Child Soldiers Global Report 2001 - Spain

KINGDOM OF SPAIN

Mainly covers the period June 1998 to April 2001 as well as including some earlier information.

• Population:
  – total: 39,634,000
  – under-18s: 7,345,000
• Government armed forces:
  – active: 166,050
  – paramilitary: 75,760
• Compulsory recruitment age: registration at 16, service at 18 (conscription being phased out)
• Voluntary recruitment age: 17
• Voting age (government elections): 18
• Child soldiers: indicated in government armed forces and armed opposition group
• CRC-OP-CAC: signed on 6 September 2000; does not support "straight-18" position
• Other treaties ratified: CRC; GC/API+II; ICC; ILO 138

• There are indications of under-18s in government armed forces despite conflicting information and impending changes. It appears that 16-year-olds can and will be able to register for recruitment into the armed forces. No distinction seems to be made regarding the age of recruitment and deployment in conflict situations. Children are known to be involved in violent activities linked to the Basque Separatist Movement.

CONTEXT

Spain has faced political violence by the Basque separatist movement, ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna), over the past three decades. In September 1998, ETA declared a cease-fire but ended the truce on the 13 December 1999. Since then, it has been responsible for 29 deaths up to March 2001.¹⁷⁴²

The government pursues a vigorous counter-terrorist policy.¹⁷⁴³

GOVERNMENT

National Recruitment Legislation and Practice

According to article 30 of the 1978 Constitution: "1. Citizens have the right and the duty to defend Spain. 2. The law shall determine the military obligations of Spaniards (...)."¹⁷⁴⁴ The legal basis of conscription is the Military Service Law (Ley Organica 13/1991). Previously, Article 9(2) of the Law 13/1991 required all Spanish men to register for military service during the year they reached 17 years of age, i.e. while they were still 16; they were liable for military service from age 18,¹⁷⁴⁵ but call-up normally took place in the year during which they reached 19.¹⁷⁴⁶ New regulations were subsequently laid down in 1993 (Decreto del Reclutamiento 1107/1993) and 1994 (Decreto 1410/1994 Reglamento del Servicio Militar).

In recent years there has been increased public debate about conscription. In May 1999 a new Law 17/1999 on the Regulation of the Armed Forces Personnel (Régimen del Personal de las Fuerzas Armadas) was adopted to professionalise the armed forces.¹⁷⁴⁷ According to this law, by 31 December 2002, military service as regulated by Law 13/1991 will be suspended and with it the obligation to perform military service for all young men born after the 1 January 1983.¹⁷⁴⁸ It should be noted that this law will only suspend conscription and not abolish it.

From 1 January 2002, recruits will be eligible to join the professional army in the year they become 17.¹⁷⁴⁹ Spanish women are equal to men in the new professional army under law 17/1999. About 2,400 women make up 2.3 per cent of Spain's armed forces.¹⁷⁵⁰

Law 17/1999 also establishes a mobilization and reserve system, a voluntary system for which the minimum age required is 18 years,¹⁷⁵¹ and compulsory reserves which can be mobilised when the national defence demands it (by Real Decreto) and for which the minimum age is 19 years.¹⁷⁵²

In its initial report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the government stated that young people can volunteer to perform their compulsory military service from the age of 17. However, carrying firearms before 18 years is prohibited, in conformity with the declaration made by the Government while ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child with regard to the provisions of Article 38(2) and (3). Spain also regretted the low age limit set for the recruitment of children into the armed forces and their participation in hostilities in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.¹⁷⁵³ Yet in the subsequent discussions with the Committee, the Spanish delegation appeared to claim that a sixteen-year-old could perform voluntary military service if he had either received parental permission or been 'emancipated'.¹⁷⁵⁴

Spain has lowered the minimum intelligence requirements for military recruits in an effort to increase the size of its forces. The lowest acceptable IQ has been cut from 90 to 70 to try to ensure there will be 85,000 professional soldiers by the end of the year, according to El Pais.

Military Training and Military Schools

At the moment there are 10 military schools or academies in the Ministry of Defence, 18 for Armed Forces, 18 for the Navy and 17 for the Air Forces.¹⁷⁵⁵ The candidates for the military training centre for General Armed Forces Corps (Cuerpo General de las Armas), Specialist Corps of the Army (Cuerpo de Especialistas del Ejercito de Tierra), General Armies (Ejércitos), Navy Infantry (Infantería de Marina) and Civil Guard (Guardia Civil) must be 18 years old.¹⁷⁵⁶ Law 17/1999 also defines requirements for entry into the military education system for the professional armed forces.¹⁷⁵⁷ In order to enter this education system, the candidates must have reached 18 years.¹⁷⁵⁸ Also Article 15b of the new Reglamento General de Ingreso y Promocion en las Fuerzas Armadas establishes the age of 18 years for that purpose.¹⁷⁵⁹

OPPOSITION

Child Involvement in Opposition Activities

Haika, a Basque youth organization, was created in April 2000 by the "children" (retonos) associated with the ETA movement. In what has been characterised as a 'youth intifada', teenagers hurl petrol bombs at Basque police in San Sebastian. In one case a 16-year-old boy was convicted of such an attack.¹⁷⁶⁰ According to a study by the University of Bilbao, they are ordinary youths, aged between 15 and 26: "They come from middle and lower middle-class backgrounds and are strongly influenced by the separatist ideology preached by the moderate nationalist parties. They believe violence is the only answer to the real oppression, exercised by an occupying force. As a result, they feel they have to have certain things". Girls also take part.¹⁷⁶¹ It was reported that a female member of ETA's Executive Committee began working with the Vizcaya commando while still a teenager, helping to store explosives according to her police dossier.¹⁷⁶² The Interior Ministry in its annual report under the heading "Urban Terrorism" reported a 30 per cent increase in street vandalism last year by Basque youth. In the first half of 2000 the Ministry recorded 298 attacks, mostly incendiary bombs against public buildings and "property of individuals". In July a member of the ruling political party, the Partido Popular, had a Molotov cocktail thrown in front of his house.¹⁷⁶³

DEVELOPMENTS

International Standards

Spain signed the CRC-OP-CAC on 6 September 2000 but does not support a "straight-18" position.

1742 Basta Ya, http://www.geocities.com/bastayaonline/.

1743 US State Department, Human Rights Report, 2000.

1744 http://www.urich.edu/jpjones/confinder/const.htm.

1745 Article 9(1).

1746 Article 12 (1); also http://www.mde.es/mde/mili/prefer.htm; BOE, No. 305, 21/12/91.

1747 See BOE, No.119, 19/5/99; also http://www.mde.es/mde/docs/basicos/.

1748 Information received from the Spanish Mission to the UN in Geneva, 9/3/01.

1749 Spanish Ministry of Defence http://www.mde/fuerzas/fuerzas.htm.

1750 Information source: http//www.nato.int/, Nato Military Women Share Views.

1751 Article 170.

1752 Article 178.

1753 Initial Report of Spain submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, UN Doc. CRC/C/8/Add.6, 26/10/93, para. 88.

1754 Recently, in comments on the draft of this report made to CSC by the Spanish Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on 15/11/99, it was stated, with reference to Spain's recent periodic report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, that a person "voluntarily (after an application) can anticipate the beginning of the performance (of military service) [at] the moment they reach eighteen, but not below this age." The justification for this assertion is the Law 13/1991 and the Real Decreto 1107/1993. No explanation was given about the claimed minimum ages of 16 and 17 previously reported to the Committee.

1755 Spanish Ministry of Defence, op. cit.

1756 See Ministry of Defence, BOE, No. 94, 20/4/98, http://www.ejercito.mde.es.

1757 Article 87.

1758 Article 63(2).

1759 Reglamento General de Ingreso y Promocion en las Fuerzas Armadas, Article 15 (b).

1760 Economist, 14/12/96; BBC World Service, 26/4/97.

1761 The Observer, 14/1/01.

1762 "The Guardian weekly", 29/9-4/10 2000, ETA women emerge as top guns.

1763 http://www.mir.es/.