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Senate bill seeks special protection of children in war-torn areas


A bill has been filed at Senate seeking to provide “special protection” for children in areas with armed conflict. 

Senate Bill No. 1474, or the “Special Protection of Children in Situations of Armed Conflict Act,” was filed by Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III.

Its salient features include declaring “zone of peace” for children so that their rights are “promoted and protected at all times, especially in situations of armed conflict or violence.”

Also, the measure enjoins the State to “take all feasible measures” to prevent the recruitment, use, or displacement of children in areas with armed conflict.

It seeks to impose life imprisonment on anyone found guilty of killing, torturing, “intentionally maiming,” and raping children in conflict zones.

Sotto cited data from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) showing that armed conflicts displace 30,000 to 50,000 children in the Philippines.

Some of them are recruited to become soldiers of armed groups, it added. —Aica Dioquino/LBG, GMA News

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