 In 2005 the government ratified the OPAC treaty and by 2008 the military use of children had reduced in the country, but both state armed forces and the SPLA continued to recruit and use them.The use of children has continued to diminish, but in 2017 the UN was still receiving reports of children as young as 12 in government forces.In 2003, the "Guardian" reported multiple human rights violations by the National Youth Service, a state-sponsored youth militia in Zimbabwe.