NEW YORK, 12. February 2010: Despite efforts to end the use of child soldiers in the war-torn eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, youngsters are still being recruited within the ranks of both the rebels and the national army, with girls at particular risk of becoming sex slaves and less likely to be released, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said.
– Used as combatants, labour and sex slaves, victims of months-long violence and rape, girls are all too rarely freed by the armed forces and groups, UNICEF said in a news release in Goma, eastern DR Congo, marking the International Day against the use of Child Soldiers, noting that only 20 per cent of freed children under the agency’s care were girls.
