UN removes MILF from list of armed groups recruiting children

The United Nations (UN) has announced the removal of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) from its list of armed groups recruiting and using children.

A report by the UN Secretary-General presented in August but publicly released on Friday, a total of 1,869 children have been disengaged from the ranks of the MILF.

This recent disengagement is a part of a series of ceremonies that started in February.

The positive development for the MILF is on account of the UN-MILF Action Plan, an agreement with the armed group and UN's children's agency UNICEF that sought to end child recruitment and use by the armed group, according to a statement by UNICEF Philippines on Saturday.

The statement said the Action Plan, signed in 2009, was completed at the beginning of 2017, upon the fulfillment of a six-point roadmap.

The UNICEF statement said such a disengagement will facilitate the access of the nearly more than 1,800 children previously entangled in armed conflict to appropriate social services such as health, education, and protection.

“The MILF’s commitment to protect and promote the rights of children in their communities continues today, even as they are delisted from the UN report," said UNICEF Philippine representative Lotta Sylwander in the statement.

"Fostering lasting peace for children involves continued vigilance by all concerned, including the government, civil society, elders, parents and children themselves to ensure they are not involved in or used in armed conflict,” Sylwander added.

The same report, meanwhile, said that bandit groups Abu Sayyaf and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, and the communist group New People's Army are still on the list of groups that have "not put in place measures during the reporting period to improve the protection of children."

The UN said, meanwhile, that the "victory toward realizing children's rights" in the country is just one part of the picture.

The same UN report verified statistics of "grave violations" to children's rights, including 14 confirmed deaths at the hands of both the military and non-state armed groups.

Beyond the killings and injuries verified by the report, thousands more have been displaced by armed conflict over the years. In 2017 alone, the months-long battle in Marawi has displaced approximately 359,000 individuals, 205,000 of them children, according to the UNICEF statement. —ALG, GMA News