More than 65,000 children have been released from armed forces and groups but tens of thousands of boys and girls under the age of 18 continue to be used in conflicts around the world, says UNICEF.
Marking 10 years since commitment to protect children from recruitment and use by armed forces or groups were adopted at an international conference in Paris in 2007, the UN child-focused agency has called for further action to address the recruitment of children.
It says that while 63,000 children have been released since 2007 including more than 20,000 in the Democratic Republic of Congo and almost 9,000 in the Central African Republic, in South Sudan alone an estimated 17,000 children have been recruited into armed groups since 2013 and up to 10,000 in the Central African Republic. Meanwhile, in Nigeria and neighbouring nations, almost 2,000 children were recruited by Boko Haram alone while in Yemen almost 1,500 cases of child recruitment have been documented since March, 2015.
But the organisation – which was among those represented at the Paris International Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Children in Armed Conflicts this week – said the number of countries which have endorsed the Paris commitments have doubled over the past 10 years, from 58 to 105 signalling what it says is “an increasing global commitment to end the use of children in conflict”.
Anthony Lake, executive director, said the commitments made in Paris 10 years ago have helped give 65,000 children “a new chance for a better life” and added that the meeting this week was “not only about looking back at what has been accomplished – but looking forward to the work that remains to be done to support the children of war”.
“As long as children are still affected by the fighting, we cannot give up the fight for the children,” he said.