UN: MILF recruits children in warfare

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s Moro secessionist movement in the south, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), has been included in the United Nation’s list of armed groups that recruit children in warfare.

Quoting reports from the U.N. Special Representative for children and armed conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy, Fox News said the MILF was among the 61 rebel groups that targeted children recruitment in the 16 countries of its operations.

The report said that aside from the MILF, the U.N. also listed al-Shabab militia in Somalia, and the Afghan National Police in Afghanistan.

The report said that the UN Security Council has also said that the New People’s Army and the Abu Sayyaf Group were actively engaged in recruiting children as fighters.

In an earlier philstar.com report, the MILF repeatedly denied the recruitment of child warriors.

MILF’s Muhammad Ameen said his group and its military wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), have prohibited the recruitment of children.

In June, 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 Coomaraswamy. –Jun Pasaylo, Philippine Star