Adopted by the General Assembly November 11, 1999

WHEREAS the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. has affirmed that children are a most precious gift which God gives us; supported the development of international law and United States law that recognizes the special needs and vulnerability of children; affirmed the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child which recognizes the fundamental rights of the world’s children and raises those rights to the level of international law; and urged the U.S. Senate to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child;

WHEREAS the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child promotes principles of the best interests of the child and the UN Commission on Human Rights, in its resolution 1999/80 on the Rights of the Child has reaffirmed the urgent need to raise the current minimum age limit set by article 38 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the recruitment and participation of any persons on armed conflict to 18 years;

WHEREAS, despite the efforts of the world community to address the effects of war on children, more than 3,000,000 children under 18 years of age are currently participating in armed conflicts worldwide;

WHEREAS the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998) characterized as a war crime the conscripting or enlisting of children under the age of 15 into the national armed forces or using them to participate actively in hostilities;

WHEREAS the General Conference of the International Labor Organization adopted Convention 182 (1999) prohibiting forced or compulsory recruitment of children under the age of 18 for use in armed conflict; and recommends (Recommendation 190) that governments also prohibit, as a criminal offense, the use, procuring or offering of a child for activities which involve the unlawful carrying or use of firearms or other weapons;

WHEREAS the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1261 (1999) condemning the targeting of children in situations of armed conflict, including killing and maiming, sexual violence, abduction and forced displacement, recruitment and use of children in armed conflict in violation of international law, and attacks on objects protected under international law, including places that usually have a significant presence of children such as schools and hospitals, and calls on all parties concerned to put an end to such practices;

WHEREAS the World Council of Churches at its Eighth Assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe December 3-14, 1998 reaffirmed that war is contrary to the will of God; stated that the involvement of children in armed conflict violates fundamental humanitarian principles, exposes them to the risk of death and injury, threatens their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being and draws them into a culture of violence; and called upon member churches to:

• call for an immediate moratorium on the recruitment and participation of children as soldiers and the demobilization of existing child soldiers;
• work to prevent the compulsory or voluntary recruitment or re-recruitment of former soldiers, taking particular account of the needs of former girl soldiers;
• promote the establishment of international standards to this effect, in particular the adoption of an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child raising the minimum age from 15 to 18 years for all forms of recruitment and participation in hostilities;
• urge their national governments to adopt and apply such standards in their own national legislation;

WHEREAS the US Campaign to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers has as its primary objectives the adoption of, and adherence to, an Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibiting the military recruitment and use in hostilities of any person younger than 18 years of age, and the recognition and enforcement of this standard by all armed forces and groups, both governmental and non-governmental;

THEREFORE the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.

REAFFIRMS its commitment to work for the protection and rights of children whose love, care and nurture God calls us to provide;

EXPRESSES its concern for the harmful and widespread impact of armed conflict on children and the long-term consequences this has for durable peace, security and development;

RESOLVES that the use of any child under 18 years of age by any national armed force or armed group is, without exception, in peacetime as in war, contrary to the spirit of comprehensive protection promoted in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, even where the child under 18 years claims or is claimed to be a volunteer;

SUPPORTS efforts to put an end to the recruitment and use of children as child soldiers, including raising the age limit to 18 for recruitment and deployment of children, and supports addressing the political, social and economic factors which create an environment facilitating the exploitation of children in this way;

URGES all parties to armed conflicts to insure the full, safe and unhindered access of humanitarian personnel and the delivery of humanitarian assistance to all children affected by armed conflict;

CALLS upon the Government of the United States to:

• support the international community in condemning the use of children as soldiers and combatants;
• ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child;
• support the adoption of an Optional Protocol to the Convention in the Rights of the Child setting 18 years as the minimum age for all military recruitment and participation in international and non-international armed conflict, as well as in situations of internal violence;
• implement the International Labor Organization Convention Number 182 on the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor;
• sign and ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;
• include from the start in any peace process the issue of demobilization of children under 18 years of age who have been soldiers and their rehabilitation and reintegration into society;
• recognize as refugees those under 18 years of age who leave their country of origin because they fear persecution owing to their refusal to be recruited as soldiers or to be used to participate in armed conflict;

ENCOURAGES the promotion of a culture of peace and of taking necessary measures to ensure that the teaching received by children under 18 years of age in military schools and academies in the U.S.A is in line with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international human rights and humanitarian law instruments, and not allow education to be militarized;

SUPPORTS the work of the United Nations and the United Nations Children’s Fund to address all the effects of armed conflict upon children, including the issue of child soldiers;

ENDORSES the U.S. Campaign to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers for the work it is doing to achieve many of these goals;

REAFFIRMS its readiness when dealing with situations of armed conflict:

• to continue to support the protection of displaced children including their resettlement by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and others as appropriate; and
• to continue to support the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilian populations in distress, taking into account the particular needs of children, including, inter alia, the provision and rehabilitation of medical and educational services to respond to the needs of children, the rehabilitation of children who have been maimed or psychologically traumatized, and child-focused mine clearance and mine-awareness programs.

POLICY BASE:

"Human Rights: The Fulfillment of Life in the Social Order" (Policy Statement adopted by the NCCC General Board, 11/17/95)

"Ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child" (Resolution adopted by the NCCC General Board, 11/6/90)

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