Practice Relating to Rule 136. Recruitment of Child Soldiers
Peru’s Regulations to the Law on Internal Displacement (2005) states:
Internally displaced persons who return to their places of habitual residence or who have resettled in another part of the country have a right to:
j) Be protected against forced recruitment by armed groups in conflict, particularly the recruitment of displaced children. In no case shall authorities resort to practices that compel compliance or punish non-compliance with recruitment. Internally displaced persons shall not be taken hostage during armed conflicts or situations derived from them.
Peru’s Code of Military and Police Justice (2006) states:
Any member of the military or police who in the context of an international or non-international armed conflict:
5. Forcefully enlists or recruits into the armed forces or armed groups children under the age of 18 … shall be imprisoned for a period of no less than six and no more than 12 years.
This article is no longer in force. Along with certain other articles in this legislation, it was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court (en banc decision for case file No. 0012-2006-PI-TC, 8 January 2007) because it does not stipulate a crime committed in the line of duty that would fall under the jurisdiction of a military court pursuant to Article 173 of Peru’s Constitution.
Peru’s Law on Military Service (2008) states that military service “[i]s undertaken by men and women without any discrimination from the age of eighteen”.
The Law further states:
Military service has the objective of … incorporating Peruvians of military age into the institutions of the armed forces in order to prepare them to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of their fatherland with the functions assigned to the armed forces by the Political Constitution of Peru and the laws of the Republic.
The Law also states: “Forced recruitment, in the form of capturing persons with the objective of incorporating them into the military service, is prohibited.”
Peru’s Regulations on Military Service (2009) states: “Capturing persons below the age of 18 for military service is absolutely prohibited and the personnel directly involved in military recruitment is subject to administrative and criminal responsibility.”