Child Combatants of the Maoist People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Nepal: A Human Rights Perspective, 1996–2013

The study analyzes involvement of children in the decade-long Maoist armed conflict in Nepal, an issue of grave human rights violations. An armed conflict affects all sections of the society irrespective of caste, class, gender, region, and religion. However, children have been one of the most vulnerable groups in the Maoist conflict in Nepal. The decade-long Maoist conflict in Nepal has various implications on children such as disruption of education, separation from families, killing and maiming, illegal detention, disability resulting from the conflict, etc. Thus, there has been gross human rights violation of children during the conflict. But one of the worst forms of implications of the Maoist conflict has been the recruitment of children as combatants by the Maoist Army, otherwise known as the People’s Liberation Army, formed in 2001, in their fight against the state forces, which is the focus of this study. The article explores how the poor disadvantaged children have been the major target of recruitment by the Maoist. It discusses the role played by the child recruits during the conflict. Besides, it examines the role played particularly by the United Nations as well as the Nepali civil societies in the protection, rehabilitation, and reintegration of children into the civil society.