UN warns of implications of trial child soldier held in Guantanamo

 New York, 11 Aug-(ANA)-The start of the trial of Omar Khadr – arrested in Afghanistan in 2002 for

crimes he allegedly committed as a child – before the United States Military

Commission in Guantánamo Bay today set a precedent jeopardizing the status

of child soldiers around the world, a United Nations envoy cautioned.

 Mr. Khadr, the last child soldier held in Guantánamo, was 15 years old when he

allegedly threw a grenade that killed a US soldier. He faces war crimes charges

at his trial.

Radhika Coomaraswamy, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative for

Children and Armed Conflict, stressed in a statement that the statute of the

International Criminal Court (ICC) is clear that no one under the age of 18 should be tried for war crimes.

Prosecutors in other international tribunals have used their discretion not to

prosecute children, she added. (ANA)

FA/ANA/11 August 2010--------