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VI. LEGAL STANDARDS

Both the Lord's Resistance Army and the Ugandan government are in violation of international standards prohibiting the recruitment and use of children as soldiers. Uganda is also in violation of its national laws, which establish eighteen as the minimum age for recruitment into the armed forces.32

The additional protocols to the Geneva Conventions, which are part of international humanitarian law (the laws of war), prohibit all recruitment of children under the age of fifteen or their use in hostilities. This standard is binding on both governmental and non-governmental forces and is now considered customary international law.33 Under the statute for the International Criminal Court, ratified by Uganda on June 14, 2002, such recruitment is also considered a war crime.34

On May 6, 2000, Uganda acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. The Optional Protocol sets eighteen as the minimum age for all forced recruitment or conscription, and for participation in hostilities. Under Article 3 of the protocol, Uganda has also made a binding declaration affirming eighteen as its minimum age for any voluntary recruitment into its armed forces. This declaration states,

The Government of the Republic of Uganda declares that the minimum age for the recruitment of persons into the armed forces is by law set at eighteen (18) years. Recruitment is entirely and squarely voluntary and is carried out with the full informed consent of the persons being recruited. There is no conscription in Uganda.35

The Optional Protocol also places an important burden upon nongovernmental armed forces such as the LRA. Article 4 states that "armed groups that are distinct from the armed forces of a state should not, under any circumstances, recruit or use in hostilities persons under the age of eighteen." States Parties must take measures to prevent such recruitment and use, including criminalizing such practices.

The Protocol also places obligations on the government to assist in the rehabilitation and reintegration of former child soldiers. It states (Article 6) that States Parties shall "take all feasible measures to ensure that persons within their jurisdiction recruited or used in hostilities contrary to this Protocol are demobilized or otherwise released from service. States Parties shall, when necessary, accord to these persons all appropriate assistance for their physical and psychological recovery and their social integration."

Uganda is also party to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, a regional treaty that came into force in 1999. The Charter states that a "child" is anyone below eighteen years of age, and that "States parties to the present Charter shall take all necessary measures to ensure that no child shall take a direct part in hostilities and refrain in particular, from recruiting any child."36

Both the LRA and the government of Uganda must take immediate steps to comply with international law by ending all recruitment of children under the age of eighteen, demobilizing or releasing all children from their ranks, and facilitating their rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

32 See the National Resistance Army (NRA) Statute 3/92, the Conditions of Service Men Regulations 1993, and the Conditions of Services (Officers) Regulations 1993.

33 1977 Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions. Article 4(3)(c)of Protocol II, which governs non-international armed conflicts, states that "children who have not attained the age of fifteen years shall neither be recruited in the armed forces or groups nor allowed to take part in hostilities."

34 Article 8 (2)(b)(xxvi) and Article 8 (2)(e)(vii), Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, U.N. Doc. A/CONF.183/9, adopted July 17, 1998, entered into force July 1, 2002.

35 Binding declaration deposited with the United Nations Secretary-General at the time of Uganda's accession to the Optional Protocol, May 6, 2000.

36 Article 22 (2), OAU Doc. CAB/LEG/24.9/49 (1990), entered into force November 29, 1999.

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