Today's agreement between Darfur's Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the United Nations is a welcome commitment for the protection of children in Darfur.

The action-oriented, detailed agreement signed today promises the release of all boys and girls associated with JEM, allows for UN and UNICEF access to all "persons, places and documents" of JEM, ensures accountability for perpetrators, provides support from JEM for child victims and designates a JEM official to the United Nations to oversee the agreement's implementation.

The scope of this memorandum includes the end of the recruitment and use of child soldiers, rape and sexual violence as well as the killing and maiming of children.

According to International and Sudanese law, anyone under the age of eighteen is considered a child, regardless of local customs. The United Nations estimates that there are thousands of child soldiers in Darfur alone.

"I welcome this agreement as a major step towards an over-arching Action Plan. All parties to conflict in Sudan should sign onto full Action Plans like those signed by the SLA Minnawi and SLA Free Will.

"I hope for the resumption of the broader peace process and implore all parties to remember the children and include child protection provisions in all stages starting with the ceasefire agreement and ultimately, the peace accord," said the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy.

"For these commitments to have a real impact for children, they must be honoured, enhanced and fully implemented."