(UNICEF) – As part of an agreement facilitated by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), up to 10,000 children currently associated with armed groups in the Central African Republic (CAR) will be released from roles such as combatants, sex slaves and cooks, a spokesperson for the agency told reporters in Geneva today. Christophe Boulierac, briefing on behalf of UNICEF, said CAR was one of the worst places in the world for children, especially after the last two years of violence. The leaders of armed groups agreed not only to release between 6,000 and 10,000 children but also to stop future enrolment and to grant UNICEF immediate and restriction-free access to any zone under the groups’ control.
