PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

Not a single NPA child combatant - Ka Roger
March 30, 2004

The Communist Party of the Philppines sternly took to task Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. for even assuming that there are child combatants in the New People�s Army.

CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said in a statement that Magsaysay has his facts totally wrong in saying that the NPA recruits children. �In truth and in fact, there is not a single combatant in the NPA who is under the age of 18,� said Rosal.

�NPA units are now strictly following the policy requiring NPA recruits to meet the minimum age requirement of 18 which has been enshrined in the basic rules of the NPA,� Rosal said.

The CPP spokesperson said that the CPP leading organs made it very clear that there should not even be a single exception to the policy. �By upholding this policy, the repeated lies in the press releases by the reactionary government and armed forces about so-called NPA child soldiers will fall flat on its face.�

Rosal said �Magsaysay should have enough sense to investigate the facts first rather than rely on lies repeatedly churned out by the psywar department of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.�

Rosal invited Magsaysay to visit NPA territories and interview the masses as well as the Red fighters �to find out the truth for himself instead of gullibly falling for AFP lies.�

At the same time, Rosal condemned the military for illegally arresting minors and presenting them as members of the NPA. Rosal also condemned the AFP for forcibly using children as guides for their military operations.

Rosal explained that as far back as 1988, the CPP through its Politburo had made a policy decision strictly prohibiting the recruiting of anyone below 18 years old and made a corresponding adjustment to the basic rules of the NPA. This was made in connection the CPP's recognition and accession through the NDFP of all Geneva Conventions and protocols related to Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.

Rosal added that in 1999, the CPP reiterated the policy through a memo of the Executive Committee of the party Central Committee. Rosal explained that the memo gave automatic immediate accession to the Optional Protocol on the Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibiting the recruitment and involvement of children under 18 years in the armed conflict. At that time, the said optional protocol had just been proposed by the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and was not yet even in force.

Rosal said further that the CPP Central Committee in late 2002 again formally reiterated the 1988 policy decision and 1999 memo and gave instructions to all CPP organs and all NPA units to study those party documents and ensure that the resolution on minimum age requirement is strictly carried out in the NPA.

Reference:
Anne Buenaventura
Media Officer
Cellphone Number: +63910-240-3553



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