New York/Katmandu, 11 December 2009 - Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict will be visiting Nepal from 14 to 17 December 2009.
The focus of the visit will be on ensuring progress in the discharge of nearly 3,000 Maoist army personnel verified as minors during the United Nations-led verification process completed in December 2007. The children should all have been discharged immediately after the completion of the verification process, this has been called for repeatedly by the Security Council.
During her visit, Ms. Coomaraswamy hopes to witness the signing of a time bound Action Plan on the discharge of the minors, in accordance with minimum international standards. The UCPN-M has been listed as a party to conflict recruiting and using children in five Annual Reports of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict. The signing of the Action Plan will constitute the first step towards the UCPN-M being de-listed from the Report.
For further information:
Laurence Gerard, Office of the SRSG for Children and Armed Conflict, +1 212-963-0984, gerardl@un.org
Luca Solimeo, Office of the SRSG for Children and Armed Conflict, solimeo@un.org
Kosmos Biswokarma, Senior Media Officer, United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN),Phone: +977-1-5010036, Ext: 2235 Mobile: +977-98511 01959, biswokarma@un.org