Tag Archive for: Libya

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President Issues Child Soldier Waivers

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The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
September 28, 2012

Presidential Memorandum — Presidential Determination with respect to the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE

SUBJECT: Determination with Respect to the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008

Pursuant to section 404 of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 (CSPA) (title IV, Public Law 110-457), I hereby determine that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive the application of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the CSPA with respect to Libya, South Sudan, and Yemen; and further determine that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive in part the application of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the CSPA with respect to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to allow for continued provision of International Military Education and Training funds and nonlethal Excess Defense Articles, and the issuance of licenses for direct commercial sales of U.S. origin defense articles; and I hereby waive such provisions accordingly.

You are authorized and directed to submit this determination to the Congress, along with the accompanying Memorandum of Justification, and to publish the determination in the Federal Register.

BARACK OBAMA

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Child Soldiers are being used by Muammar al-Gaddafi’s Regime

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from the news.scotsman.com:

 Gaddafi’s new force of child soldiers revealed

By Ruth Sherlock

COLONEL Muammar al-Gaddafi is using child soldiers in his battle to regain the besieged Libyan town of Misrata, The Scotsman has learned.

Boys as young as 15 are being conscripted, say government troops captured by the rebels.

Ninety boys, between the ages of 15 and 19, were called to military barracks in Tripoli “for training” as soon as the 17 February popular uprising began, Murad, 16, and another captive, Abdul, have independently told The Scotsman.

Speaking from different medical clinics in the besieged city, the young men were unwilling to reveal their full identities for fear of reprisals against their relatives in areas still controlled by the dictator’s forces.

The use of soldiers younger than 18 in combat adds to the list of war crimes accusations against Col Gaddafi, after it emerged in the last few days that his units were using Spanish-made cluster bombs in Misrata – which pose particular risk to civilians because they scatter small bomblets over a wide area. Most of the world’s nations have banned the use of the munitions. The Libyan government has rejected the allegations. Read more

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UN Says Reports of Child Soldiers Being Recruited in Libya

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The Canadian Press – ONLINE EDITION

By: The Associated Press

GENEVA – U.N. officials say they are getting reports that child soldiers are being recruited to fight for Moammar Gadhafi loyalists in Libya — which would be a war crime.

UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado told The Associated Press on Friday there is “a serious concern” that child soldiers are among the mercenaries that Gadhafi is hiring to attack rebel forces.

The spokeswoman for the U.N. children’s agency said the mercenaries come from Chad, Niger, Central African Republic and Sudan’s Darfur region, which are all places “with known child soldiers.”

The U.N. special envoy for children in armed conflicts, Radhika Coomaraswamy, also says human rights groups and local civilians are providing unconfirmed reports that children are being killed and injured by taking up arms in Libya.