STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [What might an *unethical* foreign policy look like?] The Scotsman June 13, 2001 Stewart Muir British Army comes under attack for sending teenagers into combat BRITAIN has been singled out as the only European country routinely to send 17-year-olds into combat. Raw recruits can be as young as 16 and applications are accepted from young people aged just 15 years and seven months. A new report says Britain is stooping to Third World standards by using "child soldiers" in armed combat. The United Kingdom�s Armed Forces practices are put on a par with countries such as Sri Lanka, East Timor and Iran in the report, which studied 178 countries. The International Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers� Global Report calls on the Ministry of Defence to review its recruitment procedure. Currently, anyone wanting to join the Royal Air Force or the navy can do so from the age of 16, recruitment to the army can begin at 15 years and seven months - but nobody is accepted before the age of 16. Lisa Alfredson, compiler of the UK report section of the survey, said: "In a lot of countries people under the age of 18 are not allowed to make important decisions such as voting or having the right to buy alcohol or cigarettes. "Yet they are permitted to join the armed forces and go into battle - often in situations which must be difficult to understand." A spokesman for Anti-Slavery International, one of the organisations involved in distributing the report, said: "It is an absolute scandal that the UK continues to deploy in battle under-18s while lecturing other countries about their use of child soldiers. "A change in the MoD�s recruitment policy is urgently required." According to the MoD, there are currently 5,500 serving members of the armed forces under the age of 18. A spokeswoman for the MoD said: "Comparisons between the UK and countries like Sri Lanka are quite ludicrous. No-one can join UK armed forces at the age of 16 without the consent of a parent or guardian and it is very clear what they are getting in to. "There is no suggestion, as in other countries, that people are press-ganged into joining." The MoD claims measures were taken to ensure recruits under 18 were not involved in armed combat, but in "rare" cases this could not be avoided. The report, which was launched simultaneously in New York and Johannesburg yesterday, was compiled using information from governments and statutory bodies as well as local voluntary groups. It is being promoted by a coalition of groups including Amnesty International and Unicef. Canada may be the only other western country that continues to take 16-year-olds. But its minimum combat age is 18. The report said that across the globe hundreds of thousands of children as young as seven are being used as front-line soldiers, minesweepers, spies, porters and sex slaves because they are "cheap, expendable and easier to condition into fearless killing and unthinking obedience". More than 300 children died in combat in 1999 and 2000 but the figure could be higher as there is no reliable documentation of child casualties. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
