Philippines child soldiers bill faces hurdles – HRW

Bangkok (AlertNet) – The approval of a bill banning the use of children in armed conflicts in Philippines is a good step, but significant hurdles remain in fulfilling its potential, Human Rights Watch (HRW) told AlertNet.

The Philippines’ House of Representatives approved the bill criminalising the use of children in armed conflict earlier this week, the Philippine Star reported.

“Any effort to increase protections for children affected by the armed conflicts in the Philippines should be congratulated,” Bede Sheppard, senior researcher for HRW’s Children’s Rights Division said.

However, the potential for the new legislation to reduce the recruitment and use of children faces two significant obstacles, he said.

“First, most of the recruitment and use of children is being carried out by three armed political groups over whom the government has no control: the New People’s Army (NPA), the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and the Abu Sayyaf Group.”

NPA has been battling the government since 1969 in one of the longest-running communist insurgencies in the world, and more than 40,000 people have been killed. The other long-running insurgency comes from MILF, the Philippines’ largest Muslim separatist group in the southern island of Mindanao, which has killed 120,000 and displaced two million.

Abu Sayyaf  is one of the smallest but deadliest Islamic militant groups based on the Basilan and Jolo islands off Minanao.

The other groups accused of using children are government paramilitary forces. “Although these militias have been responsible for a variety of abuses, only a few members have ever been prosecuted for their crimes,” Sheppard said.

Human Rights Watch has called on President Aquino to disarm and disband all paramilitary and militia forces, he said.

CHILDREN’S RIGHTS

The bill “seeks the prosecution of those responsible for child rights violations in these conflicts. Children have to be provided relief, protection and rehabilitation in such situations,” said Marcelino Teodoro, the author of the bill.

The killing, torture, maiming, rape, abduction, use as human shields, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment of children are prohibited under the bill, which was approved on the third reading.

In addition, the recruitment of children by the military, the police and other armed groups is not allowed and military operations are banned near public areas such as schools and hospitals where children can be found.

Violators could be imprisoned for life and fined up to 2 million pesos ($46,400).

According to the Child Soldiers Global Report 2008, published by activist group Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, up to one-fifth of the NPA’s 7,500-strong force were under 18 years old, while children made up 13 percent of the 10,000 members of the MILF.

Meanwhile, the UN Secretary General’s 2010 report on children and armed conflict said “at the local levels, members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines continued to use children for military purposes.”

It added the army detained children who reported “being physically abused, interrogated under extreme duress, subject to ill treatment and subjected to acts tantamount to torture to extract information on insurgents.”

The report also said there was an increase in the number of casualties of children in 2010 – 38 killed including 8 girls, and 40 maimed including 16 girls. This compared to 12 deaths and 40 injuries in 2009.   –Thin Lei Win