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The military use of children takes three distinct forms: children can take direct part in hostilities (child soldiers); they can be used in support roles such as porters, spies, messengers, lookouts; or they can be used for political advantage () as human shields and/or in propaganda. Throughout history and in many cultures, children have been extensively involved in military campaigns even when such practices were against cultural morals. In WW1, in Great Britain 250,000 boys under 18 managed to join the army.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=How did Britain let 250000 underage soldiers fight in WW1? )〕 In WW2, child soldiers fought throughout Europe, in the Warsaw Uprising,〔Norman Davies,(''Rising '44: The Battle for Warsaw,'' ) Pan Books 2004 p.603〕 in the Jewish resistance, and in the Soviet Army. Since the 1970s, a number of international conventions have come into effect that try to limit the participation of children in armed conflicts, nevertheless the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers reports that the use of children in military forces, and the active participation of children in armed conflicts is widespread. According to Wessels (1997), "The use of children in armed conflict is global in scope—a far greater problem than suggested by the scant attention it has received. Child soldiers are found from Central America to the Great Lakes region of Central Africa, and from Belfast in the north to Angola in the south" ( p. 2). Children are easy targets to recruit for military purposes because of their vulnerability to influence. Many are seized and recruited by force whereas others join to escape their reality and circumstances.〔 ==International law== In 1989, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 38, proclaimed: "State parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons who have not attained the age of 15 years do not take a direct part in hostilities." However, people who are over the age of 15 but under the age of 18 are still voluntarily able to take part in combat as soldiers. The Optional protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict to the Convention that came into force in 2002 stipulates that its State Parties - "shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons below the age of 18 do not take a direct part in hostilities and that they are not compulsorily recruited into their armed forces". The Optional Protocol further obligates states to "take all feasible measures to prevent such recruitment and use, including the adoption of legal measures necessary to prohibit and criminalize such practices." (Art 4, Optional Protocol.)〔 〕 Likewise, under the Optional Protocol states are required to demobilize children within their jurisdiction who have been recruited or used in hostilities, and to provide assistance for their physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration. (Art 6(3) Optional Protocol.)〔 Under war, civil unrest, armed conflict and other emergency situations, children and youths are also offered protection under the United Nations ''Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict''. Under Article 8(2)(b)(xxvi) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), adopted in July 1998 and entered into force 1 July 2002; "Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into the national armed forces or using them to participate actively in hostilities" is a war crime.〔s:Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court#Article 8 - War crimes〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Military use of children」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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