UN Special Representative welcomes ban on child soldiers

The UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, on Friday welcomed a new law in the DRC banning recruitment of children under 18 into the armed forces and establishing a National Commission on demobilisation. “I have been very concerned about the persistent reports of thousands of youngsters being recruited by the parties in conflict in the DRC. I am delighted that the new law forbids both the further recruitment of youngsters and the deployment of child soldiers to combat zones”, Otunnu said in a press statement. The decree, bringing the Commission Nationale de Demobilisation et de Reinsertion into law, was signed by President Laurent-Desire Kabila in Kinshasa on 9 June. The next stages of the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration process are to be overseen by an inter-ministerial committee, headed by the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Human Rights, Otunnu’s statement added. Echoing UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s comments last week about assurances being taken at face value, Otunnu urged both the Government and Congolese rebel factions “to begin immediately to disarm underage combatants, remove them from the frontline and send them back to their homes and schools where they belong.”