In one of the many religions that we have in India, God himself is depicted as a child. The child is indeed divine. Notwithstanding that divinity, child soldiers have been used in wars since time immemorial. In contemporary times, it was drummer boys who led Napoleon's initial attack in the battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815, only to be shredded to pieces by gunfire from the other side.

While the exploitation of any human being is reprehensible, it is all the more so when children are involved. The use of minors in conflicts by armed organized groups violates ethical standards and international legal principles. Besides being a merciless practice, it is an unforgivable violation of human rights. Innumerable defenceless innocents should not be used as human shields.

My country is making herculean efforts to defend itself against the growing infrastructure of organized crime and criminal groups. We have begun to reverse that pernicious trend — more through our own efforts than as a result of assistance — but the levels of insecurity continue to be unacceptable. The roiling violence drags in hundreds of girls and boys, either as victims or as bullies. It does not matter what terminology we use.

Guatemala continues to give the highest priority to addressing the situation of children caught up in armed conflict, as well as to strengthening the provisions for the protection of boys and girls in all the relevant mandates of the United Nations peacekeeping and peacebuilding missions, including the deployment of child protection advisers.

Since Graça Machel's seminal report (A/51/150) recognized the impact of armed conflict on children, millions of children have continued to be caught amid armed conflicts, not only as mere bystanders but as targets of multiple acts of violence, such as attacks against schools, mutilations and sexual abuse, as well as hunger, disease and exploitation as tools of war.

On a recent visit to the Central African Republic a few weeks ago, I met a young woman who was 14 years old when she joined the Séléka. Without training, she was thrust directly into battle, fighting on the front lines against Government forces and witnessing acts of violence and atrocities no child should ever see. I asked her about her hopes for the future now that she was free.

Moreover, two coordination mechanisms have been created to follow up the implementation of the action plan. Results have been encouraging. According to statistics, 2,494 children were removed from armed groups and forces in June 2013, while 2,824 children, of whom 365 were girls, were placed in the care of the transitional support structure. Those numbers fell through 31 December 2013 and perhaps even more by today.

Indeed, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country that has suffered for more than a decade of intermittent armed conflicts with the grimmest of consequences, children are among those civilians whose rights are most frequently violated. What is worse, given their immature psychological makeup, they experience great trauma when they are recruited as soldiers.

In one of her annual reports, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict writes that thousands of children continue to be killed, maimed or abducted, suffer sexual violence, or are denied access to humanitarian assistance or health care in many countries. In several countries, she continues, they have also been used to commit suicide attacks or to serve as human shields.

Given the scope of the phenomenon, and pursuant to the recommendations contained in the annual report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict, the Congolese authorities have spared no expense in tackling the challenges.