The Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2007 has been introduced into both the House of Representatives and Senate (bill numbers S.1175 and H.R.2620), but has no co-sponsors in the House and only 9 senators supporting it in the Senate.

The Child Soldier Prevention Act defines a child soldier as: Any person under age 18 who takes a direct part in hostilities as a member of governmental armed forces; any person under age 18 who has been compulsorily recruited into governmental armed forces; any person under age 16 voluntarily recruited into governmental armed forces; and any person under age 18 recruited or used in hostilities by armed forces distinct from the armed forces of a state; and includes any such person who is serving in any capacity, including in a support role such as a cook, porter, messenger, medic, guard, or sex slave.

Notice how the age drops to 16 for the voluntary recruitment of children into the military? There’s a reason for that. The United States military recruits 16 and 17 year-olds, and receives condemnation from around the rest of the world for it. However, as good as the Child Soldier Prevention Act is, it doesn’t quite have the guts to go after the United States military.

The Child Soldier Prevention Act makes several sense of the Congress statements condemning the practice of recruiting and using child soldiers. It then goes on to prohibit the government of the United States of America from providing military aid to any foreign government that uses child soldiers in its military, paramilitary forces, or other official or sanctioned armed groups.

There is an unfortunate clause that gives the President of the United States to issue a waiver to the law when he decides that giving military aid to a government that uses child soldiers is in the interest of the United States. It’s kind of a support-the-recruitment-of-child-soldiers-if-you-like card. However, the President is required to register every such waiver, and report on the justifications for each waiver to the Senate and to the House of Representatives.

The Child Soldier Prevention Act also requires the Executive Branch to research and publish reports on the use of child soldiers around the world, providing important information that can be used to more effectively counter the use child soldiers.

The Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2007 is not a perfect piece of legislation, but it’s pretty darned good. It is a piece of legislation that all decent Americans ought to be willing to support, regardless of political party affiliation.

More about that tomorrow… Who in Congress supports the Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2007 so far? Are they Republican or Democrat?