National Call-In Week
on Child Soldiers
February 5- 12, 2002
Your messages are needed now! From February 5-12, please phone, fax or e-mail your senators and members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
On February 12, 2002 a new international treaty banning the use of child soldiers will become reality (enter into force). This treaty - the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict - prohibits the forced recruitment and conscription of children under the age of eighteen, as well as their participation in armed conflict. Currently, an estimated 300,000 children under the age of eighteen are fighting in conflict in about 40 countries around the world.
Ninety-three countries - including the United States - have signed the protocol, and twelve have ratified it. The Bush administration and virtually all members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee support this very important treaty. However, the United States has not yet ratified the protocol.
Please contact your senators and members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today, to tell them not to wait any longer to ratify the Optional Protocol.
Sample message: I'm calling to urge the Senator to support ratification of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict. The protocol will help stop the use of child soldiers around the world. Please make U.S. ratification a top priority for this session of Congress.
PLEASE CALL:
