A global conference hosted by the government of France and UNICEF convened in Paris to address the issue of children in armed conflict.

Participants at the two-day conference are from countries impacted by children in armed conflict as well as from donor countries. They will discuss a new set of commitments and principles to end recruitment of children and to demobilize and reintegrate those who have been involved with armed groups and forces.

A former child soldier from Sierra Leone implored delegates to help rehabilitate young people like him. "No one is born violent. No child in Africa, Latin America or Asia wants to be part of war. These are situations children are forced into," explained Ishmael Beah, 26. "But over time, because they are traumatized and constantly given drugs, this becomes habitual - the only reality they know.

"It is easy to become a child soldier but it is much more difficult to recover one's humanity," he added. "But it is possible."

"Free Children from War"

Beah, an orphan who fought in his country's civil war as a teenager, was rehabilitated in 1996 as part of a UNICEF-supported disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme. He later moved to the United States, where he was adopted by a family in New York.

In his speech to the "Free Children from War" meeting at the International Conference Centre in Paris, Mr. Beah urged that governments keep funding programmes to rehabilitate former child soldiers as well as other children, including girls, who find themselves pulled into conflict through no fault of their own.

"An estimated 250,000 children are involved in conflicts around the world," said UNICEF Executive Director, Ann M. Veneman. "They are used as combatants, messengers, spies, porters, cooks, and girls in particular are forced to perform sexual services, depriving them of their rights and their childhood."

Several UN resolutions and international legal standards have been agreed to over the last decade to address this issue, but many gaps remain. The Free Children from War conference will help identify opportunities to better support children impacted by armed conflict.

"We have a shared commitment to help children caught in the wars of adults and to protect, release and reintegrate child soldiers," said Veneman. "We have made strides in bringing children from battlefields back to their communities and classrooms, but much remains to be done". (EÜ)