ISLAMABAD, Oct 6: The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) has appealed to the UN Security Council to integrate specific measures to prevent the use of children as soldiers in the impending conflict in Afghanistan.

The UN must take into account child protection while handling the Afghan imbroglio, including action to stop child recruitment and to direct the UN Special Mission on Afghanistan to monitor the recruitment of children and deploy child protection advisers with any future UN peacekeeping or humanitarian operations.

The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, adopted by the UN General Assembly in May 2000, “prohibits governments and armed groups from using children under the age of 18 in hostilities; bans all compulsory recruitment of under 18s; and raises the minimum age and requires strict safeguards for voluntary recruitment.”

Article 4 of the Optional Protocol provides that “armed groups that are distinct from the armed forces of a State should not under any circumstances, recruit or use in hostilities persons under the age of 18 years.”

In his report to the Security Council in August, 2000, the UN Secretary General called upon Member States “to consider taking measures to make any political, diplomatic, financial, material or military assistance for State or non-state parties to conflict contingent on compliance with international standards that protect children in armed conflict.”

While the UN Special Mission on Afghanistan has reported on human rights violations against children, the Security Council has not to date addressed this aspect in its resolutions on Afghanistan.

Keeping in mind the situation in Afghanistan and the impending military action we should expect to see unprecedented levels of child recruitment and mobilization in the ranks of the Afghan militia.