Young People In The UK Armed Forces

EDM number 444 in 1998-99, proposed by Paul Stinchcombe on 17/03/1999.

That this House welcomes the announcement of the Under-Secretary General of Peacekeeping at the United Nations that under 18 year-olds will not be included in UN peacekeeping missions; notes with regret that over 6,000 young people aged 16 and 17 are in the United Kingdom armed forces; urges Her Majesty's Government to end the recruitment and deployment of young people in the armed forces; urges the Government, further to work internationally for an optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child enjoining all countries to ensure that no one under the age of 18 bears arms; and notes that the current practice of recruiting minors into the United Kingdom armed forces undermines the Government's campaign against the coercion of young people into the armed forces of those countries engaged in armed conflict.

This motion has been signed by a total of 46 MPs.