Just Say No To Kids With Guns

There was no mention of the U.S. even being at this conference. Does the Bush Administration approve of child soldiers? One would think not since GWB did all he could to stay out of combat. But then again maybe he thinks that it's OK to send a boy to do a man's job. And what part does the NRA play in this sad state?-babel

PARIS (AFP) - Fifty-eight countries agreed to take action to protect children from being recruited as soldiers in wars, joining for the first time an effort that had 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 included 10 of the 12 nations where an estimated 250,000 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 put the onus squarely 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.

It also singled out the plight of girls abducted to work as domestic slaves for fighting forces and who are often victims of rape, stating that they deserved special assistance.

In some armed groups, girls make up 40 percent of the children recruited, according to the UN.

Among the signatories to the Paris commitments were Burundi, Chad, Colombia, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nepal, Somalia, Sudan, Sri Lanka and Uganda, which are all on a UN black list of countries that recruit child soldiers.

Two others on the UN list -- Myanmar 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.

 

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