UN - Stricter Measures Against Children Soldiers Readied

As the number of reported cases of children soldiers in countries wrought by armed conflict increases, the U.N. Council recently warned of setting stricter measures against military organizations that encourage such activities. But the announcement was quite strange since the U.N. has no firm pledge on what possible sanctions may be imposed to the violators.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon should somehow lay down the cards on how to protect children getting recruited in nations experiencing armed conflict or the practice will continue killing ill-prepared young children and wasting their lives in the war.

In a recent report, Ban cited 58 groups in 13 countries participating in armed conflict. Most of them are in Asia and Africa, whose soldiers are children and are allowed to join in live encounter. Such government armies included Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Somalia and Sudan, including rebel groups.

Ban said as things get worse, more children are being abused in warfare and the Security Council must have an iron fist in stopping such activities that victimize the innocent minds of the adolescents.

He added the armies and other military groups deploying children fighters should be penalized by banning ammunitions and other military assistance. Other financial assistance may also be restricted if they will not stop using children as their warriors.

The Council already expressed the desire to review the former provisions regarding children being involved in armed conflict and what measures can be done.

In the latest records of Unicef, there were some 250,000 children soldiers worldwide. But critics were saying this number may not be the total population since many were left unrecorded.

As debates progress on the issue of children soldiers in the Council, many provisions have yet to be discussed as to how the implementation of the sanctions will be and if all nations affected by armed conflict are willing to cooperate.

This is indeed an issue of importance that should be given immediate plan of action.