Monday, September 22, 2008 Arroyo unlikely to raise child warrior issue
PRESS Secretary Jesus Dureza said the issue of child warriors should be addressed internally.
His statement came a few days after Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita reported the general situation of the child warriors in the Philippines, including the country's plans to raise before the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of Islamic Conference the issue of the Moro rebels' use of child warriors.
Dureza said it is however unlikely that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would raise the child warrior issue during her address before the UN General assembly and her meeting with UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon.
"As to whether it would be brought to the attention of the UN, it seems impossible because it is something that we can address here locally and we will apply our local regulations and we have international regulations about it too. These agencies now operating in the country can take care, very well take care of this," he said.
He said the government, however, could probably bring the issue to the attention of the UN through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Children In Areas of Armed Conflict (CIAAC) program of the government in cooperation with the UN.
The CIAAC program, he said, is implemented by inter-agency groups comprised of the departments of national defense, interior and local government, foreign affairs, and social welfare and development, and the Office of the Presidential Adviser of the Peace Process as co-chairpersons.
Dureza said a team from the UN is set to arrive in Manila in December to check on the conditions of the child warriors and to check on the Philippines' compliance to the campaign against the use of minors in armed conflict.
He said the Philippines is still under the UN's watchlist on children in armed conflict following earlier practice of the New People's Army to recruit and use child warriors which is a violation of international protocol. (JMR/Sunnex)
