The impending July trial of Omar Khadr at Guantanamo Bay sets a dangerous precedent on the treatment of child soldiers. In May UNICEF head Anthony Lake warnned about trying Khadr, saying that the use of children in conflict is a war crime and those responsible should be prosecuted, but the children involved are “victims, acting under coercion.” Lake stated that Khadr, the son of an Egyptian-born alleged Al Qaeda financier, should be rehabilitated, not prosecuted (AP). When Khadr, who is a Canadian citizen, was arrested in 2002 for alledly throwing a grenade that killed an American soldier in Afghanistan, he was only 15 years old.
Canadian citizen Omar Khadr, who was 15 when he was captured for allegedly throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan, will be the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to face a military tribunal. UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy has warned that the trial of Khadr, who is now 23, sets a dangerous precedent for the prosecution and treatment of children in conflict zones. Coomaraswamy says that no child has been prosecuted for a war crime since World War II. “Juvenile justice standards are clear: children should not be tried before military tribunals,” she said (BBC).
As the tribunal has becun the defence has faced the following;
Military officers in the jury pool indicated that they saw no problem with trying Mr Khadr.
“Does anyone believe that juveniles should not be prosecuted for violent offences?” Prosecutor Jeff Groharing asked them.
“Does anyone feel the accused should be held to a different standard because he was 15 years old at the time of the alleged offences?”
None said they held those beliefs.
The judge, Col Patrick Parrish, said the jury could consider the age of the defendant – now a tall, broad-shouldered and bushy-bearded man – at the time of his alleged crime.
“It’s certainly something you may consider in deciding whether the government has proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said.
Opening arguments are due to begin on Wednesday in a trial expected to last about three weeks.
The Canada government has not made attempts to intervene in Khadr’s trial, despite previous federal rulings that his rights were violated when Canadian agents interrogated him at Guantanamo Bay. The outcome of Khadr’s trial now remains in the fate of the tribunal, regardless the trial has already set a president that many fear will only open a pandoras box on the fate of countless child soldiers across the globe. An estimated 300,000 or more child soldiers are actively fighting in at least 30 countries around the world, according to both Amnesty International and UNICEF. Deplorably they are not alone for there millions more fighting in states not currently engaged in a war (Insight on the News). Africa has the largest number of child solders, I’ve seen figures from 100,000 – 200,000, but the true number will never be known. “It is estimated that 43 percent (157 of 366) of all armed organizations in the world use child soldiers, 90 percent of whom see battle. In the last decade, more than 2 million children have been killed in combat, a rate of some 500 per day” (Teach Kids Peace).
