Hope for Children in Darfur

New York, 21 July 2010 - Today's agreement between Darfur's Justice
and Equality Movement (JEM) and the United Nations is a welcome
commitment for the protection of children in Darfur.

The action-oriented, detailed agreement signed today promises the
release of all boys and girls associated with JEM, allows for UN and
UNICEF access to all "persons, places and documents" of JEM, ensures
accountability for perpetrators, provides support from JEM for child
victims and designates a JEM official to the United Nations to oversee
the agreement’s implementation.

The scope of this memorandum includes the end of the recruitment and
use of child soldiers, rape and sexual violence as well as the killing
and maiming of children.

According to International and Sudanese law, anyone under the age of
eighteen is considered a child, regardless of local customs. The
United Nations estimates that there are thousands of child soldiers in
Darfur alone.

"I welcome this agreement as a major step towards an over-arching
Action Plan. All parties to conflict in Sudan should sign onto full
Action Plans like those signed by the SLA Minnawi and SLA Free Will. I
hope for the resumption of the broader peace process and implore all
parties to remember the children and include child protection
provisions in all stages starting with the ceasefire agreement and
ultimately, the peace accord," said the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika
Coomaraswamy. "For these commitments to have a real impact for
children, they must be honored, enhanced and fully implemented."

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For further information, please contact:

Timothy La Rose, Communications Officer, Office of the Special
Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed
Conflict
+1 917-346-3404 - larose@un.org

Muriel Gschwend, Communications Officer, Office of the Special
Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed
Conflict
+1 917-367-3562 – gschwend@un.org