CPP strictly implements 18 years as minimum age requirement for NPA recruitment
Contrary to baseless accusations by the reactionary government and its military, the New People�s Army (NPA) strictly implements the minimum age policy in recruiting its members.
The NPA strictly adheres to, and respects, international humanitarian law and the rules of war regarding the prohibition of children from participating in armed conflicts.
The NPA�s Basic Rules and Regulations clearly state that �Anyone who is at least 18 years of age and in good health, of whatever gender, race, nationality or religion, able to fight and ready to participate in a protracted armed struggle against reactionary state power, may become a combatant or member of a fighting unit of the New People�s Army.�
Those younger than 18 who desire to join the NPA are encouraged to join underground organizations of children or youth and participate in production, cultural and educational tasks and similar activities. Anyone who is at least 15 years of age may enter the NPA as a trainee or apprentice. He or she may also be assigned to a self-defense unit under a mass organization, to the militia or to other non-combat units or tasks.
As early as 1988, the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Central Committee (PB-CC) issued a policy forbidding the recruitment of youth under 18 years of age �as regular members or armed fighters of NPA combat units.�
The CPP and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) then also formed a special group to study the Geneva Conventions and its protocols relating to human rights and international humanitarian law and how to achieve consistency between them and the basic principles, policies and practice of the CPP, NPA and NDFP.
The PB-CC policy of 1988 was followed up in 1999 by a memorandum from the CPP Central Committee�s Executive Committee (EC-CC) addressed to all Party organs and NPA commands.
In this memorandum, the EC-CC stressed that the CPP (through the NDFP), has agreed to and complies with the Geneva Conventions and their protocols. The memo also stated the CPP�s support for the Optional Protocol on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which forbids the recruitment of anyone under 18, even though it was then just a proposal from the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Movement.
In the face of the reactionary government�s continuing psy-war campaign, the CPP Central Committee�s 11th plenum in 2002 reaffirmed the PB-CC policy of 1988 and the EC-CC memorandum of 1999.
Even as the CPP and NPA strictly implement the minimum age requirement policy for Red fighters, the revolutionary movement also recognizes the right of entire communities to defend themselves in the face of the enemy�s intense brutality, which victimizes everyone, regardless of age or gender.
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