Guidelines on child soldiers to be a first

OTTAWA — The Canadian military is poised to become the first in the world to issue guidelines for dealing with child soldiers, which could be put to the test immediately in Africa.

The guidelines are intended to ensure Canadian troops are properly trained — and emotionally prepared — for situations involving child soldiers, no matter the mission or location.

Defence chief Gen. Jonathan Vance ordered the rules drafted last March after a discussion with retired senator Romeo Dallaire, who has championed the fight against using children in conflict.

Cmdr. Rory McLay, who is overseeing the initiative, said the guidelines should be approved in the coming days, at which point they will be sent to commanders across the Canadian Armed Forces.

Such direction is timely, given the Liberal government is expected to green-light the deployment of hundreds of Canadian soldiers to Mali in the coming weeks.

The UN as well as human rights groups say several of the armed groups currently operating in Mali have intentionally recruited and are using child soldiers in a number of capacities.

Meanwhile, the French military found itself under fire last month for killing a 10-year-old boy suspected of acting as a lookout for one of those groups.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which Canadian troops are helping to fight in Iraq, have also made extensive use of child soldiers.

McLay said Canadian troops have encountered child soldiers in the past, including in Afghanistan, and that there are a variety of existing rules and policies on how to deal with them.

But the guidelines, or doctrine, under development will be the first to gather everything into one place so Canadian military personnel know what is expected of them.