Nepal frees child soldiers

Thousands of former child soldiers will be freed from the Nepal camps they’ve been living in since the war ended two years ago, the country announced today. Nearly 3,000 children who survived being signed up to fight the 10-year ‘People’s War’ were never freed from the camps they now live in which were built to house former Maoist People’s Liberation Army fighters. Now, more than two years after a peace deal ended the deadly civil war that caused more than 13,000 deaths, the mentally and physically scarred child soldiers can finally look forward to a new life as free men and womenThe Himalayan nation’s new government said today it would start freeing the former soldiers tomorrow and that all of them would be free by November.

Nepal’s government will also release another 1,000 people who joined as Maoist fighters after the peace process began and were disqualifed from the camps. "All disqualified Maoists and the minors will be released by Nov. 2," peace and reconstruction minister Rakam Chemjong told Reuters news agency. The peace and reconstruction ministry said it would draw up a timetabled action plan to discharge the 4,008 people and manage their return to normal life and rehabilitation into society, backed by United Nations agencies working in Nepal. A rehabilitation and monitoring committee has also been set up to support, coordinate and monitor the process.

The country had been put under pressure by the United Nations to release the "Maoist army elements disqualified as minors" from the camps. The Maoists deny using child soldiers but admit employing children for support services in the decade-long conflict. The earlier Maoist government had failed to discharge the child soldiers even after promising the international community and the UN. The process was expected to have started last year on the eve of UN chief Ban Ki-moon’s visit to Nepal in October. In May, the Maoists resigned from a coalition government they were heading after a surprise victory in the election last April. In the period of nine years of conflict, more than 1200 children were directly affected by the violence according to the Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Centre (CWIN). Among the victimised children, 361 (256 boys and 105 girls) died while around 314 (208 boys, 99 girls and 7 are unknown) children were injured. During this period, around 213 children were arrested and 15521 children abducted.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children