Right Honourable Prime Minister, Canada’s efforts to prevent the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict is greatly appreciated. Your statement on the 12th of February 2021 reaffirming Canada’s commitment to draw attention to this inhumane practice with the longstanding intent of ending such conscription along with nearly 100 UN Member States endorsing the Vancouver Principles on ‘Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers’ is most commendable. The Late, Honourable Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sri Lanka’s former distinguished Minister of Foreign Affairs too devoted a great deal of time in campaigning for the same laudable objectives and also canvassing international support towards the aims envisioned in the Vancouver Principles and peace in Sri Lanka. He was unfortunately gunned down on August 12, 2005, by a sniper belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which group was designated as an international terrorist mo
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Pandemic woes seen swelling global ranks of child soldiers 12 Feb 2021 / 13:02 H.
By Emeline Wuilbercq
Feb 12 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - More children could be pushed into joining armed groups in conflict zones as families face increasing poverty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a top U.N. official warned on Friday.
The exact number of child soldiers is unknown, but in 2019 alone about 7,740 children - some as young as six - were recruited and used as fighters or in other roles by mostly non-state armed groups, according to United Nations data.
Speaking on International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers - or Red Hand Day - the U.N. Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba said that number was likely to rise as a result of coronavirus-related hardship.