The determination, authorized by President Barack Obama and
addressed to Secretary of State John Kerry, says that it is in
the national interest of the US to waive the application of a
provision of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 with
respect to Chad, South Sudan and Yemen.
That provision, section 404(a), prohibits the US from providing
assistance to or licensing the direct commercial sale of military
equipment to the government of any country identified as having
children under the age of 18 participating in armed operations.
Additionally, the White House has determined that it is in the
best interest of the US if that prohibition is also waived in
part with respect to the Democratic Republican of the Congo in
order for America to continue providing International Military
Education and Training (IMET) and nonlethal excess defense
articles. The determination will also let the DRC receive
licenses for direct commercial sales of nonlethal defense
articles. The White House also said it is waiving sections of the
CSPA so that the US can allow Somalia to buy nonlethal defense
articles and receive IMET and the continued assistance from
America under the Peacekeeping Operations authority “for
logistical support and troop stipends.”
Presidential Determination, courtesy of Think Progress:
According to Think Progress
writer Hayes Brown, the blanket waiver applied to Chad, South
Sudan and Yemen will essentially allow those nations to receive
as much military assistance as possible from the US, while
Somalia and the DRC will only be granted lethal aid in support of
peacekeeping missions currently underway in those countries.
The six nations that will benefit from the waiver make up the
majority of a list of ten countries determined by the Department
of State to be using children soldiers. Those that have been
determined to employ children but are not having the prohibition
waived are Burma (Myanmar), the Central African Republic, Sudan
and Rwanda.
But despite the State Department’s awareness of those activities,
this isn’t the first time the Obama administration has waived
provisions of the CSPA – even with regards to those countries.
Last October, Pres. Obama waived penalties against Libya, South
Sudan and Yemen, and again provided a partial waiver for the DRC.
This week’s determination in fact marks the fourth consecutive
year that Obama has lifted restrictions on a law only five years
old.
When the White House announced its determination last year, Jo
Becker of Human Rights Watch told Foreign Policy’s The Cable that
“While the administration has stepped up its attention to
child soldiers, it continues to squander the leverage it has
through the Child Soldiers Prevention Act.”
“By giving waivers to nearly all of the countries that have
been affected by the law, the president is telling military
allies that ending the use of child soldiers is not that
important,” said Becker, the director of the group’s
children’s rights advocacy office.
On Monday this week, however, Becker authored a statement on the
Human Rights Watch website applauding the Obama administration’s
decision to scale back, in part, assistance to Somalia and the
DRC – countries that were allowed to receive even greater aid
from the US in years past.
“The US government announced today it will withhold military
assistance from four countries — the Central African Republic,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Rwanda — because of
their recruitment and use of child soldiers. This is a big
improvement from previous years when the Obama administration
routinely allowed governments to receive US military assistance
even while they had child soldiers in their forces,” Becker
wrote.
According to Becker, the White House’s stance to provide some
countries with only some support may actually help remove those
nations of children soldiers in the long run.
“Last year we saw how the law could really work. The Obama
administration announced it would withhold foreign military
financing and training from a Congolese battalion until Congo
signed an agreement with the United Nations to end its use of
child soldiers. The Congo had been dragging its feet on signing
the plan for seven years, but signed the plan only five days
after the US announcement,” Becker wrote.
“This year, the administration will withhold at least some
assistance from four countries, not just one. This will put real
pressure on these countries to take some serious steps to end
their use of child soldiers,” she said. “The Obama
administration’s attention to child soldiers is welcome, but
there’s still more it can do to bring an end to this horrible
practice.”
According to Becker, Yemen will be the recipient of more than $20
million foreign military financing from the US. In 2010, the
Obama administration said it was necessary for the US to continue
providing Yemen with assistance because cutting off funding
“would seriously jeopardize the Yemeni
government’s ability to conduct special operations and
counterterrorism missions, and create a dangerous level of in the
country and the region.”
Copyright: RT