police or other security forces, or government-backed armed groups recruit or use child soldiers. Countries included on this list, known as the CSPA list, are prohibited from receiving certain types of U.S. military assistance, training, and defense equipment in the following fiscal year.
Unfortunately, the law has not lived up to its full potential. Stimson has analyzed implementation of the CSPA for more than a decade, through the CSPA Implementation Tracker. The Tracker is an online tool featuring interactive data visualizations capturing 12 years of arms sales and military assistance data, profiles of countries’ child soldiers practices, and information on the CSPA itself. As the only public source of consolidated information on the CSPA’s history, application, and impact, the Tracker can enhance public understanding of this critically important piece of legislation, assist in efforts to monitor and enhance its implementation, and ultimately contribute to strengthening U.S. efforts to end the use of child soldiers worldwide.
Since the CSPA took effect in 2009, the State Department has identified 21 countries that recruit or use child soldiers or that support armed groups that do so. While the CSPA could have barred these countries from receiving certain types of U.S. arms sales and military assistance, Stimson’s research reveals that 97% of these prohibitions have been waived under a special “national interest” provision in the law allowing the President to exempt violators from sanction – permitting more than $6.7 billion in arms and assistance to flow to governments complicit in the recruitment and use of child soldiers.
The regular use of “national interest” waivers has continued under the Biden administration. During President Biden’s first year in office, the State Department identified 15 countries with security forces or government-backed groups that recruit or use child soldiers, which was the largest number of CSPA-listed countries in a single year. However, President Biden waived CSPA prohibitions for nine of these 15 countries. As a result, eight countries complicit in the recruitment or use of child soldiers are slated to receive a combined total of over $512 million in military assistance this fiscal year (not including arms sales, for which data is not yet publicly available). By contrast, just two countries were barred from receiving $1.65 million in combined military assistance.
The Biden administration should send a signal to governments included on the CSPA list that continued violations of international law will not be tolerated. The Biden administration should implement the CSPA to the fullest extent and use U.S. military assistance and arms sales to leverage much-needed change in the continued use of child soldiers.
Twenty Years of Stopping the Use of Child Soldiers
By Ryan Fletcher
Conventional Arms
February 12th is the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers, known as Red Hand Day, which marks the anniversary of the 2002 entry into force of the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict – a landmark treaty banning the use of child soldiers. Over the past twenty years, 172 countries have ratified the Optional Protocol, and significant progress has been made to stop the use of child soldiers. Still, the work is far from over. Between 2005 and 2020, at least 93,000 children were recruited and used by parties to conflict, including over 8,500 children in 2020 alone.
Ending the use of child soldiers is an enduring challenge, and one that’s intrinsically linked to the global arms trade. Many of the state and non-state forces that recruit and use child soldiers rely on weapons and military assistance from some of the world’s leading arms exporters, including the United States. As a result, arms exporters and military assistance providers have significant leverage that can be used to encourage recipient states to stop using child soldiers by conditioning access to military hardware and training.
The United States has a unique piece of legislation designed to encourage governments to stop recruiting and using child soldiers. The Child Soldiers Prevention Act (CSPA) requires the Secretary of State to publish an annual list of countries whose armed forces, police or other security forces, or government-backed armed groups recruit or use child soldiers. Countries included on this list, known as the CSPA list, are prohibited from receiving certain types of U.S. military assistance, training, and defense equipment in the following fiscal year.
Unfortunately, the law has not lived up to its full potential. Stimson has analyzed implementation of the CSPA for more than a decade, through the CSPA Implementation Tracker. The Tracker is an online tool featuring interactive data visualizations capturing 12 years of arms sales and military assistance data, profiles of countries’ child soldiers practices, and information on the CSPA itself. As the only public source of consolidated information on the CSPA’s history, application, and impact, the Tracker can enhance public understanding of this critically important piece of legislation, assist in efforts to monitor and enhance its implementation, and ultimately contribute to strengthening U.S. efforts to end the use of child soldiers worldwide.
Since the CSPA took effect in 2009, the State Department has identified 21 countries that recruit or use child soldiers or that support armed groups that do so. While the CSPA could have barred these countries from receiving certain types of U.S. arms sales and military assistance, Stimson’s research reveals that 97% of these prohibitions have been waived under a special “national interest” provision in the law allowing the President to exempt violators from sanction – permitting more than $6.7 billion in arms and assistance to flow to governments complicit in the recruitment and use of child soldiers.
The regular use of “national interest” waivers has continued under the Biden administration. During President Biden’s first year in office, the State Department identified 15 countries with security forces or government-backed groups that recruit or use child soldiers, which was the largest number of CSPA-listed countries in a single year. However, President Biden waived CSPA prohibitions for nine of these 15 countries. As a result, eight countries complicit in the recruitment or use of child soldiers are slated to receive a combined total of over $512 million in military assistance this fiscal year (not including arms sales, for which data is not yet publicly available). By contrast, just two countries were barred from receiving $1.65 million in combined military assistance.
The Biden administration should send a signal to governments included on the CSPA list that continued violations of international law will not be tolerated. The Biden administration should implement the CSPA to the fullest extent and use U.S. military assistance and arms sales to leverage much-needed change in the continued use of child soldiers.
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