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Summary: The information below is based on the 2011 report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council (A/65/820-S/2011/250) issued on 23 April 2011. More information is available in the report.
Reports of recruitment and use of children by the Maoist armed groups, also known as the Naxalites, especially in some districts in Chhattisgarh State, were received by the United Nations. While noting the absence of reliable data to determine the number of children affected, the Indian National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, in its policy document of March 2010, pointed to the recruitment and use of children by the Naxalites and Salwa Judum. It also reported that children were being killed and maimed as a direct result of violence. The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights also highlighted that schools had been targeted and destroyed by Naxalites. Separately, the occupation of schools by security forces was also reported in my last annual report (A/64/742-S/2010/181). On 18 November 2010, the Supreme Court expressed strong displeasure over the continued occupation of school buildings in Chhattisgarh by security forces. On 18 January 2011, the Supreme Court ordered the Chhattisgarh government to vacate security forces from all educational institutions within four months. The Government of India strongly condemns the acts of the Naxalites. The Government, together with concerned state government authorities, has undertaken specific actions, including awareness-raising programmes through the media, establishing new schools under its programme for universal elementary education (sarva shiksha abhiyan) in all villages and ashram schools, and strengthening its integrated child development programme and pre-school education centres in all areas. In November, the Government of India launched a pilot programme (the Bal Bandhu scheme) to protect the rights of children in Naxal-affected areas, to be implemented by the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights in 10 districts of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. The programme has protection, health, nutrition, sanitation, education and safety components. The Government also began efforts to bring development services to affected areas, such as the integrated action plan for 60 Naxal-affected districts. The plan aimed to effect governance reforms and devolve power to grass-root institutions in selected districts over the coming three years.