EU raps Nepali rebels for using child soldiers
Stepping up their anti-insurge-ncy operation, Nepalese security forces have gunned down 20 Maoists after a rebel attack left one soldier dead and five injured in the southwest Nawalparasi district.
The incident occurred on Friday when the security forces were clearing obstacles placed by the Maoists in Chormara and Arunkhola areas along the highway in Nawalparasi, state-run The Rising Nepal reported, quoting security sources.
The troops were first attacked by the rebels who killed one soldier and injured five others. Retaliating, the security forces shot dead 20 rebels, the report said.
Meanwhile, 5,000 students have been deprived of their studies after the closure of 35 schools following the Maoist attack in Pilli area of Kalikot district, where 43 security personnel and 26 rebels were killed last week.
The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has been fighting to overthrow Nepal's monarchy and set up a communist republic in the world's only Hindu kingdom. The conflict has cost more than 12,500 lives, more than 400 of them children.
"The EU strongly condemns the CPN (M)'s systematic and continued human rights violations especially in respect to the use of child soldiers which runs contrary to their claims that they respect human rights and adhere to the standards of the Geneva Conventions," EU said in a statement issued by the British Embassy late on Friday.
Britain currently holds the EU presidency.
"Violation of the rights of the children, evident in the Maoist abuse of schools, indoctrination and abduction of young people and the induction into military forces, are particularly abhorrent," the statement said.
The rebels could not be reached for comment, but during a tour of the Maoist areas in west Nepal early this year, Reuters reporters were told by the rebels that children were not used as fighters but only policed their areas as village militia.
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