Oman condemns all armed groups recruiting child soldiers

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Al-Yahya’s remarks came while Oman was presenting a report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child today which reviewed the initial reports of Oman on how that country is implementing the provisions of the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children and other situations.

"In view of the widespread nature of these crimes that ran counter international law, Oman also encouraged the fight against the sale of children. The Sultanate was fighting that at all levels and was bringing those responsible to justice," she noted.

The Omani minister said that the Sultanate had also made efforts nationally and internationally to fight these crimes and had also ensured that civil society participated in those efforts.

She stressed that at the national level, Oman had enacted legislation to counter the exploitation of children and their sale.

Oman had also ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and had established its own human rights commission, Al-Yahya noted.

That commission is independent and it closely follows status of human rights and freedoms and whether they were in line with the Constitution and other international treaties to which Oman was a party. They had also established a working group with civil society which was attempting to draw up a law on children, which they would finalize very soon.

Committee Expert Awich Pollar, Rapporteur for the report of Oman on the Optional Protocol on children in armed conflict, noted that there was a good atmosphere in Oman which had enabled a proactive compliance of the country with the Optional Protocol.

 

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