More than 5,000 child recruits were freed from armed groups last year thanks to the efforts of UN peacekeeping missions, a senior official with the world body has reported.

UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping El Ghassim Wane said child protection is now “part and parcel” of mission mandates due to two decades of international efforts to protect children caught in conflict situations.

The UN this week commemorated the 20th anniversary of a General Assembly resolution that addresses this issue.

It resulted from a landmark report by Graça Machel, a former Education Minister of Mozambique, and led to the establishment of a  UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.

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