The Department of Education (DepEd) recently commemorated the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, a human rights treaty intended to protect the rights and interests of children, and highlighted a section that barred children from joining arms conflict.
According to Article 38, “States parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons who have not attained the age of 15 years do not take a direct part in hostilities.”
States are also advised against “recruiting any person who has not attained the age of 15 years into their armed forces.
Recently, at least 55 individuals, including 15 minors, were rounded up after operatives from the Philippine Army 3rd Infantry Division (3ID), Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group raided the offices of various progressive groups earlier this month in Bacolod City and Escalante City.
3ID spokesperson, Army Captain Cenon Pancito III, said the raids were conducted after receiving numerous intelligence reports claiming the offices were stockpiling firearms and ammunition and that the offices were reportedly being used as a recruitment facility for the New People’s Army (NPA).
Earlier, after an NPA attack was foiled in Guihulngan City, Philippine Army 94th Infantry Battalion (94IB) commander, Lt. Colonel Randy Pagunuran, discussed NPA recruitment activities.
“We will be relentless in our operations; we will give them no chance of recruiting the innocent children to do the dirty work for them,” he explained. “Exploiting the youth’s innocence to become criminals is even tantamount to violation of RA 7610, which provides children with special protection against exploitation.”/WDJ