Ahead of the International Day against the use of child soldiers – 12 February -the EU top diplomat Federica Mogherini and the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui, pledge to intensify their efforts to end the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict.
“On the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers we jointly celebrate a growing global consensus among UN Member States that they should not recruit or use children in armed forces in conflict and that boys and girls should be protected from all grave violations.” – continued Mogherini.
“Child soldiers are always the victims: forced to combat, often brutally abused, and not rarely isolated when they finally manage to get back to their communities. I met Colombian boys and girls who have managed to quit the FARC’s guerrilla and are now looking at their future with hope”.
“We have the duty to keep supporting them and all the former child soldiers, to give them the chance of a good education and of a place in their societies. At the same time, we will continue to bring forward our engagement in ending the recruitment and use of children by armed forces. Depriving a child of its rights is depriving a society of its future,” – said Federica Mogherini.
Anna Van Densky blog 