It is indeed an honour to be appointed by Ministry of Social Affairs of the emocratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has their representative here in the United ingdom- one of our most reliable partners.

The Fonds National de Promotion et de Service Social (F.N.P.S.S.) a department the ministry has been an indispensable bastion of support for our work in the DRC - in particular children and women in quest for total emancipation, gender parity and equity. This being in line with our own aims and objectives.

This also compliments the International treaties on Human Rights and the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of action. The F.N.P.S.S. has in particular been instrumental in helping build our capacity by facilitating our work and removing obstacles that have for so long held Congolese hostage. I would like to particularly mention the input and effort by the Ministry's Chief Executive Officer Mr Bruno Leshwangue Bei.

The DRC as you aware went through a devastating brutal civil war that left the whole country in tatters with almost total destruction of the socio economic structures. Amnesty International said, and I share their view on this, that one of the most disturbing features of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been the widespread and systematic use of children aged under 18 as fighters, porters, domestics servants or sexual possessions by government forces and armed groups.

It is estimated that at least 30,000 children were attached to the armed forces and armed groups in the conflict zones of eastern DRC, constituting up to 40 per cent of some forces. Girls were estimated to represent up to 40 per cent of these children and in early 2005 it was believed that around 12,500 girls were associated with the armed forces and groups. Some children interviewed by Amnesty International were aged as young as six when they were recruited.

Under international law, the recruitment and use of children under 15 is considered a war crime, and the recruitment and use of children under 18 isprohibited. More than two years after the official launch of the national DDR plan in July 2004, perhaps 11,000 children are still with the armed forces or groups, or are otherwise unaccounted for in the DDR programme. In particular, large numbers of girls are missing: in some areas, less than two per cent of the children passing through the DDR programme have been girls.

Amnesty International believes on the basis of its research that the majority of girls have been abandoned or misidentified as "dependants" of adult fighters. In areas of eastern DRC where insecurity persists, other children continue to be recruited, including some who had only recently been demobilised and who are especially vulnerable to re-recruitment. Some are re-recruited by force; others are effectively pushed back into the armed groups because the DRC government has not able to provide them with meaningful support once returned to their communities.

Amnesty International believes that the majority of children released and reunited with their communities so far are unsupported or poorly supported on their return to civilian life and are not being provided with adequate educational or vocational opportunities. Congolese parents currently contribute 80-90 per cent of the money spent on schools through a system of direct fee-payments which most Congolese cannot afford. As a result the majority of Congolese children of age do not receive elementary education.