Bill Text: GA HR1219 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Education, Department of; implement safe guards for recruitment of 17-year-olds; urge
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-02-02 - House Second Readers [HR1219 Detail]
Download: Georgia-2009-HR1219-Introduced.html
10 LC
14 0196
House
Resolution 1219
By:
Representatives Benfield of the
85th,
Morgan of the
39th,
Henson of the
87th,
Drenner of the
86th,
Bell of the
58th,
and others
A
RESOLUTION
Urging
the Georgia Department of Education and all school systems in Georgia to
safeguard the rights of children under the age of 17 from military recruitment
and to implement basic safeguards for the recruitment of 17-year-olds; and for
other purposes.
WHEREAS,
in 2002 the United States Senate ratified the
Optional Protocol to
the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in
armed conflict, which requires that each
state party "deposit a binding declaration upon ratification of or accession to
the present Protocol that sets forth the minimum age at which it will permit
voluntary recruitment into its national armed forces and a description of the
safeguards it has adopted to ensure that such recruitment is not forced or
coerced"; and
WHEREAS,
at ratification, the United States entered a binding declaration that set age 17
as the absolute minimum age for military recruitment; and
WHEREAS,
the Optional Protocol mandates that state parties permit voluntary recruitment
of children younger than 18 only on the conditions that such recruitment is
"genuinely voluntary" and is "carried out with the informed consent of the
person's parents or legal guardians," in addition to requiring that such
recruited individuals be "fully informed of the duties involved in such military
service" and "provide reliable proof of age prior to acceptance" into the
military; and
WHEREAS,
the prevailing international standard is to prohibit the voluntary recruitment
of persons under the age of 18 into the military, as evidenced by 89 of 128
state parties to the Optional Protocol declaring 18 as the minimum age for
recruitment and as evidenced by the concluding observations and recommendations
of the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, a body of independent experts
that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and
the Optional Protocols; and
WHEREAS,
the Optional Protocol recognizes that children younger than 18 are "entitled to
special protection"; and
WHEREAS,
the Committee on the Rights of the Child has called upon the United States to
refrain from using the educational system to promote the military or
military-type training for children, and has also called upon the United States
not to permit military recruiting which targets racial and ethnic minorities and
children of low-income families and other vulnerable socio-economic groups, as
such activities run counter to the object and purpose of the Optional Protocol;
and
WHEREAS,
according to the No Child Left Behind Act, high schools must disclose the
contact information for juniors and seniors, including students under 17 years
of age, to military recruiters or risk losing federal aid and this information
may be forwarded to the military without the knowledge or consent of the
parents; and
WHEREAS,
while parents and students may sign and submit a form requesting that their
contact information be withheld from military recruiters, many Georgia schools
do not make the exemption forms or information about the exemption forms readily
available to high school students and their parents; and
WHEREAS,
some Georgia high schools encourage students, including students under 17 years
of age, to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, a military
placement exam that serves as a military recruiting tool; and
WHEREAS,
the United States military continues to engage in other tactics designed to
recruit students under the age of 17, despite the United States' binding
declaration to only recruit persons 17 years of age and older.
NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES that the members of
this body urge the Georgia Department of Education and all school systems within
the State of Georgia to:
(1)
Cease all current and future programs and activities designed to recruit
children under the age of 17, including but not limited to military schools and
Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery testing;
(2)
When instituting military-related programs and activities such as military
schools and Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery testing for children ages
17 or older, Georgia schools do so only upon written consent from participating
students' parents or legal guardians obtained after fully informing the students
and their parents or legal guardians about the military nature of the programs
or activities, the fact that participation in such is completely voluntary, and
the duties generally involved in military service; and
(3)
Begin to actively provide students and parents with exemption forms and
information regarding exemption forms that would prohibit the students' schools
from disclosing students' records to military recruiters as required by the No
Child Left Behind Act.
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the House of Representatives is authorized
and directed to transmit an appropriate copy of this resolution to the public
and the press and to the State School Superintendent with a request to
distribute copies of this resolution to all school systems in this state.
