3. Development of comprehensive strategies or agendas for children

A new commission that will advise Pope Francis on sex abuse policy within the church includes an Irish psychiatrist who was assaulted by a chaplain when she was 13 years old. But it remains unclear if the commission will deal with the critical issue of disciplining bishops who cover up for abusers. 

The United Nations today launched a new initiative to end the recruitment and use of children in Government forces in conflict by 2016, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressing that children should be armed with pens and textbooks, not guns.

The United Nations and the African Union (AU) affirmed their common commitment “to put an end to history’s oldest and least condemned crime” by signing landmark agreement on the prevention of and response to conflict-related sexual violence in Africa, a senior UN official today said.

A pause in fighting to evacuate hundreds of civilians from besieged areas of the city of Homs in Syria is expected to begin on Friday.