The latest issue of The Voice from the ACLU of Georgia

BY THE PEOPLE LOBBY DAYS

Building on six successful years of lobby days, the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia (ACLU of GA) is again teaming up with other progressive organizations to help you meet and talk with your legislators. Each week these groups will team up to provide you with the tools you need to hold lawmakers accountable on issues, ranging from reproductive rights, separation of church and state to immigration, and consumer issues.

A face to face meeting is the most effective way to communicate with your legislators. Plus, it can be a lot of fun! Whether you are an experienced advocate or brand new to the legislative process, this program can help make your visits easy and effective. Come down to the Capitol and meet your legislators.

At each Wednesday session, we will teach you how to talk to legislators, tell you about the issues that are hot, explain why we care about the issues, and guide you on how you can best help to pass or stop legislation. We will even walk you over to the Capitol, give you a tour, and assist you as you meet with your senators and representatives.

If you have never talked to your legislator, come by at 9:00am for a quick legislative training. If you have been to the Capitol before, come by at 9:15am for an update on what issues are moving that week.

The United States has long participated in programs abroad that prevent the recruitment of child soldiers.

But the added strain of fulfilling enlistment quotas to carry out sustained U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan - without reinstituting a draft -has contributed to a rise in aggressive recruitment tactics and misconduct by recruiters here at home.

Such abuse by recruiters includes coercion, deception and false promises, and nullifies the voluntariness of youths' enlistment, violating our international human rights obligations.

Under a U.N. protocol adopted by the United States in 2002, 17 is the absolute minimum age for military recruitment - even though the prevailing international standard is to prohibit the voluntary recruitment of children under the age of 18 into the military.

Indeed, 89 of the 128 countries that signed the U.N. protocol have a "straight-18" standard that sets 18 as the minimum age for recruitment.

In May 2008, the American Civil Liberties Union detailed the U.S. government's failure to comply with its U.N. obligations. The ACLU found that the U.S. military continues to engage in tactics designed to recruit students under the age of 17, and fails to protect 17-year-old students from aggressive and abusive recruitment.

The ACLU also found that U.S. military recruitment tactics disproportionately target low-income youth and students of color.
After examining U.S. recruitment practices last year, a U.N. committee called on the U.S. to end military training in public schools and stop targeting racial minorities and children of low-income families and other vulnerable socio-economic groups for military recruitment.

In Georgia, there are clear indications of violations of the U.N. protocol. According to the No Child Left Behind Act, high schools must disclose student records of juniors and seniors, including students under 17, to military recruiters or risk losing federal aid, unless parents or students sign and submit a form requesting that the data be withheld.

Many Georgia schools do not make the exemption forms readily available to high school students and their parents. This is confirmed by Iraq war veteran Christopher Raissi, who was working as a Marine recruiter in Macon in 2005.