U.S. Must Stop Aid to Countries with Child Soldiers

According to the State Department, six countries forcibly recruited and used child soldiers in 2010, some as young as 10 years old.

The U.S. Congress passed legislation in 2008 that mandates terminating military aid to countries that use child soldiers. However, President Obama waived sanctions for four out of these six countries, citing strategic rationales and claiming that these countries were placed “on notice” that future military aid would be suspended if they did not take action. Five months later, the governments of Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Yemen have made no progress.

The Open Society Foundations, along with Amnesty International USA, Human Rights Watch, and World Vision U.S., call on President Obama to apply discernible pressure on the four governments to end the exploitation of these children. The letter from the organizations lays out concrete steps that should be taken before the countries receive any future U.S. military aid.