Government agrees not to recruit child soldiers

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government on Saturday signed a “binding declaration” not to recruit children under 18 as soldiers. The use of child soldiers is widespread in Congo and the government’s commitment was “very encouraging”, said the United Nations’ Special Representative for Children affected by Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu. Otunnu has just completed an eight day tour of the Congo and has secured commitments from three warring parties for an end to the recruitment of under 18 year-olds. Speaking in Kinshasa, he said the challenge in the DRC “is to translate these commitments into actions on the ground”. “Recruitment of child soldiers is general throughout the country,” he noted. He declined to give estimates of the scale of the problem, but described the DRC as one of the countries where children were worst affected by war. “The fact that all sides use so many young soldiers is a sign that they can’t get adults to fight for them,” a regional observer told IRIN. UNICEF is currently negotiating the demobilisation of 165 under-age soldiers who were recruited by Congolese rebels and taken to Uganda. The organisation has insisted that each child be given documents preventing re-recruitment, and this week the rebel authorities appeared ready to comply. UNICEF representative in the DRC Martin Mogwanja has stressed that the organisation is also insisting on rights of access to military camps, as a check on overall compliance with agreements.