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| Southeast Asia |
| UN finds 600 child soldiers in Philippines |
| 2011-04-09 |
| [Straits Times] THE United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involve making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... said on Friday it had so far registered 600 child soldiers, some as young as eight, fighting for gangs in the Philippines and expected the final number to be in the thousands. The country's main Mohammedan rebel group, communist forces of Evil and Al-Qaeda-linked cut-throats were all on the UN 'list of shame' for recruiting boys and girls, UN representatives said. 'We have about 600 children registered (as soldiers) at the moment. We expect it to (eventually) be in the early thousands,' said Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN special representative for children and armed conflict. 'It (the problem) is not as widespread as in Africa but it still has to be dealt with,' she told a news conference. The 600 were identified as members of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's main Mohammedan rebel group which is now engaged in a ceasefire and peace talks with the government. The children were registered by local community workers under a nine-month programme initiated by the UN in April with the consent of the MILF, said Ms Coomaraswamy. |
| Posted by:Fred |