A/HRC/15/58 52. The Sri Lankan Government agreed to increase freedom of movement for the internally displaced population and reaffirmed its zero tolerance policy with regard to child soldiering. With regard to children recruited by the TMVP, the Special Envoy received the assurance of Chief Minister Santhirakanthan (a.k.a. Pillayan) as well as Minister Muralidharan (a.k.a. Karuna) that they will expedite the remaining cases, in accordance with the action plan signed between the Government of Sri Lanka and the United Nations in December 2008 to halt child recruitment. 53. In light of the Special Envoy’s concern that hundreds of children are still missing or separated from their parents and should be reunited as soon as possible, the Sri Lankan Government established a family tracing and reunification unit in Vavuniya in December 2009. With regard to former child soldiers, by May 2010 most of the children had returned home to their families. Nepal 54. The Special Representative visited Nepal from 14 to 17 December 2009 to ensure progress in the discharge of 2,973 Maoist army personnel verified as minors during the United Nations-led verification process, completed in December 2007. The children should all have been released immediately after the completion of this verification process, but they remained in temporary camps after the 2006 peace agreement that ended the conflict. 55. During her visit, the Special Representative witnessed the signing of an action plan on the release of child soldiers between the Government of Nepal, UCPN-M and the United Nations presence in Nepal. The action plan continues to be monitored by a United Nationsled team to ensure that those discharged return to a civilian environment and are not exposed to recruitment by criminal gangs or political youth movements. 56. The signing of the action plan eventually resulted in the release of all 1,843 child combatants and the remaining 1,130 children received discharge notifications. Afghanistan 57. Following the specific commitments made during her previous visit in July 2008, the Special Representative travelled to Afghanistan to assess the current situation of children with regard to recruitment, detention, attacks on schools and humanitarian access. President Karzai made a personal commitment that these issues would be given high priority on the agenda of the peace discussions. 58. The Special Representative welcomed the implementation of an inter-ministerial steering committee to work with United Nations agencies in monitoring and responding to grave violations against children, and the appointment of focal points in the army and police to investigate incidents of under-age recruitment in the Afghan national security forces. 59. The Minister of Justice agreed to consider legislation to criminalize the recruitment and use of children. The Afghan national authorities further demonstrated political will by committing to provide unlimited access to all detention facilities for United Nations child protection actors, including those administered by the National Directorate for Security (NDS). 60. Former NATO Commander Stanley McChrystal reassured the Special Representative that the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) would cooperate with the United Nations to develop protocols on how to deal with children associated with armed groups during military operations, and implement measures to ensure greater 14