Conscription of children in armed conflict: clarifications

Editor—My coauthor and I read the clarifications requested on bmj.com by readers of our article, among them the correspondence by Bandaranayake, entitled “Conscription by whom.”¹,² Our study was done among children conscripted by armed groups (rebel “armies”) in Sri Lanka. We are sorry that readers have interpreted army as that of the government. There is no direct evidence that the Sri Lankan government recruits children. We had no intention to twist the responsibility.

This article was sent some time ago, and some changes have taken place in the stand taken by the United Nations. At the General Assembly held on 26 June 2001 the optional protocol to change the Convention of the Right of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict was successfully adopted after several years of rejection.

Of special interest is article 3¹, which states that state parties shall raise the minimum age of voluntary recruitment of persons into their national armed forces from that set out in article 383, of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, taking account of the principles contained in that article and recognising that under the convention persons under the age of 18 years are entitled to special protection.

Article 4 mentions that armed groups that are distinct from the armed forces of a state should not, under any circumstances, recruit or use in hostilities persons under the age of 18 years. We are sorry for any misunderstandings created.