France leads global push to protect child soldiers

PARIS, Feb 7 (Reuters) Governments from around the world have pledged to do more to prevent children from becoming soldiers and to enable young fighters to return to a normal life.

Amongst the 58 nations that yesterday signed up to the so-called ''Paris Principles'' were 10 of the 12 countries where the United Nations says child soldiers are often used on a ''massive scale''.

''For the first time, states are solemnly committing themselves to applying and respecting the principles of the struggle against the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict,'' said French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy.

The United Nations children's agency UNICEF, which sponsored the Paris meeting, estimates that more than 250,000 children were recruited or used by armed forces in 2006.

''This really is a crime against humanity,'' Douste-Blazy told delegates during the two-day conference.

The ''Paris Principles'' follow on from guidelines laid down in the ground-breaking ''Cape Town Principles'' which were agreed at a symposium in South Africa in 1997.

But whereas that document was adopted by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the Paris accord comes with the blessing of official governments.

''This is unique because it sets out state of the art procedures and practices to be applied by governments, NGOs and the U.N. when dealing with child soldiers,'' said Rima Salah, the special representative for U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Among the countries that signed the document, which carries moral rather than judicial weight, were a number of African states with high numbers of child soldiers, including Angola, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Chad.

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