25 July

The Committee for Preventing Violence against Children in Armed Conflicts held its second coordination meeting at the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement yesterday.

Speaking at the meeting, Union Minister Dr Win Myat Aye said the committee was formed in January to work on preventing grave violations against children in armed conflicts. He said the committee is tasked with ten duties for implementation.

The Union Minister said it is necessary to cooperate on the important decisions made at the first meeting with UNCTFMR. He said they have acquired suggestions from relevant ministries to draft an action plan to avoiding maiming and killing children and ending sexual violence against them.

He said they have plans to hold a meeting with UNCTFMR to discuss implementation of the action plan and urged attendees to take part in the discussion.

Next, the Deputy Director-General of the Rehabilitation Department reviewed the draft action plan for a national-level reporting mechanism to prevent the maiming, killing and sexual assault of children in conflict zones.

Following this, the attendees discussed the action plan in detail and the Union Minister and other officials replied with appropriate suggestions. The government-led draft action plan will be discussed with UN agencies for future implementation. —MNA

(Translated by Zaw Htet Oo)