UNICEF welcomes an announcement by the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) – one of the signatories to the Darfur Peace Agreement – that it would begin handing over children associated with its armed groups in Darfur.
The SLM/A has indicated that it has already identified a number of children attached to its forces in South and North Darfur and that a formal process of identifying all children associated with its armed groups would start within the next month.
The agreement commits the SLM/A to identify locations where children are associated with its armed groups within one month, prior to a joint verification (identifikation) of children by the SLM/A and the United Nations.
UNICEF, in collaboration with Government and local and international NGOs, will support the provision of family tracing (opsporing) and community reintegration programmes, along with training of SLM/A field commanders on international child rights and protection standards.
Demobilized children will benefit from life skills and vocational training opportunities (mulighed for uddannelse), education support, psycho social activities such as recreation, sports and career guidance, as well as the assistance of social workers who will monitor and ensure follow-up of children during the reintegration process.
UNICEF estimates that at least 7,000 children could be linked to various armed forces and groups in the region, either as combatants or serving in ancillary roles such as porters, cooks, messengers and bodyguards.
Kilde: www.unicef.org
