There's a relatively new but alarmingly fast-growing phenomenon that needs the attention of Nepali child and human rights activitsts. The recent Global Report on Child Soldiers 2001 released last week by Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers says that about 30 percent of the guerillas involved in the underground CPN-Maoist led People's War are children. The report claims that Maoists are using school students and younger children in the five-year-old insurgency. Six guerrillas under 18 were killed in a single encounter in 1999 in Kavrepalanchok district. "The Maoist leadership is fully aware that children under 18 are recruited to their cause," says National Human Rights Commission member Professor Kapil Shrestha.

The Report says that while the recruitment of children is not yet a widespread occurrence, there are "symptoms" that it could turn into a serious problem soon. Most of the children in the Maoist insurgency are believed to be between the ages of 14 and 18, but the presence and use of even younger children cannot be ruled out. The Report points out to the possibilities that they are being forced to pick up arms against their will. The Human Rights and Peace Society, a Nepali rights NGO, reported that at least 30 children were abducted by the Maoists last year, but it cannot confirm if they were abducted to be trained for the life of insurgents.

The 1962 Royal Nepal Army New Recruitment Rules requires that a person be at least 18 year old to be recruited. Similarly, the Asia-Pacific Conference on the Use of Children as Soldiers held here in 2000 endorsed the same age provision for recruitment in the army.