The Geneva-based Human Rights Council today held a special debate on violence against children looking at how best to follow-up on last year’s study by an independent United Nations expert that calls for a wide range of measures, covering the responsibility of governments and others, to stamp out the global scourge.

Child soldiers being demobilized from former rebel groups in an eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are being pressured to conceal their age and civil status so that they can be enrolled in newly integrated army units, the United Nations peacekeeping mission has warned.

Almost 60 countries today committed themselves to putting an end to the unlawful recruitment and use of children in armed conflicts wherever they occur, one of a series of measures known as the Paris Principles, agreed at a two-day conference in France which was co-hosted by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Government.

Calling for more action to counter pervasive discrimination against women, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today launched a report highlighting that “gender equality and the well-being of children go hand in hand,” and recommending a raft of measures, from greater investment in girls’ education to imposing quotas ensuring woman are better represented in politics.