HC Deb 02 November 1999 vol 337 c91W
Mr. Menzies Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the impact of Article 3 (d) of the new ILO convention on child labour on his Department's employment and deployment practices; and if he will make a statement. [96014]

Mr. Spellar

The new ILO Convention 182 explicitly mentions the "forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict" at Article 3(a). Article 3(d) therefore has no application to military service in the UK. The recruitment practices referred to in ILO Convention 182 are an unacceptable form of child labour. The recruitment of genuine volunteers, as for example undertaken in the UK, is entirely different from the abusive, exploitative, forced or coercive involvement of children in armed conflict as members of militia or para-military forces around the world.