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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sat Oct 30 2010 - 05:33:13 EDT
Obama waives sanctions for four countries that use child soldiers
President Obama grants waivers to Chad, the Congo, Sudan, and Yemen, which
use child soldiers but are strategically important to the US. The waivers
mean military aid will continue.
_____
By <http://www.csmonitor.com/About/Contact/Staff-Writers/Howard-LaFranchi>
Howard LaFranchi, Staff writer / October 29, 2010
Washington
As a senator, Barack Obama supported legislation requiring the United States
to cut off military aid to countries recruiting and deploying child
soldiers.
This week as president, Mr. Obama acted to ensure that four countries found
to use child soldiers - but which are also considered key national security
interests - do not lose their US military assistance. Obama heeded the
recommendation of a State Department review and waived application of a
year-old law on child soldiers in the case of Chad, the Democratic Republic
of the
<http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2009/1008/lubanga-trial-is-an-ar
my-of-child-soldiers-a-war-crime> Congo, Sudan, and Yemen.
In a Oct. 25 presidential memorandum, Obama said he had "determined that it
is in the national interest of the United States" to waive application of
the Child Soldiers Prevention Act for the four countries.
The waiver, issued quietly this week, was another example of what some
diplomatic analysts consider to be Obama's pragmatic approach to foreign
policy. But a number of human-rights and international-development groups
say the waiver sends a bad signal.
"We are very concerned and disappointed with this decision," says Jesse
Eaves, policy adviser on children in crisis for World Vision, a
nongovernmental aid organization with field programs in three of the four
exempted countries. "It appears to send the message that you can get away
with failing to stop using children in combat as long as your country is
strategic enough to the US."
White House: It's a warning
White House officials say the waivers serve as a wakeup call for the
countries to clean up recruitment practices before the State Department
delivers its next Trafficking in Persons Report. The annual report serves as
the basis for determining which countries employ child soldiers.
The 2010 report found two other countries guilty of the practice: Burma and
<http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2010/0616/UN-condemns-Somalia-s
-use-of-child-soldiers-but-US-aid-still-flows> Somalia. Neither Burma nor
Somalia receives US military aid or training.
Some rights activists say the US could have taken a middle road that would
sanction the violating countries while preserving assistance focused on
military professionalization and weeding out recruitment.
"The basic problem here is that the administration is taking an
all-or-nothing approach," says Jo Becker, advocacy director for the
children's rights division of Human Rights Watch. The US clearly has
legitimate interests in these countries, she adds, "but they should have
sought a middle ground that allows them to take the law seriously while
still taking our cooperation with these countries seriously."
The State Department review notes the important counterterrorism work Yemen
is doing, while citing the negative impact defunding would have on force
modernization and human-rights training in Chad, Sudan, and the Congo.
State: They're on the right path
State Department officials would not confirm reports that the waiver
decision prompted a heated debate between the department's democracy and
human rights bureau on one side and military affairs on the other. But they
emphasized that the waivers do not mean the administration is abandoning the
goal of ending the use of child soldiers.
"In each of these countries we are working with the governments to stop the
recruitment of child soldiers or [to] demobilize those who may already be in
the ranks," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said this week. In the
meantime, he added, the waivers allow the US to continue valuable training
programs.
"These countries have put the right policies in place," he said, "but are
struggling to correctly implement them."
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