Source: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_cou_pl_rule136
Timestamp: 2020-07-07 05:14:46
Document Index: 5696037

Matched Legal Cases: ['art. 31', 'art. 142', '§ 2', '§ 3', 'art. 3', '§ 4', '§ 6', 'art. 124', 'art. 124']

In 2007, in its initial report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child under the 2000 Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, Poland stated:
3. According to … Polish law, people under 18 are not obliged to undergo the military service. …
4. The age of … obligatory registration for the basic military service is specified in art. 31 of the act [of 21 November 1967 on the universal duty of defense of the Republic of Poland], stating that all men turning 18 in a given calendar year are subject to … registration as preconscripts. … Similarly, as regards … voluntary service, people who have not [yet] turned 18 in a given calendar year cannot undergo military service even in the case of mobilization and war …
5. As regards the penal regulations concerning the recruitment of children to military or hired service, the current Penal Code does not explicitly penalize such actions. However, the provision of the Protocol regarding that issue is partly implemented through art. 142 § 2 of the Penal Code, stating that whoever recruits Polish citizens or foreigners … [living] in Poland to the hired military service [which is] forbidden by international law, as well as pays for such service, organizes … or uses it, is subject to a penalty. Therefore, the above-mentioned ban refers to all Polish citizens or foreigners … [living] in Poland, regardless of their age.
Moreover, it is worth pointing to the fact that currently the Ministry of Justice is working on a draft amendment to the Penal Code in order to introduce an expressis verbis ban on the conscription or recruitment of persons under the age of 18 into the military service.
Poland, Initial Report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child under the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, 19 February 2009, UN Doc. CRC/C/OPAC/POL/1, submitted 13 December 2007, §§ 3–5.
In 2009, in its written replies to the Committee on the Rights of the Child concerning its initial report under the 2000 Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, Poland stated with regard to a question on the minimum age for voluntary recruitment into the armed forces or other armed groups:
In line with art. 3, paragraph 2, of the Optional Protocol, the Government of the Republic of Poland declares as follows:
- for compulsory draft, the minimum age is 18 years;
- for voluntary joining of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland, the minimum age is 17 years.
Poland, Written replies by the Government of Poland to the Committee on the Rights of the Child concerning the list of issues raised in connection with the initial report of Poland under the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, 17 September 2009, UN Doc. CRC/C/OPAC/POL/Q/1/Add.1, § 4; see also § 6.
Poland further stated:
Please provide information as to whether Poland assumes extraterritorial jurisdiction over the war crime of conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 into the armed forces or using them to participate actively in hostilities. Also in relation to extraterritorial jurisdiction, please indicate whether Polish courts can establish their jurisdiction in case of forced recruitment or involvement in hostilities of a person under 18 if committed outside Poland, by or against a Polish citizen. …
In the light of current Polish penal regulations (art. 124 Pc) the forcing – against International law – of persons covered by international protection to join enemy armed forces, is considered a war crime. This provision does not determine the victim’s age limit. … The provision in question would only apply to the cases of enlisting the children mentioned in the question, into enemy armed forces. It would not apply to recruitment of persons under 15 to own army. …
Furthermore, draft art. 124, paragraph 2, of the Penal Code included in the government’s draft law amending the Penal Code act, the law Regulations Introducing the Penal Code, and the law Code of Penal Proceedings, provide for complementing the list of war crimes with, among other, penalising behaviour consisting in … “whoever breaching international law … enlists, recruits to armed forces persons under 18 years of age” … The draft amendment is currently in the process of agreements between ministries.