Nearly a dozen U.S. State Department officials have accused their boss Secretary Rex Tillerson of breaching American law by excluding Iraq, Myanmar, and Afghanistan from a U.S. list of countries that turn a blind eye to the abhorrent use of child soldiers, reports Reuters, citing internal government documents.
Reuters notes that keeping the countries off the child soldiers prevention list made it easier for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to provide military assistance to Iraq and Afghanistan in their fight against Islamic terrorism and to bolster Myanmar’s ability push back against China’s growing influence in Southeast Asia.
“Beyond contravening U.S. law, this decision risks marring the credibility of a broad range of State Department reports and analyses and has weakened one of the U.S. government’s primary diplomatic tools to deter governmental armed forces and government-supported armed groups from recruiting and using children in combat and support roles around the world,” declared the State officials in a July 28 “dissent” memo, reports Reuters, describing the accusations as “unusual.”
The State Department acknowledged that Tillerson had disregarded internal recommendations on the use of child soldiers by Iraq, Afghanistan, and Myanmar.