Efforts to stop the use of children as soldiers made significant progress when the Optional Protocol to the Convention of the Rights of the Child came into force on 12 February. The Protocol prohibits anyone under 18 from being drafted into regular armed forces and rebel armies. However, the United Kingdom is among those countries weakening the pact by insisting on being able to recruit youths under 18 into its armed forces.

To date 94 states have signed the protocol, 14 of which have ratified it. 'The United Kingdom is in the company of Sudan and Iraq in continuing to deploy under-18s into combat,' Mungo Williams, spokesperson for the UK Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers said. 'The UK is falling way behind on international moves by a majority of governments worldwide to set 18 as the minimum age for all forms of military recruitment. It must give an absolute guarantee that it will cease to recruit or deploy under-18s without any further delay or reservation.'

The UK Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers - which includes Anti-Slavery International, Amnesty International UK Section, UNICEF UK, and World Vision UK - is pressing the British Government to ratify the Protocol immediately without reservations.

Recently, 84 Members of Parliament signed an Early Day Motion urging the Government to adopt the Optional Protocol.

In the UK, under-18s may not drink alcohol, vote, or join the police force, yet they may join the military. Britain's armed forces have the lowest age for deployment and the highest number of under-18 recruitment of in Europe.