http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20110927_03

French ambassador for HR applauds child soldier rehabilitation in SL

Sri Lanka has made real progress in reintroducing former child soldiers into regular society, France's Ambassador for Human Rights Francois Zimeray said. "The right of a child to his or her childhood must be established and enforced as must the clear, unequivocal idea that the recruitment of children for military ends is a war crime," he told AFP.
This was one of the issues that Zimeray was to raise yesterday at a meeting at the United Nations on the sidelines of the General Assembly, which will focus on follow-up to a 2007 Paris conference on ways to end the use of child soldiers.
States and armed groups that refuse to stop recruiting child soldiers must be subject to tougher pressure in the form of sanctions, he said.
France's Foreign Ministry funds several operations aimed at demobilizing child soldiers forced to fight and helping those youths return to normal life.
He cited Uganda as a recent success story, and said Sri Lanka had made real progress in reintroducing former child soldiers into regular society.
"On the ground in Myanmar, Colombia, Sri Lanka and DR Congo, there are different approaches," he said, highlighting the usefulness of the exchange of "best practices" between nations