The Loopholes in the Optional Protocol

The sad reality about child soldiers leads to the promulgate of some international laws to protect children. In 2001, the International Criminal Court was proposed to incriminate the actions related to using child soldiers in any form as a war crime against children. Additionally, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Involvement of Child in Armed Conflict (hereafter the Protocol) was set in 2005 to restrict the forced recruitment on children (Francis 218).

These papers are the commendable efforts to protect children from hostile factions; however, they also have left several disappointments during the time they exist. The rebel groups and the governments in the conflict countries take advantage of the feebleness in the language used in the Protocol.

For example, the Protocol states: “take all feasible measures to ensure that members of their armed forces who have not attained the age of eighteen do not take a direct part in hostilities.” In this case, the phrase “take all feasible measures” is not clear enough and it differs among different countries. In other words, the recruiters can pretend that they already did possible measurements on their soldiers; and if they are found out about using children in the army, they totally can blame it on the disadvantages of taking measurement in their country (Ali 8).

Another loophole in the Protocol is that it does not recognize the whole aspect of the problem. The Protocol says that underage children can be accepted to the army if they have parental agreement. However, parents in conflict areas could be driven or under coercion by outside powers to give agreement (Ali 9). Moreover, it is difficult to perform these laws in conflict countries because there is a contradictory of international laws and national laws. Because of the profits of child soldiers in war time, some governments disincline the laws. In addition, due to the low literacy, people in these zones are not aware of the seriousness of this problem (Francis 218).

Overall, the international laws were enacted as a necessary action; but because of the complexity of this problem, there are roadblocks in the path of saving children from the harm of war.

References:

Ali, Shaikh M. “Child Soldiers.” 2001, https://www.ma-law.org.pk/pdf/Child%20Sol dier%20eidted.pdf.

Francis, David J. “‘Paper Protection’ Mechanisms: Child Soldiers and the International Protection of Children in Africa's Conflict Zones.” The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 45 no. 2, Jan 2007, pp. 207-31. ProQuest Research Library, www.pierce.ctc.edu:2048/login?url=http://www.pierce. ctc.edu:2077/docvi ew/196398765?accountid=2280.