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Develop and implement effective measures to ensure that all individuals recruited for police duties are a minimum of 18 years of age; develop and impose appropriate sanctions against individuals found to be recruiting or using children under age 18, including those using underage former Naxalites as police informers or SPOs.
Amend the Indian Police Act, 1861, to introduce age 18 as the minimum age for recruitment of special police officers (SPOs) to prevent future recruitment of children.
Take steps to ensure that all children under age 18 serving as SPOs are identified and removed, and provided with alternative education or vocational training opportunities.
Develop a national scheme for identification, release, and reintegration of children recruited by armed groups or police in consultation with governmental, non-governmental, and inter-governmental organizations, and in accordance with the Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups (Paris Principles) of 2007.
End all arbitrary detention, mistreatment, and torture of suspected child Naxalites.
Implement the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, and provide proof of birth to all children.
Ratify the Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention (International Labor Organization Convention No. 182), which defines the forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict as one of the worst forms of child labor.
- Identify all SPOs under the age of 18 and remove them from service; provide them with appropriate assistance, including alternative education or vocational training.
- Offer honorable discharge to all SPOs who were recruited when they were underage, and provide them with alternative vocational opportunities.
- End the use of underage former Naxalites as police informers or SPOs.
- End all arbitrary detention, mistreatment, and torture of suspected child Naxalites.
- Implement the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, and provide proof of birth to all children.
- Avoid the use of schools for military or Salwa Judum operations.
- Ensure access to education for displaced children living in camps and for children who return to their villages.
- Ensure that children displaced by the Chhattisgarh conflict to Andhra Pradesh have equal access to education, and make special provisions for children who do not speak the local language of instruction, including through the expansion of bridge courses.
- Immediately stop all recruitment of children under the age of 18 in any capacity, including into bal sangams.
- Release all children and give those recruited before age 18 the option to leave.
- Inform families that children under age 18 will not be recruited through public announcements and use of the local media.
- Take all appropriate steps to ensure Naxalite commanders and other cadres do not recruit children under age 18, “voluntarily” or otherwise, and provide the international community with documentation of disciplinary actions taken against Naxalite leaders responsible for such recruitment.
- Cooperate with UNICEF and other appropriate agencies to demobilize children from Naxalite forces and transfer them into appropriate rehabilitation and reintegration programs.
- Cease all reprisals against people, including children, who leave Naxalite forces, and against the family members of such people.
- Immediately end bomb and other attacks against schools.
- Request a report from the Secretary-General on the impact of the conflict in Chhattisgarh on children, including the recruitment and use of children in conflict by both government and Naxalite forces.
- Make a field visit to Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh to assess the impact of the conflict on children and meet with representatives of parties to the conflict regarding their obligations under international law.
September 2008
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