The document, signed on 26 August, aims to prevent and stop the recruitment and use of children, but also sexual abuse and all other violations against them in Mali.
A coalition of movements that signed the Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in Mali inked the Action Plan with the United Nations.
As a result, a Platform for the Fight against Grave Violations against Children was created.
According to a press release from the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), seen by APA on Tuesday, “a procedure for the release of children, their reintegration into their families and communities, as well as protection and support mechanisms to enable them to resume a normal life” will be put in place.
These measures are in line with UN Security Council resolutions on children and armed conflict.
During the signing ceremony of the agreement, El-Ghassim Wane, the head of UNMISMA, welcomed “an important step” marking “a major advance to better protect children in Mali and promote their rights in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Additional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict.”
The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Mali added that “since 2000, more than 115,000 child soldiers have been liberated around the world as a result of the advocacy work undertaken by the United Nations and action plans such as the one signed by the Platform.”
ID/lb/as/APA