CHILD SOLDIERS

CHILD SOLDIERSSec. 699C. (a) None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available for foreign military financing, foreign military sales, direct commercial sales, or excess Defense articles by this Act or any other Act making appropriations for foreign operations, export financing, and related programs may be obligated or otherwise made available to the government of a country that is identified by the Department of State in the Department of State’s most recent Country Reports on Human Rights Practices as having governmental armed forces or government supported armed groups, including paramilitaries, militias, or civil defense forces, that recruit or use child soldiers.(b) The Secretary of State may provide assistance or defense articles otherwise prohibited under subsection (a) to a country upon certifying to the Committees on Appropriations that the government of such country has implemented effective measures to demobilize children from its forces or from government-supported armed groups and prohibit and prevent the future recruitment or use of child soldiers.121 STAT. 2370(c) The Secretary of State may waive the application to a country of the prohibition in subsection (a) if the Secretary determines and reports to the Committees on Appropriations that such waiver is important to the national interest of the United States.