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| July 20, 2000 |
| July 20, 2000 |
President Signs Child Soldiers Treaty
By Rachel Stohl, Senior Analyst, rstohl@cdi.org
Earlier this month, U.S. President Bill Clinton signed an important new child soldiers treaty. The Treaty, an Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, was signed at the United Nations on July 5. Reflecting on the thousands of children used in conflicts from Sierra Leone to Colombia, President Clinton said, "To give life to our dream of a global economy that lifts all people, first we must stand together for all children."
The Treaty raises the age for conscription and participation in conflict to 18 from the current international standard of 15 and requires governments to take "all feasible measures to ensure that members of their armed forces who have not attained the age of 18 years do not take a direct part in hostilities." The agreement does allow government armies to recruit children as young as 16 with parental consent, a concession to demands by the United States and the United Kingdom, countries which recruit under 18's for the armed forces. Rebel and guerilla armies are banned from recruiting or using children under the age of 18 in their military forces. The White House Fact Sheet describes the importance of the Treaty as a document that "raises international standards in the effort to end the forced recruitment of children into armed conflict, gives governments additional tools to pressure violators, and promotes rehabilitation to help reintegrate child soldiers into civilian life."
More than 300,000 children are directly involved in military action in over 30 conflicts around the world. Child soldiers serve alongside adults in government forces, rebel opposition groups, and guerrilla armies. They are used as cooks, couriers, porters, spies, front line combatants, and other combat and non-combat roles.
The Treaty was agreed to in Geneva in January after six years of negotiations. It was formally adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on May 25th and opened for signature and ratification on June 5th. The United States was the eighth country to sign the Treaty, joining Argentina, Cambodia, Canada, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, and Sweden.
Achieving agreement was particularly noteworthy because it marked a substantive shift in United Sates policy. Despite numerous attempts to sabotage the process during the six years of negotiations, the United States finally ceased attempts to block consensus when certain conditions were met. The United States opposed raising the age for recruitment to 18 because the Pentagon wanted to continue its practice of recruiting 17 year olds (who had parental consent) and assigning them to active duty forces. (Under the terms of the Treaty, the U.S. will be able to maintain its practice of recruiting and enlisting 17 year olds and, according to the White House, "related programs such as ROTC and military schools will be unaffected.")
Another concession opened a clear path for the U.S. to become a party to the Treaty even though it hasn't ratified the parent treaty, the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Treaty negotiators in Geneva agreed to the United States' request to include language that allows states that have signed the Convention (President Clinton signed the Treaty in 1995) to sign and ratify the child soldiers' Protocol. The Treaty does not require any changes in U.S. law.
To fulfill the Treaty's obligations, the Department of Defense has agreed not to deploy troops under 18 into combat situations. The White House Fact Sheet clarifies that the Pentagon will adhere to the agreement. "The Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Service Chiefs carefully considered whether the U.S. military could undertake such an obligation and concluded we could do so while fully protecting our military recruitment and readiness requirements," the Fact Sheet stated.
Implementation of the Treaty will not place much of a burden on U.S. military policy. Each year the U.S. military enlists 50,000 17-year olds to help fill the ranks of the 1.2 million servicemen and women. According to Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. David Lapan, "no more than 2,500 recruits would be affected each year by the Protocol." The current practice of routinely sending soldiers under 18 to combat areas such as Somalia, Bosnia, and the Gulf will have to be changed.
Unlike other treaties bogged down by bureaucratic wrangling, the child soldiers Protocol should not face significant obstacles to ratification. The Senate adopted a resolution on June 8 calling for ratification of the Treaty as soon as possible (the House version was passed July 12). President Clinton has announced that he will be delivering the Treaty to the Senate for ratification this week. The Senate should now do the right thing for the children of the world and ratify this Treaty as soon as possible.
The Treaty will enter into force after it is ratified by 10 countries. Due to the high level of support, children's rights advocates predict the Treaty will enter into force by the end of this year. While swift entry into force is important for initiating Treaty implementation, it is only the first step in protecting children and ensuring they are not subject to hazardous or dehumanizing treatment. The work to stop the use of child soldiers will not be completed until the world stops sending innocent children to fight in war. But only staunch commitments to see that treaty provisions are followed by both governments and rebel groups will end this brutal practice and offer protection to this most defenseless population.
For more information, see "United States Changes Position on Child Soldiers," by Rachel Stohl, Defense Monitor Issue 1, and "International Community Reaches Agreement on Child Soldiers," by Rachel Stohl, Weekly Defense Monitor, January 27, 2000, or the CDI monograph "Rebuilding the Future: Child Soldiers and Sustainable Development," by Denise Groves, available by emailing rstohl@cdi.org.
Norwegian Radar Site Controversy Flares Anew
By Tomas Valasek, Senior Analyst, tvalasek@cdi.org
The controversial Vardo X-band radar site in Norway has been targeted by Russian nuclear missiles, Norwegian press reported this week, quoting Russian sources. Moscow has previously alleged that the radar is a part of the U.S.-proposed national missile defense (NMD) system, and as such violates the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. X-band radars play a crucial role in NMD architecture, tracking missile trajectories and discriminating between warheads and decoys. Norway claims the Vardo radar's purpose is to monitor space debris.
General Leonid Ivashov, the head of the Defense Ministry's Military Cooperation section, also warned the same day that Russia would take unspecified measures "unless Norway closes the radar during Russian military exercises." The Vardo radar, even if not connected to the NMD system, could be used to monitor Russian tests and gather information on the radar signature of Russian missile launches -- information that can be used to improve performance of the NMD system.
In response, Norway's Defense Minister Sigur Frisvold suggested that Norway be included in a U.S. missile defense program, ostensibly to protect against threats from "terrorist nations." However, the timing of the request a day after the Russian threat to target Vardo with nuclear missiles makes it abundantly clear that Norway desires protection from a possible Russian nuclear strike against the Vardo radar.
The Vardo X-band radar was manufactured by Raytheon in the early 1990s. It operated for three years at Vandenberg Air Force base in California before being dismantled and moved to Norway. Although the NMD system plans to use two Europe-bases X-band radars in its latter stages (in Denmark-administered Greenland and in Great Britain), Vardo does not appear in U.S. plans. The Norwegian government maintains that the radar's sole purpose is to monitor space debris. "We have an exceptionally clear agreement with the Americans. If they wish to use the radar for another purpose than space surveillance, the whole agreement [on the use of the radar by the United States] has to be renegotiated," said the project leader for the Vardo radar, Tom Rykken, in an interview with the Norwegian daily Bergens Tidende.
However, the radar's unique technical capabilities and its proximity to Russia -- 40 miles from the border -- aroused suspicions of foul play in Moscow. "In the opinion of our analysts, the [Vardo radar] station will function as part of the anti-missile system [NMD]," said General Ivashov. Russian President Vladimir Putin named Norway alongside Britain and Denmark when warning the European countries against cooperation with the United States on NMD. "Washington needs European help, above all from Britain, Denmark, and Norway. These states risk being drawn into a process that will lead to an unpredictable destruction of strategic stability," he said.
The Russo-Norwegian dispute appeared to die down in early summer 2000. After unsuccessfully requesting access for its experts to the Vardo station, Russia softened its criticism of Norway. General Vladimir Yakovlev played down Vardo's role in NMD. "Judging by its technical characteristics, that radar is not an element of an [anti-ballistic missile defense] system," he said. However, he added, "the information obtained by the radar station could be used to develop and improve the anti-ballistic missile system as it is able to [monitor] routes and sites for space vehicle launches in the North Sea."
But the crisis flared anew in July, inflamed by suggestions in the United States to switch from destroying enemy missiles in their final, re-entry phase, as currently planned, to so-called "boost phase" intercepts. The latter concept relies on hitting ballistic missiles with intercepts shortly after they take off when the missiles are still attached to boosters (thus presenting a much larger and hotter target) and moving considerably slower. A boost-phase intercept system, however, would require placing interceptor missiles and radars close to likely launch sites, on land or on U.S. Navy ships. Norway has ordered five Aegis-class radar and missile launch systems from the United States. According to the U.S. Navy, the Aegis system could serve as a backbone of a boost-phase intercept missile defense system. Russian officials again sounded warning signals. "If this [Vardo] station works jointly with the radars of cruisers with guided missiles, which Norway will receive and which can be hypothetically armed with Aegis anti-missile systems, the systems can be used to liquidate our missiles at the boost stage," said General Yakovlev.
Hostages Freed in Sierra Leone -- Approximately 1000 UN troops freed 222 Indian Peacekeepers and 11 military observers this week in Sierra Leone. The UN Peacekeepers had been held by members of the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) since May 1. One UN soldier was killed and seven more were injured in the rescue. The RUF freed 500 peacekeepers captured in April last month through mediation led by Liberian President, and RUF supporter, Charles Taylor.
House Approves Annual Pentagon Spending Bill -- This week the U.S. House of Representatives approved by a wide margin the conference report on annual Defense Appropriations Act. The legislation includes $289.6 billion in spending, $21.9 billion above current levels. This bill, together with the annual military construction spending bill ($8.8 billion) and a portion of the Department of Energy's funding bill (roughly $13 billion) make up the combined total annual Pentagon spending package. The legislation passed on a vote of 367 to 58, and Senate action is expected shortly.
U.S. to Station B-2 Bombers in Britain? -- The U.S. Air Force is apparently planning to station as many as six of its fleet of 21 B-2 bombers in Britain. This would be the first time that B-2s were assigned to long-term deployments overseas. The Air Force has been considering a number of locations for forward deployment of the B-2 since Operation Allied Force in Kosovo, when the aircraft had to fly 30 hour missions from their current base at Whiteman AFB in Missouri. Although an official request to the British government has not yet been made, American contractors have already begun upgrading the RAF base at Fairford, Gloucestershire, to receive the B-2s.
NMD Program Designed to Meet North Korean Threat -- According to the State Department, the design of the national missile defense system currently under development was selected not because it was the best technology available, but because it could be fielded quickest. According to John Holum, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, the current system architecture was selected because it could be deployed in time to meet the U.S. intelligence community's estimates for North Korea's development of a long-range ballistic missile.
Marines Ground Harriers -- The Marine Corps has grounded its 101 of its fleet of Harrier fighter jets. The order came in response to a Harrier crash on June 21 at Twenty-Nine Palms, CA, which resulted in the pilot ejecting safely. The cause of the crash has been tentatively attributed to problems with an engine used in 101 of the Marine Corps Harriers. Harriers not equipped with this particular model of the Rolls-Royce engine are still in operation. This marks the 28th time since 1991 that portions of the Harrier fleet have been grounded.
This week on America's Defense Monitor: "Human Rights: Universal and
Supreme?"
The war over Kosovo marked the first time that a group of nations ignored the integrity of a sovereign nation's borders to redress perceived human rights violations. In the aftermath, scores of unsettling issues remain. When the rights of nations clash with the rights of individuals, who decides when and where to act: the United States or the United Nations? Is Kosovo the first of a new kind of military operation or an isolated case? And how does the world beyond the NATO countries view the attack on Yugoslavia?
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