Child Soldiers Ratification Campaign

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone has one of the worst child soldiers problems anywhere in the world. Some 5000 child combatants serve among government and opposition forces, and a further 5,000 are estimated to have been recruited for labour among armed groups. The Lomè peace agreement of July 1999 included important provisions on the demobilisation of child soldiers, however the resumption of fighting in May 2000 significantly slowed progress. The Sierra Leone government has made repeated commitments to raise the legal age of military recruitment to 18 and demobilise all underage combatants. It is not clear how far measures to prevent underage recruitment and demobilise child soldiers have been implemented by the various government-allied forces. There is evidence that these forces continued to recruit and use children in combat in 2000 and currently, including some previously disarmed and demobilised child combatants. Sierra Leone signed the Optional Protocol on 8 September 2000.

Success! On May 15, 2002, Sierra Leone ratified the optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflicts.

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