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Nepal's
Civil War: Human Rights and Child Soldiers |
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Child
soldiers in Nepal |
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November
2005 Eastern Nepal: Women warriors |
| After
walking three days from Biratnagar we reached Bhanjynag Kharkha. From the
rebel activity on the pass it looked like the comrades, many of them women,
were massing up for an operation. But there is still a month of the unilateral
ceasefire to go and it turned out to be just a regular military exercise.
The
Maoist training camp was intensive and strict. It ran from dawn to dusk
and was led by a female trainer. Nima and Rima are sisters in their teens.
With assault rifles slung over their shoulders and grenades on their belts,
the two lined for morning drills.
Nima
and Rima were 14 and 16 when their parents garlanded them and sent them
off to join the Maoist militia two years ago. Since then the two have taken
part in famous battles like Bhojpur and Siraha.
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August
2005 European Union: Maoist rebels are using children
as soldiers |
| The
European Union condemned Nepal's Maoist rebels for using children as soldiers.
"The EU strongly condemns the CPN (M)'s systematic and continued human
rights violations especially in respect to the use of child soldiers which
runs contrary to their claims that they respect human rights and adhere
to the standards of the Geneva Conventions," EU said in a statement issued
by the British Embassy. "Violation of the rights of the children, evident
in the Maoist abuse of schools, indoctrination and abduction of young people
and the induction into military forces, are particularly abhorrent," the
statement said. |
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July
2005 Amnesty international: Nepal: Children caught
in the conflict |
Child
soldiers
For
more than nine years a conflict has raged in Nepal between government security
forces and fighters of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The conflict
has had a devastating effect on all sections of Nepali society-but especially
on the lives of children. The most fundamental rights of children are being
violated routinely, and nowhere is this more apparent than in schools across
the country. Tens of thousands of children have been abducted from schools
by Maoist fighters to attend "political education" sessions. There is increasing
evidence that some of the abducted children are recruited for armed activities. |
| Source:
Amnesty International |
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December
2004 Rolpa: Giving children a fighting chance |
| With
a .303 slung over his shoulder, Comrade Waibhaba leads a group of Maoists
in Rolpa. He claims to be 15 but his friends say he is younger. There were
seven of them on the trail to Thawang, boys and girls carrying heavy home-made
shoulder bags. The biggest was barely four feet tall, must have been 14.
He was carrying a Chinese radio with the antenna pulled out. There was
a comb in his shirt pocket and his hair was slickly groomed. In a voice
of authority, he asked: "Who are you?" We said we were journalists on our
way to Thawang. "Do you have a pass?" We replied that the head of the people's
government in Mijhing had told us to get a pass further on. "Ok," he replied. |
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May
2004 Amnesty international published the Annual
Report 2004 |
Child
soldiers
There
were reports that the CPN (Maoist) continued to abduct and recruit children
between the ages of 15 and 18. Reports were received that scores of secondary-school
children were abducted from schools in mid-western and far west regions
and held for short periods for "re-education". It was alleged that the
CPN (Maoist) used the cease-fire to recruit more children into their ranks.
The CPN (Maoist) denied that children aged under 16 were recruited into
its army or trained in the use of guns. |
| Source:
Amnesty International |
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March
2004 Schools are turning into battlefields, children
are being taught to fight |
| School
principal Birbhan Puri of Birendra Higher Secondary School has spent sleepless
nights waiting for 65 of his students abducted by Maoists to return home.
Since they were taken away in Bafikot on 25 February, all Puri, his colleagues
and the children's parents can do is pray. The rest of the students are
so traumatised that they are afraid to go to school... |
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February
2004 Special People's Military Campaign: Campaign
to train child soldiers |
The
Maoists have intensified their campaign to train child soldiers in their
strongholds in the Karnali region of Nepal. The rebels' target is to have
50,000 child soldiers by April 2004. According to Maoist sources, the latest
abduction of students from Achham and Rolpa in February 2004 was for this
purpose.
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| Source:
Amnesty International |
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February
2004 Human Right groups: Maoists still recruiting
children |
Human
rights groups say the Maoists carry out executions and kidnappings, and
torture prisoners, extort money, forcibly conscript fighters and use child
soldiers.
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| Source:
Amnesty International |
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July
2002 Maoist has massively recruited childre |
The
Communist Party of Nepal CPN-Maoist has massively recruited children
in their militia forces. At least 30 per cent of Maoist guerrillas are
children, a report published by a coalition including Amnesty International,
Human Rights Watch, the International Save the Children Alliance says.
Children are also reportedly used as messengers, sentries and spies, and
involved in cultural or propaganda activities. The Maoist rebels have in
the past made no attempts to hide the fact that they use children as soldiers,
among them a lot of young girls mostly high school and college girls.
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| Source:
Amnesty International |
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March
2002 Amnesty International: Child soldiers |
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Many
children are involved in the Maoist movement with grave consequences for
their safety and well-being. Although the exact number involved is not
known, press reports suggest it could be several hundred. For instance,
according to an article in The Kathmandu Post of 8 June 2000, of the 91
people known to have joined the Maoists and taken up arms in Lahan VDC
in Jajarkot district, 13 were under 15 years old. An article posted on
1 May 1998 on a website sympathetic to the Maoists acknowledged the scale
of recruitment of children, especially girls:
'A
large number of children in the rural areas are now contributing substantially
in the guerilla war by way of collection and exchange of information, etc.
Indeed, these little 'red devils' hold immense potential for the
future of the revolutionary people's war.''
The
killing of Tulsi Kumari Budha, a 16-year-old member of the All Nepal National
Independent Students' Union (Revolutionary), in Ramaroshan VDC in Achham
district highlighted the dangers of children's involvement in arenas of
conflict, even in supporting roles. On 9 December 2000 police encircled
a house in which Tulsi Kumari Budha was meeting known Maoists. Others present
fled and Tulsi Kumari Budha hid in the maize fields nearby. Police surrounded
the field. Tulsi Kumari Budha was killed in what police later said was
an ''encounter''. However, there was no evidence that she had been armed,
nor that any police officers were injured or killed in the alleged "encounter",
suggesting that the incident involved excessive use of force in violation
of international human rights standards in circumstances where Tulsi Kumari
Budha could have been taken into custody.
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| Source:
Amnesty International |
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October
2001 Rolpa: Maoists recruit minor in their militia |
At
a time when the government-Maoist peace talk is underway, rebel Maoists
have recruited a 15-year-old boy in their militia under temptation. The
rebels recruited the boy, a grade seven student, about 25 km away from
the district headquarters of Libang. The rebels have not allowed the boy
to be in touch with his family members. The boy's mother is worried about
the safety of her son, who was hired in the Maoist militia under inducement.
|
| Source:
Amnesty International |
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