WHAT CONSTITUTES CHILD SOLDIERING?
The Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 (CSPA) was signed into law on December 23, 2008, and took effect on June 21, 2009. The CSPA requires publication in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report of a list of foreign governments identified during the previous year as having governmental armed forces or government-supported armed groups that recruit and use child soldiers, as defined in the act. These determinations cover the reporting period beginning April 1, 2014 and ending March 31, 2015.
For the purpose of the CSPA, and generally consistent with the provisions of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the term “child soldier” means:
Any person under 18 years of age who takes a direct part in hostilities as a member of governmental armed forces; Any person under 18 years of age who has been compulsorily recruited into governmental armed forces; Any person under 15 years of age who has been voluntarily recruited into governmental armed forces; or Any person under 18 years of age who has been recruited or used in hostilities by armed forces distinct from the armed forces of a state.
The term “child soldier” includes any person described in clauses (ii), (iii), or (iv) who is serving in any capacity, including in a support role, such as a “cook, porter, messenger, medic, guard, or sex slave.”
