Child Soldiers Ratification Campaign

United States

The United States accepts voluntary recruits at age 17, but has indicated that it is willing to change its past practices to exclude 17-year olds from combat. The United States was one of the first countries to sign the protocol, on July 5, 2000, under the Clinton administration. The Bush administration has also indicated that it supports the protocol. Hearings on the protocol were scheduled in the U.S. Senate for September 20, but were postponed after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Success! On June 18, 2002, by unanimous consent, the U.S. Senate gave its advice and consent to ratification of the optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflicts, and its companion protocol on the sale of children and child prostitution.

On December 23, 2002, the U.S. officially ratified the child soldiers protocol.

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