8 Jan 2010

NEPAL / CHILD SOLDIERS

The first group of young people disqualified from the Maoist army as children or late recruits are among 4,008 individuals – including some 500 below 18 years old — due to be released over the next 40 days. UNICEF

Posted at: January 8, 2010 5:29 pm

Duration: 01:24

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: NEPAL / CHILD SOLDIERS 
TRT : 1.24 
SOURCE: UNICEF 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE 
LANGUAGE: NATS

DATELINE: 7 JANUARY 2010 , SINDHULI , NEPAL

SHOT LIST:

1. Wide shot, former child soldiers walking through dirt field 
2. Wide shot, tents set-up in dirt field 
3. Pan right, former child soldiers walking towards tents 
4. Med shot, former child soldier walking to tent and sits down across from UN worker at table 
5. Wide shot, UN worker at table with former child soldier 
6. Close up, hand writing on paper and other hand holding identification card 
7. Zoom in, identification card 
8. Med shot, young woman in regular clothes carrying child walks toward tent, sits down across another woman 
9. Med shot, young woman with child sitting across from other woman under tent 
10. Close up, child 
11. Med shot, woman giving young woman back her identification card and   young woman and child leaving 
12. Wide shot, makeshift tents

STORYLINE:

The first group of young people disqualified from the Maoist army as children or late recruits are among 4,008 individuals – including some 500 below 18 years old --  due to be released over the next 40 days.

The rehabilitation process will now give these young people the opportunity to gain new skills, returning to school or learning a trade, provided by the Government of Nepal with the support of the United Nations.

The discharge, which began on Thursday (7 Jan) and is scheduled to be completed in seven cantonments across the country by mid February 2010, was part of an Action Plan signed in December 2009 by the Government of Nepal, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal, Maoist (UCPN-M) and the United Nations.

When it is verified that the UCPN-M has fully complied with the plan, the party can be considered for removal from the list of parties that recruit and use children, which is included in the annual UN Secretary-General's report on Children and Armed Conflict.

In the coming months, a United Nations team will contact those discharged to monitor and assess how they are adjusting to civilian life. Nearly 3,000 of those disqualified were minors on 25 May 2006 at the time of the ceasefire.

Today, about one dozen are under 16 years of age and roughly 500 are under 18. About one third are female.