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UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy In Nepal
By KTM Metro Reporter in Kathmandu
On December 14, 2009, Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy has arrived Nepal for the four-day mission to witness the signing of a time bound plan on the release of nearly 3,000 child soldiers served in the Maoist army during the country’s decade-long civil war, confirmed as minors during the UN-led verification process completed in December 2007, and have remained in the temporary camps three years after a peace deal ended the conflict.
The minors were supposed to leave the cantonments immediately after the verification process completed, as repeatedly called for by the Security Council. The peace agreement of 2006 between the Government of Nepal and the Maoists ending the conflict led to the setting up of the cantonments to provide Maoist combatants with temporary shelter in several localities across Nepal.
The release of minors from cantonments is the first step toward removing the United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-Maoist) from the list of parties that recruit and use children in conflict. The Secretary-General has listed UCPN-Maoist in the five annual reports on the Children and Armed Conflict.
