Topic: Children and Armed Conflict
Country: Mexico
Delegate Name: Brett Fogel
School: Forest Hills Central High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Mexico position papers GLIMUN 2009 committees
Across the globe there have always been problems with child soldiering and children involved with armed conflict. Child soldiering separates and ruins families. At one moment a family is full and all together like any average family, and then at the next moment a child is abducted and forced to join the military or recruited to serve without warning and with no previous knowledge. Families fall victim to these atrocities so often in so many places; this makes it extremely difficult to combat the child soldier issue since the problem is so widespread. Once children become involved in militia groups, families almost always never see their children again. Often times, children are recruited and taken away during educational hours; this also makes families more reluctant to send their children to school when they near the older stages of adolescence. In nations that suffer from large amounts of child trafficking, there have been efforts to control child soldiering by making it much more difficult to enlist in the military if the student is under 18 and the process has been slowed in some countries thanks to UN or government officials intervening and overseeing military recruitment and enlistment. The UN committee for Rights of the Child has proposed much legislation regarding the child soldiering issue and has urged many other countries to take action in the fight against child soldiering. Government intervention has big a part in stopping children in armed conflict, but in some countries the government could do more.
Mexico does have some under-18’s in the military, but the earliest age at which a person can enter military service and enlist is age 16. We make sure everyone in the Mexican military goes through the proper training before beginning any sort of actual service. Anyone wishing to enlist in the military from ages 16-21 needs consent from the parents. We do not aim at “tearing families” so before anyone under 18 can do anything military related, the person wishing to enlist needs to agree, and the process always goes through the parents, as well. There is said to be some participation of under-18’s in paramilitary groups, but these are highly secretive groups and it is extremely difficult to prevent minors from becoming active in them because they are so hard to keep track of. As a nation, we are still doing all we can to make sure the involvement of children in paramilitary stays as low as possible.
We are in agreement with nations that keep illegal child soldiers out of the military. We support nations that enforce the necessary rules and regulations are followed if an under-18 wishes to enlist in military service. We agree with nations that get the proper consent from parents if a minor wishes to join the military and also that it is the decision of the enrollee. We would likely be opposed to nations that don’t make sure the necessary training is accomplished for under-18’s wishing to enlist and that the proper consent is gathered so that all families’ wishes are respected.
