The Foreign Affairs Committee studied the bill on engaging children in armed conflicts.

Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, yesterday, March 21, 2012, studied the bill to authorize the President of the Republic to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and children’s involvement in armed conflicts, adopted on 25 May 2000 in New York.

The Minister of Social Affairs, Catherine Bakang Mbock defended the bill, assisted by the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defence, Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o and the Minister of External Relations, Pierre Moukoko Mbonjo. This was in the presence of the Vice Prime Minister, Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Relations with the Assemblies, Amadou Ali.

The Optional Protocol seeks to further reinforce the rights of the child by raising the minimum age for recruitment into armed forces and strengthens child protection against any involvement in armed conflict. It requires State parties to take feasible measures to prevent the involvement of persons under 18 years in hostilities, limits the minimum age for compulsory recruitment of children into the army to 18 years, while prohibiting the recruitment of children less than 18 years by armed groups that are distinct from the armed forces of a State party.

Government in the explanatory statement to the bill justifies that the ratification of the Protocol will enable Cameroon to develop a legal framework to prevent and effectively combat the recruitment of children by organized criminal groups. Highway robbers are considered as armed groups. By ratifying the bill on the protocol, government will be reaffirming its determination to protect children’s rights by preventing them from the consequences of early recruitment into the armed forces.