Child Soldiers Ratification Campaign

Eritrea

Eritrea's government theoretically supports the "straight-18" principle as it ratified the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (which prohibits all recruitment under 18) in December 1999. Reports persisted, however, of children being used a soldiers in the recent border war with Ethiopia (which, for its part, forcibly recruited teenagers on a massive scale). The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers issued an appeal to both governments in July 2000 to which the Eritrean government responded positively. Now the peace agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea is being implemented, this is a good opportunity to remind the Eritrean government of its commitments. Eritrea has not yet signed the Optional Protocol.

Contact details:

HE Mr Said Abdella Ali
Minister of Foreign Affairs
PO Box 190
Asmara
Eritrea

cc Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Fax: 212 687 3138

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