For Immediate Release

Nepal: Maoists Should Release Child Soldiers

Recruitment Continues Despite Peace Agreement

(New York, February 1, 2007) – Nepal’s Maoist armed
forces should immediately begin releasing the
thousands of child soldiers in their ranks and cease
recruiting more children, Human Rights Watch said in a
report released today.

The new 72-page report, “Children in the Ranks: The
Maoists’ Use of Child Soldiers in Nepal,” describes
how the Maoists have continued using child soldiers,
and even recruited more children, despite signing a
Comprehensive Peace Agreement with the Nepali
government on November 21. The peace agreement commits
both sides to stop recruiting child soldiers.

The report, which is based on interviews with former
child soldiers and Nepali and international monitors,
documents how children as young as 14 served on the
front lines, received weapons training, and carried
out crucial military and logistical support duties for
the Maoists.

“The Maoists should let the children go,” said Sam
Zarifi, Asia research director at Human Rights Watch.
“The peace agreement explicitly forbids the use of
child soldiers, and complying with this will be a key
test of the Maoists’ good faith to uphold the accord.”

Nepali and international observers believe that up to
4,500 Maoist soldiers were under 18 when they were
recruited to fight in a decade-long civil war that has
claimed more than 13,000 lives.

The Maoists, however, have consistently denied
recruiting or using child soldiers. When questioned
directly by Human Rights Watch on November 18, the
Maoist leader Prachanda responded by repeating the
Maoists’ official line: “We have never taken the
policy to recruit children into our army. But in our
military, they feed some children whose parents were
martyred.”

Maoist commanders at the local level have responded
identically, or blamed the use of child soldiers in
the ranks on lack of discipline among local militias.

“Only when the Maoists, from the top leadership down
to cadres on the ground, admit how many children are
in their ranks and begin releasing them, can Nepalis
be confident that their children will no longer be
recruited for combat,” said Zarifi.

Human Rights Watch’s report documents how the Maoists
have used a variety of techniques for recruiting
children. Maoists have kidnapped individual children,
have abducted large groups of children from school,
and have used propaganda campaigns to attract children
as “volunteers.” These practices were systematically
implemented over several years and throughout areas
under Maoist control.

The Maoists’ practice of recruiting child soldiers,
often forcibly, has caused widespread fear among
Nepalis and caused many families to flee their homes.

In areas of the country under their firm control, the
Maoists instituted a “one family, one child” policy
that forced at least one child from each family to
join the Maoists. When boys ran away or were sent away
from home, young girls were recruited.

“The Maoists’ use of child soldiers violates
international law,” said Jo Becker, child rights
advocate at Human Rights Watch. “Children under 18
should not be allowed in the ranks, regardless of
whether they were recruited by force or through a
propaganda campaign.”

Since the ceasefire that came into effect on May 3, no
children have been involved in combat. But the Maoists
continued recruiting children up to the signing of the
peace agreement and, with less frequency, have
continued to recruit children even afterwards.

The report also documents the failure of the Nepali
government to attend to the needs of child soldiers.
Until the recent ceasefire, Nepali security forces
treated children accused of cooperating with the
Maoists with the same brutality that they used against
adults suspected of Maoist ties. The government has
not yet created a system to assist child soldiers who
leave Maoist forces.

Human Rights Watch called on Nepal’s major
international donors – such as the United States, the
European Union, India and the United Nations – to
provide technical and financial assistance necessary
for reintegrating former child soldiers into normal
life.

“Release from the Maoists’ ranks is only the first
step for thousands of children who have missed out on
their education or learning how to earn a living,”
Becker said. “The Nepali government and international
supporters have a responsibility to help these
children.”

Since 2002, the Maoists have been named in three
consecutive reports by the UN secretary-general to the
Security Council as violating international standards
prohibiting the use and recruitment of child soldiers.
On February 9, a UN Security Council working group on
children and armed conflict, is scheduled to consider
reported violations against children by all parties to
Nepal’s armed conflict. The working group will make
recommendations for Security Council action.

“The Security Council should make it clear to the
Maoists that they must immediately end their practice
of using child soldiers,” Becker said. “This would
remove a source of agony for thousands of Nepali
families and boost the likelihood of a lasting peace
in Nepal.”

To view the Human Rights Watch report, “Children in
the Ranks: The Maoists’ Use of Child Soldiers in
Nepal,” please visit:

http://hrw.org/ reports/2007/ nepal0207/

For broadcast-quality audio commentary by Sam Zarifi
on human rights conditions in Nepal over the last
year, please visit:

http://hrw.org/ audio/2007/ wr2k7/english/ asia/nepal. mp3

For further information, please contact:

In New York, Sam Zarifi (English): +1-212-216-1213;
+1-646-662-7750 (mobile)

In New York, Jo Becker (English): +1-212-216-1236

In London, Brad Adams (English): +44-20-7713- 2767; or
+44-79-0872- 8333 (mobile)

In Brussels, Reed Brody (English, French, Spanish,
Portuguese): +32-2-732-2009; or +32-498-625786
(mobile)

In London, Tom Porteous (English): +44-20-7713- 2766;
or +44-79-8398- 4982 (mobile)

SUSHMA JOSHI
Writer and filmmaker
Kathmandu, Nepal
Email: sushma@alumni. brown.edu
Phone: 4412012
http://www.sushma. blogspot. com