The UK ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on June 24th, 2003 to keep those under 18 away from armed conflict. Nonetheless, British Defense Minister Adam Ingram has recently admitted that fifteen 17-year-old soldiers were sent to Iraq between 2003 and 2005. And here I thought the Children’s Crusades were over. Ingram says that most of the underage soldiers went just before turning 18 or were taken off duties less than a week upon arrival in Iraq.

Sarah Teather, a Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman, requested the information from Ingram, and is calling on the Prime Minister for an apology. She said: “This is an inexcusable blunder by the government that reveals a shocking level of incompetence. We have rules about sending those under 18 into conflict for a reason.� She added, �There is no way people so young are mentally or emotionally prepared to face bloodshed on the scale seen in Iraq.”

As if to justify the deployment of minors, Ingram assured the public that none of the underage soldiers were younger than 17. He also claims that less than five were in Iraq for longer than three weeks. As many as four of the underage soldiers were girls. “Unfortunately, these processes are not infallible and the pressures on units prior to deployment have meant that there have been a small number of instances where soldiers have been inadvertently deployed to Iraq before their 18(th) birthday,” he said.

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