by INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO Bulatlat.com A few weeks after the visit of United Nations Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy in the Philippines, the the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) called on her office to investigate an incident that took place last March 4 in Matuguinao, Samar. According to the…
Tags: child soldiers
Groups Urge Review of New UN Guidelines on Child Soldiers
Various groups have called for a review of the Paris Principles, the new guidelines adopted by the United Nations (UN) in defining child soldiers. By not distinguishing between combatants and non-combatants, the Paris Principles, they said, place children in rebel-influenced areas in danger as they are de-facto labeled as child soldiers and therefore, open targets…
When Children-Victims of Rights Violations are tagged as ‘Child Soldiers’
CRC Executive Director Ma. Esmeralda Macaspac said the Philippine government uses the broad definition of ‘child soldiers’ in the Paris Principles to evade prosecution for violating children’s rights. Worse, she said, “Communities and people’s organizations branded as guerilla fronts by a paranoid regime become vulnerable to attacks and children are bound to be branded as…