Consider issues of child rights in summit talks: rights groups

As the summit talks between the ruling seven party alliance and the Maoists concentrated mainly on political issues, child rights organizations have submitted a memorandum to the coordinator of the Peace Committee, Ram Chandra Paudel, urging him to consider the issue of child rights in the summit talks slated for Thursday.

The memorandum has appealed to the government, political parties and the Maoists to include children's issues in the peace process to maintain social harmony, rehabilitate the children and reintegrate and reunite them with their families and communities.

Representatives of the Institute of Human Rights Communication, Nepal, Save the Children Norway, National Coalition for Children as Zones of Peace, Women Security Pressure Group, INSEC, among other organizations submitted the memorandum demanding inclusion of children's issues in the peace talks.

Keeping in mind the international recognition that children are zone of peace, both the government and the political parties should declare that children below the age of 18 years are banned in armed activities, the memorandum said.

The memorandum further demanded that sentry posts set up in educational institutions be immediately removed.

The statement comes at a time when Maoists have set up security posts in two schools this week.

"All the political parties should set up an organisational mechanism to rehabilitate children from the district to the central level. Political parties and their sister organisations should not force children to attend conferences," it added.

It further said that the authorities should allow children involved in the armed conflict to return to their families and communities.

Many children have been affected by the decade long Maoist insurgency. Both the state and Maoists armies have been facing criticism from rights organizations for using children in the armed conflict. nepalnews.com pb Oct 12 06