Afghan gov't rejects reports of child soldiers in army

The Afghan government has dismissed reports on the presence of child soldiers in the security forces as baseless, the state-run news agency Bakhtar News Agency (BNA) reported Saturday.

"No child soldier exists in the ranks of Afghan national security forces," Second Vice President Sarwar Danesh said when meeting with Leila Zerrougui, the special representative of UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.

According to BNA, the Afghan vice president reiterated the government's commitment to fully implement its Action Plan to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children in the national security forces.

According to media reports, the warring sides in Afghanistan, including the government, have been using children as soldiers in the conflict.

Meantime, a report, released by the Office of Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict on Friday, termed the Afghan government's commitment as encouraging.

"The government's commitment will be instrumental in turning the page on the recruitment and use of children in the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF)," the report said.

In 2015, an average of 53 children were killed or injured every week, the highest number since 2009, when the UN began documenting casualties, the report said, adding most of child casualties were attributed to ground engagement between conflicting parties.

The UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict also called on all parties to "respect international humanitarian law and to take all precautions to reduce the impact of conflict on children." Endit