Moving Congress to Prosecute Recruiters of Child Soldiers

In a major victory for our campaign to stop the use of child soldiers, Congress passed a law that will permit the US to prosecute foreign military commanders who recruit child soldiers abroad. The Child Soldiers Accountability Act makes it a federal crime knowingly to recruit or use soldiers under the age of 15 and permits the US to bring charges against both US citizens and non-citizens if they are on US soil. Human Rights Watch advised Senator Dick Durbin, who sponsored the bill, from its inception, and our staff members testified on the use of child soldiers in congressional hearings. We have already had word that a person responsible for the recruitment of child soldiers in Sri Lanka has cancelled a trip to the US following passage of this new legislation, which puts him at risk of arrest and prosecution. Human Rights Watch is making it more and more difficult for armies and rebel groups to recruit children as soldiers. Our investigations into the use of child soldiers in more than a dozen countries have provided ample evidence of coerced recruitment, family separation, and the deep psychological harm done to these most vulnerable recruits.