In Convention 182 of the International Labor Organization, it states the worst forms of child labor. In Article 3 it states:
“For the purposes of this Convention, the term “the worst forms of child labour” comprises:
(a) all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict”
Picture from war child
picture from http://www.loc.gov
The Geneva Conventions are one of the many international laws against child soldiers. In part one of the fourth Geneva Conventions it says that “Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, color, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria”. This part of the Geneva Conventions prohibits the use of child soldiers because they are civilians.
It also prohibits:
(a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
(b) taking of hostages;
(c) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;
(d) the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples. This part of the Geneva Conventions prohibits the kidnapping of child soldiers and also the torture of child soldiers.
Child soldiers were used in the U.S. Civil War. It is estimated that 5% of the soldiers in the Civil War were minors. At age 12, William Black was the youngest soldier that was wounded in the Civil War. In 1861 President Lincoln created a law that required soldiers under 18 to have parent permission to be a soldier. In 1862 he made a new law that outlawed the use of child soldiers.
Children were also recruited during the 1300s in the Ottoman Empire. Originally the Turks kidnapped young Christian boys and made them into an elite military group. This group was called Janissaries. Later the Turks stopped kidnapping young boys, and soldiers volunteered instead. In 1826 the Janissaries stopped being a military group.
Picture from scriptsus.wordpress.com
Facts from digitalhistory.uh.edu and suite101.com
Child Soldiers: The Problem, Cause & Solution 