Omar Khadr trial imperils all child soldiers

[CHIMO]

In commencing the trial of Omar Khadr at Guantanamo Bay, the current U.S. administration has become the first government in modern history to prosecute a former child soldier for war crimes. This unprecedented case not only risks the rule of law and due process concerning juvenile justice, it puts in peril hundreds of thousands of child soldiers to potential detention and prosecution for war crimes around the world.

Since 2000, both Canada and the U.S., along with more than 125 other state-parties to the Optional Protocol on Children in Armed Conflict, have provided millions of dollars in efforts to demobilize, rehabilitate and reintegrate former child soldiers and have consistently advocated for the elimination of the recruitment and use of children in war. Moreover, demobilized child soldiers are considered victims who were coerced into committing serious crimes by adults.

It is hypocritical that Omar Khadr is not receiving the same rights as former child soldiers from countries such as Sierra Leone. His trial puts all former child soldiers in danger and undermines the tireless work that we have done to show child soldiers can be rehabilitated.

One of the problems with this case is that people do not have compassion for Khadr, but have compassion for child soldiers in other parts of the world. If a 15-year-old child in Sierra Leone or Uganda kills someone in a war, he is a victim in need of rehabilitation, but as soon as that child is accused of killing an American soldier, legal standards no longer apply.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/849076--omar-khadr-trial-imperils-all-child-soldiers

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. but as soon as that child is accused of killing an American soldier, legal standards no longer apply

So true. And true in other ways as well. Americans died on 9/11, therefore all Muslims are suspect and we have the right to wage war on them wherever we want.

[stray cat]

2. Many child soldiers are kidnapped, drugged and forced to fight or die after their family is murdered

Hence they are truly victims. The columbine shooters could be called child soldiers as were the child killers in arkansas who did go to jail after trial

[CHIMO]

3. They

Were not jugdged by a military court.

Their confessions, if given, were not obtained under torture.

Going to jail is accepted. They may then be helped to become an accepted person in society.

If their parents' were encouraging them in this act, then they too would have faced justice.

Children do not have the capacity to realise all of their actions.

[14thColony]

5. False equivalencies

Neither case was part of an international conflict or other conflict subject to Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, therefore in neither case would international law apply. International law rarely applies in domestic (national) situations, and vice versa. That's why there are two distinct bodies of law.

[14thColony]

4. I agree completely with General Dallaire

And the protocol on child soldiers in war was mainly to protect children from prosecution for WAR CRIMES that they may have been coerced into committing -- looting, unlawful killing (e.g., murder of noncombatants), etc.

But Omar Khadr (allegedly) killed a US soldier in combat during an assault on his compound in the country where he was resident. How on earth is national defense against a foreign invader a CRIME?

Answer: it's not in the 98% of countries that have ratified Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions. According to AP I this was a legitimate act of national defense and Khadr was clearly a lawful combatant. But not in Iran or the US, two of the few countries that don't follow AP I. Wonderful company we keep.