Human Rights Watch calls for an end to use of child soldiers in Nepal

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on Nepal’s government to increase pressure on Maoist leaders in a bid to secure the release of child soldiers.

In a letter to Khadga Bahadur Bishwakarma, the country’s new Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare, HRW said the Maoists were not honouring an agreement with the government over the release of child soldiers.

Jo Becker, children’s advocate at HRW, said, “There’s no excuse for letting children languish in cantonment sites month after month. Minister Bishwakarma should work with the Maoists to implement the commitments that have been made.”

The agreement was part of a peace accord signed in November 2006 which prohibited the Maoists from enlisting soldiers under the age of 18, but a report by HRW in February said recruitment of children as young as 14 had continued into 2007.

Sanjaya Aryal, a member of Children Associated with Armed Forces and Groups (CAAFAG), told the UN’s news agency, “We are very frustrated over the lack of any action to find the child soldiers, who are in dire need of rehabilitation”.

The rehabilitation of the country’s children is seen as essential to Nepal’s development and many local organisations have this directive at the heart of their work.

The Dynamic Rural Rising Group (DRIG) has been working towards this goal since 1995 with initiatives such as the ‘Child Support Programme for Peace’ which aims to strengthen children’s ability to resist pressure to join the Maoist militias.

Read more about the Dynamic Rural Rising Group here.