President Obama will leave office having failed to use the tools at his disposal to make significant progress on getting child soldiers off the battlefield. That’s the consensus among human rights groups who point to the fact that for six con …
Investigators for the United Nations found 48 child soldiers in Afghanistan last year, with more than half working for government-backed forces such as the Afghan National Army and the Afghan Local and National Police. But that news somehow never made …
This month marks the fifth anniversary of South Sudan’s independence and the country appears to be on the verge civil war — again. July has been marred by renewed violence and numerous reports of human rights abuses committed by both government and reb …
By Shannon Dick and Rachel Stohl: This month marks the fifth anniversary of South Sudan’s independence and the country appears to be on the verge civil war — again. July has been marred by renewed violence and numerous reports of human rights abu …
By Rachel Stohl and Elizabeth Peartree: Today, the State Department released its annual list of countries that are known to use or support the use of child soldiers. What is most notable this year is not who is included on the list, but rather wh …
The Obama administration announced its determinations with respect to the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 on September 29, 2015 and again gave a pass to governments that routinely recruit and use child soldiers in their national militar …
When the extremist group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) abducts boys from Friday prayers at mosques or indoctrinates children as young as 10 to become fighters or suicide bombers, there is little the United States can do. But when recipient …
By Jo Becker and Rachel Stohl: When the extremist group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) abducts boys from Friday prayers at mosques or indoctrinates children as young as 10 to become fighters or suicide bombers, there is little the Uni …
It has been almost one year since Leila Zerrougui, the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General for Children in Armed Conflict, launched the “Children, Not Soldiers” campaign. This two year effort “seeks to galvanize suppo …
It has been almost one year since Leila Zerrougui, the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General for Children in Armed Conflict, launched the “Children, Not Soldiers” campaign. This two year effort “seeks to galvanize support to end and prev …
Are we doing enough to prevent the use of child soldiers? Rachel Stohl and Shannon Dick have their doubts. While UN resolutions and national legislation are a step in the right direction, they don’t address the little stressed impact that military assi …
By Rachel Stohl and Jessica Kosmider: Fifty heads of state from African governments are meeting to conclude the U.S.-Africa Summit in Washington, DC today. Yet missing from the agenda seems to be an essential conversation concerning U.S. military …
As the conflict in Mali wages on, reports from the frontlines reveal that the al-Qaeda linked Northern Mali rebels have conscripted child soldiers into their ranks. These reports reflect the persistence of a gross human rights violation in military con …
Earlier this month, the Obama administration again disappointed human rights groups and the Hill when it decided to grant national security waivers to governments identified by the State Department’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report as using and rec …