US won't endorse pledge that aims to punish people who force children to be soldiers

[ck4829]

African, Asian and South American nations where child fighters have been used in war endorsed a new international agreement Tuesday that commits them to stopping the practice and punishing those who recruit youngsters as combatants.

Some nations hailed the text, which carries moral but no legal weight, as a breakthrough. But others said it may be no more than empty promises and that more than words are needed to rehabilitate children mentally and physically scarred by war.

"We've lost a whole generation of children," said Liberia's deputy minister of education, Hawa Goll-Kotchi. "It's scary."

Sierra Leone, Liberia, Congo, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Sudan and Somalia — just some of the nations where children have been recruited as fighters — were among nearly 60 countries that approved the so-called Paris Commitments, although it was not formally signed. All 27 nations of the European Union also endorsed the text. The United States did not, and American officials in Washington couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070206/ap_on_re_eu/france_child_soldiers

[JNelson6563]

1. We're hoping they will be

recruits for our fine institution "School of the Americas" in the future. A little pre-requisite warfare wouldn't hurt the little nippers.

Julie

[fooj]

2. Gives a whole new meaning to NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND, doesn't it?

:grr:

[BayCityProgressive]

3. it is laughable that

anyone in the US would criticize ANY OTHER NATION IN THE WORLD for human rights abuses. We live in the mother of all human rights abusers...if not here in this country..than by our puppet regimes all over the world..