Kathmandu, June 12: The Supreme Court (SC) has issued a directive order, calling for the enactment of laws related to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to explicitly address the use of child soldiers.
A full bench of judges Sapana Pradhan Malla, Sunil Kumar Pokhrel and Shanti Singh Thapa assessed that the third amendment to the TRC Act had excluded the use of child soldiers in the definition of a severe violation of human rights, directing that the matter be explicitly included in the law.
The bench reached the conclusion that the State is responsible for enacting laws that categorically prohibit the recruitment or use of children under 18 in any military forces and recognizing such acts as punishable offenses.
“A directive order has been issued accordingly to the concerned government bodies, asking them for taking prompt response towards that end.”
The petition to this end was filed by Lenin Bista, a former child solider during the armed conflict. The order further states that those child combatants who were not included in the army integration process were initially given Rs 10,000 each and promised Rs 200, 000 in the future. However, all were not given the promised amount, the order said.
Similarly, the court issued a mandamus order, directing that government documents and achieves avoid using pejorative terms such as ‘disqualified’ for those who could not be included in the army integration process. #nepal #rss
