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Ireland - Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under Article 8(1) of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict: Initial reports of States parties due in 2004 [2007] UNCRCSPR 3; CRC/C/OPAC/IRL/1 (5 February 2007)
UNITED NATIONS
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CRC
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Convention on the Rights of the Child
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Distr. GENERAL
CRC/C/OPAC/IRL/1 5 February
2007
Original: ENGLISH
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COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES
PARTIES UNDER
ARTICLE 8 (1) OF THE OPTIONAL
PROTOCOL TO THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS
OF
THE CHILD ON THE INVOLVEMENT OF CHILDREN
IN ARMED CONFLICT
Initial
reports of States parties due in
2004
IRELAND[*]
[1 December 2006]
CONTENTS
Paragraph Page
Abbreviations
I. INTRODUCTION 1-6
II. ARTICLES OF THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL 7-35
Article 1 7-10
Article 2 11-12
Article 3 13-21
Article 4 22-23
Article 5 24
Article 6 25-27
Article 7 28-35
Appendix 1-9
Abbreviations
EU European Union
NGO Non Governmental Organisation
PDF
Permanent Defence Force
RDF Reserve Defence Force
I. INTRODUCTION
- Ireland
signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the
involvement of children in armed conflict
on 7 September 2000 and ratified the
instrument on 18 November 2002.
- The
Irish Government welcomes the opportunity to submit its first report under the
Optional Protocol in accordance with article 8
thereof. This report outlines the
measures that are in place or have been adopted in Ireland to give effect to the
provisions of
the Optional Protocol.
- The
Defence Forces of Ireland are constituted and operated by reference to the
provisions of the Constitution and by reference to the various Defence Acts
1954-1993.
- The
Defence Forces consist of the Permanent Defence Force (PDF) and the Reserve
Defence Force (RDF).
- PDF
consists of some 10,500 personnel, comprising the Naval Service (some 1,100),
the Air Corps (some 900) and the Army (some 8,500).
These components, as the
term Permanent Defence Force implies, are the full time dedicated Armed Forces
of the State.
- The
Reserve Defence Force consists of an Army Reserve and a Naval Service Reserve.
The members of RDF are civilians in ‘day-
to- day’ life but serve as
members of the Reserve in that they undertake part-time military training
activities in their own
free time under the general supervision of PDF e.g. at
weekends, during summer holidays etc.
II. ARTICLES OF THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL
Article 1
- All
military personnel who are under 18 years of age are specifically precluded from
any service abroad under the terms of the policy
of the Irish Defence Forces as
enunciated in Defence Forces Administrative Instructions.
- The
only theoretical situation where a person who has not attained the age of 18
years could be exposed to ‘hostilities’
would be where hostilities
had broken out and were occurring within the State’s own jurisdiction i.e.
within the sovereign
territory of Ireland. In purely practical terms, the only
foreseeable circumstances where such a situation could possibly occur would
be
an actual armed attack on a military barracks or during the course of the
military (Army) providing ‘Aid to the Civil Power’.
An example of
the latter would be the provision of armed military back up by the Army to the
Irish police (An Garda Síochána)
on those occasions where the
police are escorting cash en route to banks, or escorting certain categories of
prisoner from prison
to Court etc.
- However,
as general service enlistment is immediately followed by an essential core basic
training period of at least six months,
before the recruit is technically
‘passed out’ as an active member of the Permanent Defence Force
liable to the full
normal range of military duties, the possibility of a person
who has not attained the age of 18 years being exposed to any
‘hostile’
incident is virtually negligible.
- There
are some 342 members of the Reserve Defence Force who are between the ages of 17
and 18 at the time of writing this report.
These members are not accepted as
being trained to the minimum standard required for operations until they have
completed their ‘Three
Star Private’ Course which is conducted in
the second year of service. Therefore these entrants are not eligible for
operations
until at least the age of 18 to 19. Under the Defence Acts, all
members of the Reserve are precluded from ‘Aid to Civil Power’
operations within the State. Similarly, members of the Reserve cannot serve
overseas.
Article 2
- All
recruitment into the Irish Defence Forces is voluntary. All members enlist on an
entirely free and voluntary basis as individuals.
There is no programme of
military conscription and there is no period of compulsory military service
obligation. There has never
been military conscription or any period of
compulsory national military service obligation since the foundation of the
independent
Irish State in 1922.
- All
recruitment campaigns are therefore purely informational and promotional in
nature and serve merely to advertise and to create
greater public awareness of
the availability of careers and career opportunities in the Defence
Forces.
Article 3
- Under
Defence Forces Regulations and Administrative Instructions, the minimum age for
‘general service enlistment’ to
all branches of the Irish Defence
Forces is 17 years of age. This is also the minimum age of entry for cadets who
enter the Permanent
Defence Force to undergo a structured intense programme of
training of more than 12 months duration which leads to the award of a
Commission as a junior Officer of the Permanent Defence Force.
- There
is one exception to the legal minimum age of 17 provided for in military
regulations. These regulations currently allow for
the legal recruitment of
‘apprentices’ who may be recruited specifically as apprentices from
the age of 16 onwards. Traditionally,
these ‘apprentice’ entrants
are then assigned to special technical / technological courses of training and
study lasting
for 3-4 years both within military technological colleges and also
at civilian technological colleges. Thus any apprentice recruit
aged 16 at entry
would be between 19 to 20 by the time they qualified in their
technical/technological specialty. Apprentices are
not assigned to any military
duties at all until they have fully completed their specialist
technical/technological training. Qualified
technicians may be required to serve
overseas but such persons are by definition over 18. There is another parallel
mode of training
technicians, which may involve deployment overseas. Trainee
technicians are already fully trained soldiers who are selected to undergo
further training. However as they are already fully trained they are by
definition over 18 years of age. In recent years, actual
administrative practice
has been to reset the minimum entry age for apprentice entrants at the same
level as for General Service
Recruitment, i.e. a minimum age of 17 years at
entry.
- In
practice, therefore, Defence Forces personnel who are under 18 years of age are
essentially in the preliminary stages of training.
They remain under close
supervision within a comprehensive and highly structured military training
system which optimises their career
development and which continually reviews
and assesses their progress in training.
- They
remain under the direct supervision of highly experienced and competent Officers
and Non Commissioned Officers. The duration
and structure of even the most basic
military training, as undertaken by ‘general service enlistment’
recruits of 17
years, is such that relatively few of them would become available
for any operational military duties within the State until they
would be 18
years of age in any event.
- More
generally, all (unmarried) applicants to the Defence Forces, applying for any
branch of or role within the Defence Forces whatsoever
who are under 18 years of
age must produce the written consent of their parent or legal guardian to the
military
authorities[1].
- All
applicants must fill in a prescribed official application form and undergo a
personal interview. Interview Boards are composed
of experienced interviewers
and are chaired by a senior military Officer. The Interview Boards are
particularly cognisant of establishing
the applicant’s maturity and
personal suitability for military service. All applicants must produce clear
documented proof
of age. Those identified as suitable for enlistment are
selected on the basis of their overall suitability. Applicants who are
successful
in their candidature and who are offered a position as a trainee
(recruit) are under no obligation whatsoever to accept the offer.
- Ireland
has, therefore, adopted appropriate and stringent safeguards as regards age of
enlistment.
- In
recent years, about 22 per cent of the personnel intake into the Permanent
Defence Force has been under 18 years of age at entry.
However, less than half
of these (approximately 45 per cent) were still under 18 years of age on
completion of their initial training.
- The
following table sets out the number of persons below 18 years of age at the
actual time of their entry into the Permanent Defence
Force in each of the years
2002 to end March 2006.
Year
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General Service Recruits
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Cadets for Officer training
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Apprentices for technical training
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Total
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2002
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101
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3
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8
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112
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2003
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53
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4
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8
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65
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2004
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69
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6
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3
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78
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2005
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51
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3
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2
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56
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2006 (to end March)
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17
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0
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0
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17
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Total
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291
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16
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21
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328
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Article 4
- The
Irish Constitution provides that ‘the right to raise and maintain military
or armed forces is vested exclusively in the Oireachtas [Parliament].’
The
Constitution also states that ‘no military or armed force, other than a
military or armed force raised and maintained by the Oireachtas,
shall be raised
or maintained for any purpose whatsoever.’
- Deriving
from this, principal legislation passed by the Oireachtas has been utilised to
proscribe a number of ‘paramilitary’
type organizations. These
organisations are thus all illegal and membership of any of them is of itself a
serious criminal offence.
Article 5
- The
Irish Government do not have any comments to make concerning this article of the
Optional Protocol.
Article 6
- The
text of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on
the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict –
along with all other core
human rights instruments – is available on the website of the Department
of Foreign Affairs (www.dfa.ie).
- Reports
to the United Nations Treaty Monitoring Bodies, in addition to the concluding
observations issued following the examination
of periodic reports, are also
available on the website of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
- Human
Rights training on peace operations for military personnel is ongoing in the
Defence Forces. The overall training package is
based on the programme provided
by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
One of the key thematic
issues addressed in such training is that of
‘Children’s Rights in Peace Operations.’
Article 7
- Ireland
is committed to tackling the problem of children in armed conflict, both through
bilateral and multilateral channels.
- The
European Union Guidelines on Children and Armed Conflict were adopted by the
European Council in December 2003. The Irish Presidency
of EU in the first
semester of 2004 guided the strategy for the implementation of the Guidelines
which was endorsed by the European
Council on 17/18 June 2004.
- Through
the Guidelines, EU has undertaken to address the short, medium and long- term
impact of armed conflict on children in an
effective and comprehensive manner,
making use of the variety of tools at its disposal. EU’s objective is to
influence third
countries and non-state actors to implement international human
rights and humanitarian law related to children in armed conflict.
In doing so,
EU hopes to encourage them to take effective measures to protect children from
the effects of armed conflict, to end
the use of children in armies and armed
groups, and to end impunity.
- Ireland
is strongly supportive of the work of the Special Representative of the United
Nations Secretary General for Children and
Armed Conflict, Ms. Radhika
Coomaraswamy.
- The
Human Security Network, of which Ireland is a member, is also active on the
issue of children and armed conflict. The Network
engages in awareness raising
activities and lobbying at multilateral fora such as the United Nations. The
Network delivered a statement
on 24 July 2006 during the Security Council debate
on children and armed conflict in which it called for a greater focus on the
implementation
of past Security Council resolutions with a view to producing
tangible responses to the problem of children in armed conflict. It
also
encouraged ongoing dialogue and cooperation at local and national
levels.
- In
2005, Ireland provided €500,000 to the United Nations Development
Programme Disarmament, Demobilisation, Reintegration and
Repatriation Trust Fund
for Liberia. This programme explicitly targets child as well as adult
ex-combatants.
- Irish
Aid has also funded ‘The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child
Soldiers’ in a project aimed at building the capacity
of grassroots NGOs
to engage in advocacy activities on the involvement of children in armed
conflict. The target group comprises
approximately 340 grassroots or community
NGOs in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, the Great Lakes Region
and Latin
America. Key activities include: training on capacity building for
advocacy; mobilising community action; and facilitating children’s
participation. Regional representatives and national coordinators work together
to lead national advocacy programmes, lobbying events
and high-level advocacy
meetings. The Irish Aid funding allocation to this project was €45,000 in
both 2005 and 2006.
- Regarding
the rehabilitation and social integration of persons who are victims of acts
contrary to the Optional Protocol, Ireland
does not have information on specific
numbers of former child soldiers residing in Ireland and therefore does not have
information
on specific cases of rehabilitation and social reintegration of
persons from a domestic point of view. However the Irish Health Service
Executive does have an active Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service within
the community. This Service operates in multidisciplinary
teams of skilled
professionals including among others, child and adolescent psychiatrists,
clinical psychologists, psychiatric nurses,
mental health social workers,
occupational therapists and speech and language therapists. This Service is
equipped to treat psychiatric
and psychological manifestations associated with
traumatic experiences such as those experienced in armed conflict and children
are
referred to these services where necessary.
Appendix
Consultation with non-governmental organisations and statutory
bodies
- Recognizing
the important role that the non-governmental organisation (NGO) sector plays in
human rights matters, the Department of
Foreign Affairs consulted with a number
of NGOs and statutory bodies in the drafting of this report. The draft report
was initially
sent to members of the Joint Department of Foreign Affairs/NGO
Standing Committee on Human Rights with whom the Department liaises
on a regular
basis, and to the Children’s Rights Alliance, which is a coalition of
approximately eighty non-governmental organisations
concerned with the rights
and welfare of children and young people in Ireland. The report was also sent to
the Office of the Ombudsman
for Children and the Irish Human Rights Commission.
The Department received two written submissions on the draft report. A complete
list of NGOs and Statutory bodies consulted appears at the end of the
appendix.
- The
Department welcomes these submissions for a number of reasons. They ensured that
the report was an accurate reflection of the
implementation of the Optional
Protocol. The submissions also allowed the concerns of the NGO sector to be
voiced and provided an
alternative perspective on how to implement the
obligations outlined in the Optional Protocol as well as raising a number of new
issues regarding its implementation.
- On
foot of the submissions, the Government Departments with responsibility for the
relevant sections of the report were asked to provide
further information
clarifying some of the points raised. The report was then amended to reflect
the new information which had been
requested by NGOs.
- Some
of the key concerns of the NGO sector are outlined in the following paragraphs.
This is not an exhaustive analysis of all the
issues raised but it illustrates
some of the main areas discussed during the drafting of the report and the
outstanding concerns
expressed.
- NGOs
expressed disappointment that the State’s declaration under article 3 of
the Protocol specifies that the minimum age of
voluntary recruitment in Ireland
is 17 years, and 16 years for apprentices. NGOs expressed the opinion that
Ireland should raise
the minimum age to 18 years for all recruitment/to both the
Permanent Defence Force and the Reserve Defence Force. NGOs therefore
called on
the Government to amend its declaration to the Optional Protocol to provide for
a minimum age of military recruitment of
18 years without exception or
reservation and to introduce statutory measures to this effect.
- Concern
was raised that the Ombudsman for Children is specifically precluded from
investigating any action which ‘relates to
or affects national security or
military activity’, with the result that children in the Defence Forces
are excluded from the
protection of her mandate.
- Regarding
Financial Assistance and Technical cooperation, NGOs called on the State to make
the recording of funds under the Irish
Aid programme more specific to provide a
clearer picture of aid expenditure on children over a period of
time.
- Calls
were made for training of refugee determination bodies on specific issues
relevant to former child soldiers. Calls were also
made for the publication of
decisions of refugee determination bodies to enable monitoring of developing
case law in this area.
- The
following nongovernmental organizations, statutory bodies and representatives
from academic institutions were consulted during
the preparation of Ireland's
first report:
Non-Governmental Organizations
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Frontline
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Comhlámh
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GOAL
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Concern
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Irish Council for Civil Liberties
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Disabled People International
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Rehab Care
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Dóchas
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Trocaire
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Fédération Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l'Homme
(FIDH)
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NGO Coalitions
Children’s Rights Alliance
Other Bodies
National Consultative Committee on Racism and
Interculturalism
The Ombudsman for Children
Irish Human Rights
Commission
Individual Members of the Department of Foreign Affairs/NGO
Human Rights Standing Committee
Mr. Kevin Boyle
Mr. Paul Burns
Mr. Jerome
Connolly
Mr. Attracta Ingram
Mr. Morrough Kavanagh
Ms.
Karen Kenny
Mr. William Schabas
[*]In accordance with the
information transmitted to States parties concerning the processing
of their reports, the present document
was not formally edited before being
sent to the United Nations translation services.
GE.07-40369
[1] In Ireland, a
person attains full age or adulthood either on attaining the age of 18 years or
upon marriage if marriage is before
that age. Under Irish law, a person who is
under the age of 18 years may not enter into a legally valid marriage unless an
exemption
is granted by the Circuit Court or the High Court.
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