Commitment to discharge minors from PLA camps still not implemented: UN
report
A new UN report said commitments from Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to
remove all disqualified children from the combatant cantonments by end
February 2009 have not been implemented so far.
The Annual Report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council on
Children and Armed Conflict made public on Friday notes that a draft
national plan of action for the reintegration of children affected by
armed conflict, including children associated with armed forces and
groups, is pending finalization and government approval for
implementation.
In addition the report notes that in the case of Maina Sunuwar, a
15-year-old girl who died while in custody of the then Royal Nepal Army in
2004, a case was filed and the district court issued a summons for the
four army officers accused of intentional homicide to appear before the
court. The four officers were all still at large at the time of reporting.
During the visit of the Special Representative of Secretary-General for
Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, on December 5, PM Dahal
had committed to the release of the 2,973 children from the cantonments by
the end of February 2009
The report also notes that abductions, killings, explosions of improvised
explosive devices and attacks on schools and teachers by armed groups in
the Tarai region continued, with children making up a disproportionate
number of the victims.
The covers compliance and progress in ending six grave violations against
children by parties to armed conflict: recruitment and use of children,
killing and maiming of children, rape and other grave sexual violence,
abductions, attacks on schools and hospitals, and denial of humanitarian
access to children, which documents grave violations against children in
20 situations including Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic,
Chad, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Georgia,
Haiti, Iraq, Lebanon, Myanmar, Nepal, Occupied Palestinian Territory and
Israel, the Philippines, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand and Uganda.nepalnews.com ia Apr 24 09
