Obama administration eases restrictions on child soldiers
Lynsey Addario for The New York Times
Last Monday, President Obama announced that “it is in the national interest of the United States to waive the application to Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Yemen of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the [Child Service Prevention Act].” What this means is that the U.S. will continue to work with and potentially provide aide to these four countries known for their use of underage soldiers. You can read the articles and follow the conversations happening at The New York Times and The Cable. The hope behind the decision is that the U.S. will have more success stopping the recruitment and demobilizing the use of child soldiers by working with these countries, as opposed to shutting them out. Cooperation with Burma and Somalia will continue to be restricted under this law. It’s a radical shift in policy. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section below. In fact, please do. We want to hear what you think about this. -Josh
I am most troubled by “But administration spokesmen said that the law, signed by President George W. Bush but effective only as of this year, would have penalized countries providing crucial cooperation with the United States, including in the fight against Al Qaeda militants. In some cases, they said, it was easier to press countries to stop using young soldiers if the United States remained closely engaged with them.”
Basically, only sometimes will this help the nations reduce the amount of child soldiers in their national armies. It seems to me that the Obama Administration is using this to get Al Qaeda information and stop the fall to terrorism– sounds like the red scare to me!
Why can’t we just sent in our own special forces ie; black ops and just take out Joseph Kone and his generals once and for all? It seems like that is the only way we are going free all those beautiful little kids.
I’m going to agree with Jaye. Why not just put an end to it? Al off it. No special treatment for certain place; eliminate the source.
Well first think about what your saying. Sending troops to a country for 1. TO kill one of their leaders. 2. Coming in Unauthorized. This will send a terrible message to to rest of the world showing “ruthlessness” of america. Also it can be seen as a threat or allowed action towards a war. You are probably saying how are they going to fight us from Africa. Well I guarantee that he has “friends” in other countries in South Asia or Asia that would be more than happy to attack us. This would start a huge war that is totally unnecessary. An good example is Castro and America’s Secret attempts to kill him during the Cold War. I know it sounds like the best bet but also think of this. If they killed the leader LRA, what do you think the troops will do when he dies. They would probably go on a riot or they will give up. No one wants to find out though because there is always that chance the riot and rebellion will break out causing even more violence.
Sending troops in won’t help anything. What is happening there is just a cycle, if Kony is killed by unauthorized US troops it won’t solve the problem. The children need to be helped and taught how to live without the violence. It’s going to be a slow and patient cycle, but hopefully it will all work out in the end.
Just like Afghanistan is a slow, painful cycle. Killing people won’t stop the killing. It’s not a war against a “traditional” enemy nation that has the ability to surrender, it’s a fight against an ideology and way of life. Counter or pre-emptive violence may be necessary but by far is not all that is required.
As you noted this is a radical shift in policy. It is a very complex set of policy concerns and I applaud IC for not reacting hastily to oppose this policy shift, and taking time to consider it. I assume that you were invited to sign the 5 November NGO letter to Obama that voiced opposition to the policy shift, but I note that IC did not join the list of signatories. It must have been tempting to join the safety in numbers along with big hitters like AI, HRW and HRF.
Overall I believe that engaging with the governments and militaries in question is better than further isolation at this point. Ending the use of child soldiers will not happen over night, and it requires among other things the professionalisation of militaries and a change in military cultures in affected areas. progress here is more likely to be achieved through engagement than isolation.
While engaging and increasing military capabilities in places where that also dovetails with US security interests, the USG does need to maintain pressure and emphasize the message that working towards complete non-use of child soldiers remains a priority, and back this messaging up with tasty carrots and painful sticks. NGOs such as yourselves have a role to play here in making sure that the Child Soldier agenda does not lose out too much to security concerns in Washington, DC.
Incidentally, in a strange way the USG’s botched announcement probably helped the cause in the long run by giving NGOs a chance to jump on them about it, and probably making them more vigilant in making sure the USG does follow through with the Child Soldier agenda.
Keep up the good work.
the US eases restrictions on child soldiers because they need them to fight proxy wars as members of america PMCs.
how do you think drawback happened in Afghanistan and Iraq. ITs Ugandans fighting there now, not Americans.
Why can’t we just sent in our own special forces ie; black ops and just take out Joseph Kone and his generals once and for all? It seems like that is the only way we are going free all those beautiful little kids.
Comment by Jaye McCarroll — November 2, 2010 @ 3:31 pm
I’m going to agree with Jaye. Why not just put an end to it? Al off it. No special treatment for certain place; eliminate the source.
Comment by Claire — November 2, 2010 @ 3:38 pm
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First. its spelt K-o-n-y. Second, are you going to kill Museveni as well? He has as many or more children fighting in LDU’s and the UPDF then Kony does the LRA.
learn then speak