PARIS, Feb 6: Fifty-eight countries agreed on Tuesday to take action to protect children from being recruited as soldiers in wars, joining for the first time an effort that had been largely confined to NGOs.

The 58 countries that signed up to the Paris commitments at the end of a two-day conference included 10 of the 12 nations where an estimated 250,000 children bear arms.

“We commit ourselves to spare no effort to end the unlawful recruitment and use of children by armed forces or groups in all regions of the world,” French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said at the end of the gathering held in Paris.

The document put the onus on governments to prosecute recruiters or commanders of child soldiers and to seek the unconditional release of all children enrolled in armies or armed groups.

Ten years after children’s rights campaigner Graca Machel unveiled the Cape Town principles that would guide non-governmental organisations, the Paris commitments were hailed as a key step that would inject new momentum to international efforts to end the use of children in combat.

“For the first time countries are solemnly committing to apply and respect these principles to combat the recruitment and use of children in armed conflicts,” a foreign ministry official said.

Among the signatories were Burundi, Chad, Colombia, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nepal, Somalia, Sudan, Sri Lanka and Uganda, which are on a UN black list of countries that recruit child soldiers.

Two others on the UN list – Myanmar and the Philippines – did not take part in the conference, which was organised by the UN children’s agency Unicef and the French foreign ministry.

Unicef and French officials stressed that the list of countries adhering to the Paris commitments was not final, hoping to build on the effort launched during the conference..—AFP