US President George W Bush has signed a law that will allow the prosecution of military leaders who have recruited child soldiers in the past. The move could see the arrest of dozens of forces that have recruited child soldiers in over 20 different conflicts, says Human Rights Watch.

The Child Soldiers Accountability Act makes it a federal crime to recruit knowingly or to use soldiers under the age of 15 and permits the United States to prosecute any individual on US soil for the offence, even if the children were recruited or served as soldiers outside the United States. The law allows for imprisonment for up to 20 years , or if the recruitment led to the child’s death then life in prison.

“The US is saying to the world that using child soldiers is a serious crime and that it will take action,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocate for Human Rights Watch. “Military commanders who use children can no longer come to the United States without the risk of ending up in jail.”

The recruitment and use of children as soldiers was recognized in 1998 as a war crime under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. In 2007, four former military commanders from Sierra Leone were convicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone for recruiting and using children as soldiers. Rebel and military commanders from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda have also been charged under the International Criminal Court with recruiting and using child soldiers, though none have yet gone to trial. 

Children are still used in armed conflicts in many parts of the world, but this move by the US government has sent out a very clear message that the International community will not tolerate such a cruel use of innocent children.