Saudi Arabia: Armed Forces

(asked on 8th July 2019) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to The Guardian article published on 18 June entitled Pompeo blocks inclusion of Saudi Arabia on US child soldiers list, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of international conventions preventing the exploitation of children as soldiers.


Answered by
Andrew Murrison Portrait
Andrew Murrison
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
This question was answered on 16th July 2019

The UK is committed to ending the use of child soldiers. We remain deeply concerned by the use of children in conflict in Yemen. We raise allegations of human rights abuses, including the use of child soldiers, with all parties to the conflict in Yemen. We have been clear that all parties must comply with International Humanitarian Law.

The UK firmly believes in the importance of international conventions to prevent the exploitation of children as soldiers. The UK has called for all states to sign up to the key international commitments pertaining to ending the recruitment and use of children in conflict including the Paris Principles and Commitments, the Vancouver Principles and the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict. We firmly believe this framework of standards and commitments provides vital safeguards for the rights of children in armed conflict. For example, 91 countries have endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration. The Declaration has led to conflict-affected countries committing to the re-opening and protection of schools.

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