WASHINGTON: Pakistan has also been taken off the list of nations that permit the use of young soldiers.
On Tuesday, the US State Department removed Pakistan from a watch list of possible violators and advanced Pakistan to a list of countries that do not do enough to combat human trafficking.
In 2021, Pakistan was added to the CSPA list (Child Soldiers Prevention Action List).
According to the 2021 report, Pakistan “materially supported non-state armed groups that recruited and utilised child soldiers.”According to the earlier report, no cases of child soldiering were looked into, brought to justice, or found guilty in Pakistan in 2021.
“Cease backing to non-state armed groups that recruit and/or utilise child soldiers,” it pleaded with Pakistan.
The State Department also mentioned that in April 2019, the Pakistani military declared it would take over administration of more than 30,000 religious institutions, a few of which non-state armed groups used to compel child soldiers to join them.
The governments of Afghanistan, Myanmar, the Central African Republic, Congo, Iran, Mali, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen are included on the 2022 CSPA List.The CSPA forbids aid to nations that are listed under the following authorities: excess defence articles, foreign military financing, international military education and training, and peacekeeping operations, with some exceptions made for certain programmes carried out under the authority for peacekeeping operations. Additionally, the CSPA forbids the granting of permits for the direct commercial sale of military equipment to so regimes.
