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[Oersted]

Tillerson overruled his own staff’s assessments on the use of child soldiers in both countries and rejected the recommendation of senior diplomats in Asia and the Middle East who wanted to keep Iraq and Myanmar on the list, said the officials, who have knowledge of the internal deliberations.

Tillerson also rejected an internal State Department proposal to add Afghanistan to the list, the three U.S. officials said.

The decision also would put the Trump administration at odds with the United Nations, which continues to list the Myanmar military, along with seven ethnic armed groups, on its list of entities using and recruiting child soldiers.

"What's particularly astonishing is this move ignores that the U.N. in Burma says that it is still receiving new cases of children being recruited" by the Myanmar military, said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch said in January that it had learned that militias had been recruiting child soldiers from one Iraqi refugee camp since last spring.

More here

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN19E2JY

Lock if old

 

[Gunztrix]

I don't get it. What does Tillerson get out of taking them off the list? There's no reason to do such a dumb thing.

 

[leroidys]

I don't get it. What does Tillerson get out of taking them off the list? There's no reason to do such a dumb thing.

With this administration, I think it's safe to suspect personal enrichment first when a move doesn't make any sense.

Maybe that's not totally fair, but if Tillerson talked to a reporter fucking ever, maybe he could make a better case for why his state department looks so shambolic, pathetic and ineffective from the outside.

 

[Zenner]

I don't get it. What does Tillerson get out of taking them off the list? There's no reason to do such a dumb thing.

My guess is that sanctions of some kind are applied to countries with child-soldier problems. That's problematic if you want to sell them billions of dollars of weapons.

Iraq, which has received more than $2 billion in U.S. arms and training over the last three years, was added to the State Department's "Child Soldier Prevention Act List" in 2016. However, the flow of U.S. assistance has continued.

 

[emag]

I don't get it. What does Tillerson get out of taking them off the list? There's no reason to do such a dumb thing.

For Iraq, it could be part of the deportation agreement. Perhaps for Myanmar it's investment opportunities. Also helps clear the way for arms sales.