Child soldier

Children that are actively participating in an armed conflict are called child soldiers. There are different definitions. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child says that this affects all who are 15 years or younger, who directly take part in hostilities. The convention dates from 1989. There is an annex protocol, which raises this to 18 years of age. It dates from 2001. It says that regular troop members must be 18 or older, and those who join voluntarily must be 14 or older. Some groups say that people who help armed groups but do not fight, and that are under 18, are also child soldiers. UNICEF, terre des hommes, and Amnesty International also have this view: Everyone who is a combattant, or who helps, and is under 18, is a child soldier. The Cape Town Principles have an even wider definition: Porters, informants, cooks, and girls who have been forcefully prostituted are child soldiers, too. In that way, they get the status of combatants. On the one hand, this legalizes fighting against them. On the other, this gives them rights when they are captured. They have to be treated according to the Geneva Conventions as prisoners of war.