United States. Congress

“ CHILD SOLDIER— Consistent with the provisions of the Optional Protocol to the Convention of the Rights of the Child, the term `child soldier'— (A) means— (i) any person under 18 years of age who takes a direct part in hostilities as a member of governmental armed forces; (ii) any person under 18 years of age who has been compulsorily recruited into governmental armed forces; (iii) any person under 15 years of age who has been voluntarily recruited into governmental armed forces ”

“ The Secretary of State, with the assistance of other relevant officials, shall establish as part of the standard training provided for chiefs of mission, deputy chiefs of mission, and other officers of the Service who are or will be involved in the assessment of child soldier use or the drafting of the annual Human Rights Report instruction on matters related to child soldiers, and the substance of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008.'. ”

“ United States diplomatic missions in countries in which the use of child soldiers is an issue, whether or not such use is supported or sanctioned by the governments of such countries, should include in their mission program plans a strategy to achieve the goals described in paragraph (3) ; (7) United States diplomatic missions in countries in which governments use or tolerate child soldiers should develop strategies, as part of annual program planning— (A) to promote efforts to end such abuse of human rights ”