§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she Will list the countries that her Department is in discussion with about combating the use by those countries of child soldiers in military conflicts. [154456]
§ Clare ShortMy Department has been working with UNICEF to strengthen its capacity to protect and assist children in crisis situations. UNICEF is engaged on these542W issues with governments, NGOs and other UN agencies in a wide range of countries including Uganda, ECOWAS states, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Cambodia, the Philippines, East Timor, Indonesia, Paraguay, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo. My Department has also been supporting work on child soldiers in Sri Lanka with UNICEF's Children and Women in Armed Conflict programme, the Quaker UN office, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Save the Children Fund.