Concluding Observations: Australia

Concluding Observations: Australia
Date: 
11/07/2012

17. The Committee notes that the age of voluntary recruitment into the ADF is 17 years.
18. In order to promote and strengthen the protection of children through an overall higher legal standard, the Committee encourages the State party to review and raise the minimum age of voluntary recruitment into the ADF to 18 years of age.(...)
20. The Committee recommends that the State party:
(a) Review the operations of its cadet scheme to ensure that activities in such programmes are age appropriate, particularly with respect to military-like activities, and establish clear guidelines on the age requirement for such activities, taking due consideration of the mental and physical effects of such activities on the child;
(b) Ensure effective and independent monitoring of the cadet scheme to safeguard the rights and welfare of the child enrolled in the cadet forces and ensure that children, parents and other groups are adequately informed about the recruitment process and are able to present concerns or complaints;
(c) Prohibit the handling and use of firearms and other explosives for all children under the age of 18 years in line with the spirit of the Optional Protocol;
(d) Ensure that young persons from different linguistic backgrounds and/or from marginalized populations are not overly targeted for recruitment and put in place measures for informed consent;
(e) Include information on how the activities of the cadet forces fit with the aims of education, as recognized in article 29 of the Convention and in the Committee’s general comment No. 1 (2001) on the aims of education.