182 more former child soldiers leave camps in Nepal for new lives as civilians

182 more ex-child soldiers leave camps in Nepal

KATMANDU, Nepal — Dozens more former child soldiers who helped wage Nepal’s Maoist insurgency left the camps Sunday where they have been confined for three years.

Since the communist rebels laid down their arms and joined a peace process in 2006, thousands of former fighters have been detained in U.N.-monitored camps. Adult combatants are eventually supposed to be integrated into the armed forces, but minors who fought in the civil war will be released.

On Sunday, 182 ex-child soldiers left a camp at Shatikhor, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of the capital, Katmandu, said Peace Ministry Spokesman Bishnu Nepal.

Scores were freed earlier this month from another detention center, one of seven across the country.

There have been no confirmed reports of how many children were pressed into military service by the Maoists during their 10-year war. But human rights organizations have said the Maoists forcefully took children from schools and persuaded them to join them in the fight against the government.

The freed minors were driven to different locations on Sunday. Each was given $130 (10,000 Nepalese rupees) and a set of civilian clothes.

The young ex-fighters have been issued special identification cards and a rehabilitation package that will allow them to go to school, take up vocational training or start businesses.