MILF vows no child warriors’ recruitment

MANILA, Philippines – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) welcomed the recent resolution from the United Nation Security Council, denouncing the recruitment of child warriors.

In a statement, MILF’s Muhammad Ameen said that the resolution will enable guilty parties to start cleaning their mess or ranks of these child soldiers, while accusing the Philippine government of recruiting children for its paramilitary forces.

He said that the MILF and its military wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), have long prohibited the recruitment of children into their military.

He also alleged that the UNSC report showed that Philippine government troops committed the highest violations. But in the actual report earlier, the UNSC said that three groups in the country were actively engaged in recruiting children as fighters; and these included the MILF, New People’s Army, and the Abu Sayyaf Group.

During the annual Security Council Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict last month, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution expanding the criteria for listing parties to conflict in the Secretary-General’s annual report. The criteria now include parties who attack schools and hospitals.

The resolution strictly prohibited the “recruitment and use of children, killing and maiming, rape and other sexual violence, attacks on schools and/or hospitals.”

“The promise of this resolution is very real. During my visits to conflict areas, I have personally seen the devastation–schools completely destroyed, bombed or burnt to the ground. Attacks on hospitals are two-fold atrocities. Not only do they kill and wound girls and boys, but they leave children without access to treatment,” said the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy. –Jun Pasaylo, Philippine Star