Supreme Court directs government to criminalise child soldier recruitment
Summary
The Supreme Court has directed the Nepalese government to criminalise the recruitment and use of child soldiers under 18 and to recognize such acts as serious human rights violations, while also ordering reforms to rehabilitate former child combatants.
Key Points
- The Supreme Court ordered the government to criminalise the recruitment and use of children under 18 in military forces.
- The court instructed state agencies to stop labeling former child combatants as 'disqualified' or 'discharged'.
- The ruling criticized inadequate financial support and lack of rehabilitation for former child soldiers from the Maoist insurgency.
- The court declined to prosecute former prime ministers for alleged war crimes, deferring individual accountability to transitional justice bodies.
