UN: "Child soldier" Khadr should not be tried by military tribunal

Aug 10, 2010, 19:38 GMT

New York - Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen, should not be tried before a military tribunal because he committed a crime when he was 15 years old, the United Nations representative for children and armed conflict said Tuesday.

The trial of 23-year-old Khadr, accused of terrorist activities and killing a US soldier in Afghanistan, began Tuesday when he appeared in court for jury selection in Guantanamo Bay for the first time since he was arrested and detained at the age of 15.

Radhika Coomaraswamy said in a statement that no child has been prosecuted of war crime since World War II.

'Child soldiers must be treated primarily as victims and alternatives procedures should be in place aimed at rehabilitation or restorative justice,' she said.

'Even if Omar Khadr were to be tried in a national jurisdiction, juvenile justice standards are clear: children should not be tried before military tribunals,' Coomaraswamy said.

She urged the United States and Canada to come to a 'mutually acceptable solution on the future of Omar Khadr that would prevent him form being convicted of a war crime that he allegedly committed when he was a child.'