Fifty-eight countries agreed on Tuesday to take action to protect children from being recruited as soldiers in wars, joining for the first time an effort that has been largely confined to NGOs.
The 58 countries that signed up to the so-called Paris commitments at the end of a two-day conference include 10 of the 12 nations where an estimated 250Â 000 children bear arms.
“We commit ourselves to spare no effort to end the unlawful recruitment and use of children by armed forces or groups in all regions of the world,” French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said at the end of the gathering held in Paris.
The document puts the onus on governments to prosecute recruiters or commanders of child soldiers and to seek the unconditional release of all children enrolled in armies or armed groups.
Ten years after children’s’ rights campaigner Graca Machel unveiled the Cape Town principles that would guide NGOs, the Paris commitments were hailed as a key step that will inject new momentum to international efforts to end the use of children in combat.
“For the first time countries are solemnly committing to apply and respect these principles to combat the recruitment and use of children in armed conflicts,” a Foreign Ministry official said.
Among the signatories were Burundi, Chad, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nepal, Somalia, Sudan, Sri Lanka and Uganda, which are on a United Nations blacklist of countries that recruit child soldiers.
Two others on the UN list — Burma and the Philippines — did not take part in the conference, which was organised by the UN children’s agency, Unicef, and the French Foreign Ministry.
Unicef and French officials stressed that the list of countries adhering to the Paris commitments is not final, hoping to build on the effort launched during the conference.
There are an estimated 250Â 000 child soldiers fighting in 12 countries worldwide, mainly in Africa and Asia, according to the UN.
The Paris commitments singled out the plight of girls often abducted to work as domestic slaves for fighting forces and who are vulnerable to rape.
The document urged governments to grant them special attention to ensure that girls are no longer “invisible in programming and diplomatic initiatives” to protect children from the frontlines.
It also placed responsibility on governments to take action against rebel groups on their territory who recruit or use children under the age of 18 in hostilities.
The conference opened on Monday with an appeal from a former child soldier from Sierra Leone for concrete action to end the nightmare of tens of thousands of children who have been forced into combat worldwide.
“There are no excuses. If you don’t do it with these children now, you are going to have bigger problems later on,” said Ishmael Beah, now 26. — AFP