Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-11-15-Speech-3-309"
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"en.20001115.13.3-309"2
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"Mr President, the report by Mrs Theorin includes many bizarre and curious elements, and I have to say we should avoid the notion that armies are some sort of social service and that their guiding motive should be political correctness.
I want to focus briefly on just one paragraph of the report – Paragraph 3 – which condemns the use of so-called child soldiers. Unfortunately terms are not defined and distinctions are not made. We all condemn unreservedly the brutal abduction of children, some not even in their teens, particularly in certain African countries such as Sierra Leone or Uganda, and their corruption into murderous habits and involvement in barbaric practices such as mutilation and maiming. These are not soldiers and they should be distinguished from young people in our own armed forces. The trouble is that when we talk of child soldiers, then some interest groups use this as an opportunity to criticise distinguished institutions such as the British Army and this has happened recently. As a guiding principle, we try to avoid sending young people into operational areas, but sometimes it happens and they serve with pride in well-disciplined units.
We should really avoid any possibility of confusing such honourable activity – which should be encouraged – with the sort of barbarism which I am sure the author of this report has in mind."@en1
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