The ICRC and its partners in the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement are pressing for such a limit through further development of both international and national law. Recognition of a universal age limit of 18 by the international community has still not been achieved.
It insisted that armed groups should not use children under 18 in any circumstances and called on States to criminalize such practices. An optional protocol to this Convention, in May 2000, lifted the age for compulsory recruitment to 18 and called on States to raise the minimum age for voluntary recruitment above 15.
The 1989 Convention on the rights of the child, which has achieved almost universal ratification, also included the 15 age limit. In international armed conflicts, the first Additional Protocol also requires military recruitment of 15 to 18 year olds to prioritize the oldest. They prohibit the recruitment and participation in hostilities of children under the age of 15. The 1977 Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions were the first international treaties to try and tackle these situations. But they can also be used in supporting roles, such as carrying supplies or providing military intelligence, that puts them in great danger. In many situations children carry arms and actively take part in the fighting. Over the past few decades the recruitment of children by armed groups, especially in Africa, became a serious humanitarian problem. But there are also special provisions that recognize their particular vulnerability and needs in armed conflicts.Ĭhildren are still recruited by national armed forces. Children in war benefit from the general protection of international humanitarian law as civilians or combatants.
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