AFRICA: Conference calls for end to child soldiers

An African conference on the use of children as soldiers has condemned the recruitment of boys and girls under the age of 18 by both government armies and rebel forces and has urged the rapid adoption of international legislation to enshrine that principle. The conference, held in Maputo from 19-22 April, brought together government and NGO representatives to discuss an African position on the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which seeks to raise the minimum age of military recruitment from 15 to 18 years. The meeting, jointly organised by the International Save the Children Alliance and the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, called for the "demobilisation into safety" of all boys and girls under arms, even those who had volunteered, and the "bringing to justice those who continue to recruit or use children as soldiers." The declaration called on the international community to actively campaign against governments and armed opposition groups that use child soldiers, and for African governments to ensure amnesty for child combatants and their rehabilitation and reintegration. "Even so-called terrorists are looking for international support, support in their community. It is a question of saying these things are not acceptable," Ephraim Boia of the Mozambican NGO Reconstruindo a Esperanca (Rebuilding Hope) told IRIN. "I was glad to see at the conference for example that the Sudanese government and SPLA [Sudan People's Liberation Army] agreed that even if they are fighting, children have to be protected and should not be involved in the conflict," he said.