NetworkNewsToday: NEPAL: CHILD SOLDIERS FROM MAOIST ARMY RETURN TO SCHOOL (UNICEF)

NetworkNewsToday: 12 January 2009 - - UNICEF: Nepal - The first group of young people disqualified from the Maoist army as children or late recruits are among 4,008 individuals including some 500 below 18 years old -- due to be released over the next 40 days.

The rehabilitation process will now give these young people the opportunity to gain new skills, returning to school or learning a trade, provided by the Government of Nepal with the support of the United Nations.

The discharge, which began on Thursday (7 Jan) and is scheduled to be completed in seven cantonments across the country by mid February 2010, was part of an Action Plan signed in December 2009 by the Government of Nepal, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal, Maoist (UCPN-M) and the United Nations.

When it is verified that the UCPN-M has fully complied with the plan, the party can be considered for removal from the list of parties that recruit and use children, which is included in the annual UN Secretary-Generals report on Children and Armed Conflict.




In the coming months, a United Nations team will contact those discharged to monitor and assess how they are adjusting to civilian life. Nearly 3,000 of those disqualified were minors on 25 May 2006 at the time of the ceasefire.




Today, about one dozen are under 16 years of age and roughly 500 are under 18. About one third are female. ................................................................................­.... ( UNITED NATIONS CHILDRENS FUND: UNICEF TELEVISION ) ................................................................................­..............................................NetworkNewsToday:
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