§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the countries with which she has had recent discussions concerning the use of child soldiers; and if she will make a statement. [78544]
§ Mr. FoulkesNeither I or the Secretary of State have personally had any recent discussions on this issue with countries in which child soldiers are a problem.
This is, however, an issue of deep concern to our Department. In late 1997 the Secretary of State spoke to President Museveni of Uganda about the abduction of many thousands of children by the Lord's Resistance Army, most of whom are forced to become child soldiers or concubines. In Sierra Leone, the British High Commissioner has just agreed with the President Kabbah that children under the age of 16 will be excluded from enlistment in the Sierra Leone armed forces or the civilian defence forces; and that any children taken into custody by ECOMOG will be handed over to UNICEF at the earliest opportunity. We have also provided assistance for children affected by conflict in countries such as Liberia and Sri Lanka.
We have had a number of meetings with the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Mr. Olara Otunnu, the most recent being on 16 March in London. Mr. Otunnu briefed us about his recent travels in the Great Lakes Region and Sudan. We have offered our full support to ensure that his lobbying and advocacy work to reduce the use of child soldiers is followed up and given practical effect on the ground. Plans for this are under discussion between Mr. Otunnu, UNICEF and our officials.
DFID recently issued the "Policy Statement on Conflict Reduction and Humanitarian Assistance" which describes our general approach to defusing tensions and building sustainable peace through targeted conflict reduction strategies. Progress in implementing these will also help eliminate the child soldier problem.