Babita Rawal, a four-year-old from Humla, is waiting for her mother. She doesn't know that the Maoists killed her after she refused to pay them a donation. In Jajarkot, six-year-old Sinam Acharya's mother was shot to death by the army for violating the curfew. She had stepped out to fetch some water.

There are many Babitas and Sinams in Nepal today. The conflict is an orphan factory. The UN has introduced a convention on child rights to make the state accountable for the protection and security of children, but in Nepal there is no sign of the government doing much for them. Both the state and the Maoists use children: they are often forced to work as message bearers, informers and even bear arms. The state has used young children as informants.

Since the 'People's War' began, about 300 children have lost their lives. More than a 1,000 are disabled because they were caught in crossfire or stepped on landmines planted by both sides, according to a report from Child Development Society. More than 1,500 children have been orphaned, over 10,000 left homes and migrated to towns and to India. About 70 percent of the schools in the Maoist affected areas are closed. Despite constant calls to declare children as zones of peace, the government has not given any direction to prevent them from being party to this conflict. The least it could do is declare schools as zones of peace.