Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 - Slovakia

Population: 5.4 million (1.1 million under 18)
Government Armed Forces: 15,200
Compulsary Recruitment Age: 18 (conscription abolished in 2006)
Voluntary Recruitment Age: 18
Voting Age: 18
Optional Protocol: ratified 7 July 2006
Other Treaties: GC AP I, GC AP II, CRC, ILO 138, ILO 182, ICC

Conscription was abolished in 2006. There were no reports of under-18s serving in the armed forces.

Government:

National recruitment legislation and practice

The transition to a non-conscript armed force was completed and conscription was abolished in 2006. However, in cases of military emergency or state of war, the armed forces could recruit men above the age of 18. National legislation did not permit any authority to recruit under-18s for any armed forces.¹

Military training and military schools

There were three military colleges and a police academy.²

Developments:

At a February 2007 ministerial meeting in Paris, Slovakia and 58 other states endorsed the Paris Commitments to protect children from unlawful recruitment or use by armed forces or armed groups and the Paris Principles and guidelines on children associated with armed forces or armed groups. The documents reaffirmed international standards and operational principles for protecting and assisting child soldiers and followed a wide-ranging global consultation jointly sponsored by the French government and UNICEF.

International standards

Slovakia ratified the Optional Protocol in July 2006. Its declaration stated that anyone serving professionally in the armed forces was required to be 18.³

1 Communication from the embassy of Slovakia, London, March 2007.

2 Embassy of Slovakia, London, United Kingdom, http://dev.dracon.biz/embassy.

3 Optional Protocol, Declarations and reservations, www2.ohchr.org.