UN calls to fight child recruitment

UN: The United Nations made a call to fight the child recruitment, use of children in armed conflicts and to stop impunity of those responsible for those acts.

The call was made in a special session of the Security Council about the issue of Children and the Armed Conflicts, headed by Patricia Espinosa, Foreign Affairs Minister of Mexico, who chairs the UN body this month.

Inm a report presented by the Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, includes a list of countries where it is practised the use of children in armed conflicts and warring groups responsible.

Afghanistan, Chad, Myanmar, Nepal, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Colombia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Uganda are in the list. The document requests the adoption of a concrete plan with deadlines to put an end to such violations and abuses against children and punish those who commit such crimes.

It also calls for the signing and ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child regarding the participation of children in armed conflicts and the enactment of national legislation prohibiting such acts.

During the session of the Security Council, Espinosa claimed to take new actions to avoid children to be the main victims of the spiral of violence generated by armed conflicts in the world.

The Minister said that more than two million children died in the last two decades in areas affected by such situations and other six million were disabled. 250.000 youngsters were used as soldiers and other thousands were sexually abused and prostituted.

Espinosa proposed five points to face the problem, including the establishment of comprehensive programs for rehabilitation, reintegration of children, in family and community, who are still in the ranks of armed groups.

United Nations, Prensa Latina