According to recent studies (printed in the 6/30/98 New York Times), some 300,000 children in 50 countries are fighting as soldiers. Over the last ten years, 2 million children have been killed in wars, 1 million have been orphaned, 6 million have been seriously injured, 12 million are homeless, and 10 million have serious psychological trauma as a result of their extreme poverty and persecution.
In response to this wanton abuse of children worldwide, the United Nations drafted a the 1989 Convention on Children's Rights, seeking to stop this abuse of children. Only two nations in the UN refused to either sign or ratify this human rights pact. Somalia was one of the two abstainers. Can you guess the other dissenting nation? I'll give you a hint: it likes to pretend it's the torchbearer for human rights (see Clinton in China).
That's right! The United States is the only other nation to refuse to sign or ratify the Convention on Children's Rights. How does that make you feel, as an American?
The excuse the US government gave is that the Marine Corps recruits 17-year-olds, and so it can't sign the document for that reason (of course, rather than changing Marine recruitment policies, the US would rather simply scrap a convention on human rights for children -- good to know the government has its priorities straight.)