US Senators Urge Trump To Halt Military Aid To Countries With Child Soldiers

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th October, 2018) US President Donald Trump should stop using a national interest exemption to shield some countries from a law that bans military aid to nations that employ children as soldiers, according to a letter to the president from seven members of the US Senate.

"The United States and its allies should be doing everything possible to end military support for governments that engage in the abhorrent practice of using child soldiers and to also help reintegrate such children back into their families and society," the senators wrote on Friday.

The Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2008 bans the United States from providing military assistance or arms sales to governments that use children in combat, but the president may waive the application of the law for specific countries if it is deemed to be in the national interest, a press release accompanying the letter explained.

The senators noted that Trump issued waivers for Iraq, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen in September.

"Using sweeping waivers to continue such assistance undermines such efforts and the spirit of the law," the senators wrote.

Senators Dick Durbin, John Boozman, Patrick Leahy, Amy Klobuchar, Patty Murray, Ben Cardin, and Sheldon Whitehouse signed the letter.