(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Children should be armed with pens and textbooks, not guns according to the United Nations which has launched a global campaign called "Children, not soldiers".
The UN says that around the world, thousands of boys and girls are recruited into government forces and armed opposition groups to serve as combatants or in support roles. The campaign is pushing for a deadline of 2016 for the recruitment of all children to stop, according to UN Radio website. "All children deserve and are entitled to protection, not exploitation.
Hey belong in school, not armies and fighting groups. Children should be armed with pens and textbooks, not guns and grenades," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. Ban called on the Council to use all the tools at its disposal to protect children on the front lines of conflict and prevent a new generation from having to endure the same privations. "Let our children be children € safe and secure, living lives of dignity and opportunity."
In the past three years, six of those countries have signed action plans with the UN: They are Afghanistan, Chad, South Sudan, Myanmar, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Both Yemen and Sudan have expressed their commitment to child-free security forces, and dialogue with the UN is ongoing.
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