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Mizzima: Conference on Child Soldie



Conference on Child Soldiers ask the states not to arm those who use
children as war weapons

KATHMANDU, May 18, 2000
Mizzima News Group

Asia's first-ever conference on the use of child soldiers ended here
today in the capital of Nepal with an appeal to the states to deny arms,
military equipment, training or personnel to states and armed groups
that allow children under the age of 18 to take part in the conflicts.

Speaking to the media after the conference, Rory Mungoven, Convenor of
the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers said that the conference
has sent a very clear and strong message to all of the armed groups
fighting in the region that the use of children in wars is becoming like
the use of landmines as the use of tactical weapon, something that
simply unacceptable in this day and age.

Government representatives and NGOs from nearly 20 countries appealed to
armed groups and government forces in the Asia-Pacific region to stop
using children as weapons of war. Condemning the use of children as
soldiers by armed groups, the conference urged these groups to end the
recruitment of children and release into safety children who are already
being used as soldiers.

The conference has also called for measures to restrict the supply of
small arms, including lightweight weapons, which most children can
handle with ease, to areas where children are involved in conflict.

The four-day conference, attended by nearly 150 delegates from
Australia, Cambodia, China, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka,
Thailand and about a dozen other countries from the region was organized
by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers and hosted by the
Nepal government, with support from UNICEF.

Speaking at the end of the conference, Jo Becker, chair of the steering
committee of the Coalition, pointed out that the plight of child
soldiers in Asia has failed to receive the attention it deserves from
governments, NGOs and the media in the region, even though tens of
thousands of children some young as 10 are being used as cannon fodder
by armies, militias and armed groups.

In a message to the conference from UN Headquarters in New York, Olara
Otunnu, the Special Representative of UN Secretary General for Children
and Armed Conflict pointed out that although the world's attention has
largely been turned towards Africa, children are caught up in armed
conflicts in many parts of Asia as well, such as Myanmar (Burma),
Philippines, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.