Islamabad, July 2 (TIWN) In a move that could attract serious sanctions on Pakistan and Turkey and would certainly impact bilateral relations, the US has added both the countries into its Child Soldiers Prevention Act (CSPA) list.

The designation is included in the US State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report (see page 49), which ranks countries in various tiers in accordance with their efforts for eliminating trafficking.  An excerpt from the US State Department's Trafficking in Persons report 2021. — Screengrab via TIP report 2021 The US Child Soldiers Prevention Act requires publication in the annual TIP report of a list of foreign governments that have recruited or used child soldiers during the previous year (April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021). The entities reviewed for this designation include armed forces, police, other security forces and government-supported armed groups.  The 2021 CSPA list includes governments of the following countries: Afghanistan, Burma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Venezuela and Yemen.  Designation can elicit sanctions on military aid, country’s participation in peacekeeping missions  Three of these countries — Congo, Somalia, and Yemen — have appeared on every CSPA list since 2010, when the designation started. Nine others — Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Burma, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Syria — have appeared more than once over the last 10 years.  Six governments were identified on the first CSPA list in 2010.  Ten years later, the list more than doubled to 14 countries and to 15 in 2021 — the highest number of countries ever identified in a single year. This year’s list includes repeat offenders, two one new additions — Pakistan and Turkey — and some renewed appearances that were previously removed.