CHILD SOLDIERS: CRC COUNTRY BRIEFS
Pre-sessional working group 36th session, February 2004
Prepared by The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
EL SALVADOR
Republic of El Salvador
SUMMARY
CRC-OP-CAC:Declaration: / Ratified
Other treaties ratified: / CRC; GC/API+II; ILO 138; ILO 182
Legal minimum recruitment age:
Conscripts:
Volunteers: / 18
16
Government Armed Forces: / 16,000 active, ex-soldiers registered reserves, 12,000 paramilitary
There were indications of under-18s in government armed forces during the civil conflict (1980-92) during which voluntary recruitment was permitted under emergency legislation. A 1992 law appears to have formalized voluntary recruitment of 16 to 18 year olds. Many children were also forcibly recruited by both sides during the war, including children as young as 10.
GOVERNMENT
Article 215 of the 1983 Constitution states that “military service is compulsory for all Salvadorans between 18 and 20 years old”. The law on Military Service and Reserved Armed Forces of July 1992 - adopted shortly after the peace treaty which ended the civil war - governs recruitment into the armed forces[i], although provision for “cases of necessity” is included in the Law on Armed Forces.[ii]
The treaty itself prohibited forced recruitment in favour of military service based on universality, obligation, equity and non-discrimination.[iii] The 1992 law requires all men to register for military service at the age of 18 and further stipulates that selection of recruits is to be made by ballot. In 1994 the government made women liable for military service, although they are not required to serve in a combat capacity.[iv] According to information provided to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Articles 2 and 6 of the Military Service and Armed Forces Reserve Act provide for voluntary military service between the ages of 16 and 18.[v]
Child Recruitment and Deployment
During the civil war, children were forcibly recruited into the armed forces during mass conscription drives, notably from poor suburbs and rural areas. It has been estimated that 80 per cent of those in the armed forces were under 18 years of age.[vi]
The phenomenon of youth gangs and youth crime has become more significant in the country since the war, although according to one study only a few of these youths are former child combatants.[vii]
NON-STATE ARMED GROUPS
The opposition force Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) also recruited children and one survey estimated that 20 per cent of FMLN combatants were under 18s.[viii] The average age of children within the FMLN during the conflict has been estimated at 12 years, with 18.9 per cent being 10 or less than 10 years old.[ix]
DEVELOPMENTS
Prevention and Demobilization programs
Despite some success in efforts to include under-age combatants in DDR programs following the peace treaty signed in 1992, the specific rights and needs of children appear to have been largely overlooked. In a survey carried out for UNICEF in 1996 71 per cent of the former child soldiers interviewed said that “nothing” had helped their transition to civilian life.[x] According to one report, this lack of success in the DDR program was attributable to lack of support from the international community and lack of follow up at the national and international level.[xi] In 1999 UNICEF reported that 61 per cent of FMLN children were not integrated into the demobilization programme. Among those who did pass through, only five per cent completed the education programme.[xii]
International Standards
In its concluding observations on El Salvador’s 1993 report, the Committee on the Rights of the Child said “there was a need to consider seriously questions relating to the legal definition of the child, in particular the minimum age for…military service”.[xiii] El Salvador ratified the OP-CRC-AC on 18 April 2002 but it is not known whether domestic legislation has since been brought into line with the OP-CRC-AC.
URGENT ACTIONS RECOMMENDED
- If it has not already done so, the government should take steps to bring national legislation on voluntary recruitment into line with the OP-CRC-AC and declare its commitment to a “straight-18” standard for recruitment
- The government should take steps to demobilize any under 18s currently serving in the armed forces.
QUESTIONS TO STATE REPRESENTATIVES
Do domestic laws continue to provide for voluntary recruitment into the armed forces between the ages of 16 and 18?
Are there 16 to 18 year olds currently serving in the armed forces?
If not currently the case, does the government plan to bring domestic legislation into line with the OP-CRC-AC?
Can the government provide any further information on efforts to continue with
[i] Ley de Servicio Militar y Reserva de la Fuerza Armada, D.L. No 298, 30/7/92.
[ii] Artículo 6, Ley Orgánica de la Fuerza Armada, No. 353, 9/7/98.
[iii] The Peace Treaty is available on the internet at colecciones/textos/acuerdos/Paz.htm.
[iv] Horeman, B and M Stolwijk 1998, Refusing to Bear Arms: a world survey of conscription and conscientious objection to military service War Resisters’ International 1998.
[v] Initial Report of El Salvador to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, UN Doc.CRC/C/15/Add.9, 18 October 1993.
[vi] Leskinen, Reeta, 1994, in Horeman and Stolwijk
[vii] De Cesar, D 1998, “The children of war: Street gangs in El Salvador.”, NACLA, Vol XXXII, No 1
[viii] Leskinen, Reeta 1995, in Horeman and Stolwijk
[ix] Deng Deng, William 2001, A survey of programs on the reintegration of former child soldiers.
[x] Leskinen, Reeta 1996, Child Soldiers in El Salvador, Survey prepared by Radda Barnen for UNICEF.
[xi] Melendez, Dr F 1999, Technical Cooperation project on Human Rights, Statement to the Latin American and Caribbean Conference on the Use of Child Soldiers, Montevideo, Uruguay, July 1999.
[xii] Legrand, J C, 1999, UNICEF Statement to the Latin American and Caribbean Conference on the Use of Children as Soldiers, Montevideo, Uruguay, July 1999.
[xiii] Concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, UNDOC CRC/C/15/Add.9, 18 October 1993