Armed Conflict CRINmail 182
 

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Secretary General's Report on Children and Armed Conflict

The UN Secretary-General (SG) has issued the 2014 annual report on children and armed conflict to the Security Council (SC), providing an overview of the situation of children in conflict zones, an update on measures taken for their protection and a set of recommendations on areas for future work.  

The report includes Annex I and Annex II, which together make up the the so-called "list of shame", naming the parties that violate international standards on children and armed conflict. Updated every year, this list particularly highlights those countries or organisations considered persistent perpetrators, who have featured on the list for five or more years.

“What is common to most of these conflict situations is that child rights are violated in total impunity,” said Leila Zerrougui, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict (SRSG). “If we are serious about protecting children, we must demand accountability.”

The Secretary-General’s annual report on children and armed conflict shows that children were recruited and used, killed and maimed, victims of sexual violence and other grave violations in 23 country situations last year.

It has documented the cases of children recruited and used by seven national armies and 50 armed groups fighting wars in the Central African Republic (CAR), South Sudan, Syria, and in 11 other countries.

A new party appearing on the Secretary-General’s list of perpetrators is the extremist group Boko Haram, responsible for “unspeakable violence against children” in Nigeria, including killing and maiming as well as attacks against schools and hospitals.

The report also notes that the recruitment of children in the CAR was “systematic” and child rights violations were committed by all parties to the conflict in total impunity.

Syria, where the UN documented widespread violations in 2013, continues to be an “extremely dangerous place to be a child,” she continued. The SG, she noted, has identified and listed four new parties for recruitment and use of children, and in two cases, for killing and maiming of children in Syria.

In South Sudan, the conflict that erupted six months ago erased most of the progress achieved to protect children since the country’s independence.

The new crisis in Iraq is taking an “extremely worrying turn,” with the recent advances by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) having created a volatile and dangerous situation for children. The SRSG’s office is receiving disturbing reports of recruitment and other grave violations against children that require immediate action.

The report also points out that attacks against schools and hospitals are on the rise, including in Afghanistan, CAR, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Nigeria and Syria.

Ms. Zerrougui noted that there is progress to report as well. No violations were recorded in Chad in 2013 and the country's national army has fulfilled all the requirements of its action plan and is no longer on the list for recruitment and use of children.

Read more on the UN Security Council’s work on children’s rights.

Iraq violence pulls in children

Iraqi government forces continue to battle Sunni rebels, led by the jihadist group Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) - now called Islamic State. ISIS-led forces took control of a number of cities in Iraq in a rapid advance during the second week of June.

According to the UN, the violent insurgency has claimed some 2,400 lives in June – more than half of them civilians.

The fighting has internally displaced an estimated one million people who join the one million already seeking refuge in Iraq as a result of the Syrian conflict and previous conflicts.

“We have received worrisome information that children are taking part in hostilities,” said the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (SRSG), Leila Zerrougui. Her office confirmed that incidents of underage boys being armed, manning checkpoints, and in some cases used as suicide bombers, have been documented.

According to the UN, rebels are targeting women and children, who have reportedly been kidnapped, raped and forcibly married to militants of ISIS and other armed groups.

ISIL and affiliated organisations are listed in the annexes of the Secretary-General’s annual report on children and armed conflict for recruitment and use of children, killing and maiming of children, and attacks on schools and hospitals in Iraq.

In 2013, three children were killed every other day in attacks, shelling, or in cross-fire, more than double the number of children killed and maimed in 2012.
 

Stronger action needed to protect women and girls in CAR

The head of UN Women urged the Security Council this month to take strong action to help restore the rule of law in the Central African Republic (CAR), with women and girls falling prey to a raft of “terrifying” violations  - perpetrated by armed groups – from rape to sexual slavery and forced marriage.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women, said reports of rape, sexual slavery, and other violations perpetrated by armed actors had been confirmed in December 2013 by a UN fact-finding mission led by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and supported by UN Women.

“This violence has taken place in house-to-house searches, unauthorised road blocks, military camps, and as part of sectarian violence,” she continued, adding: “We learnt that girls are frequently subjected to forced marriage. Many have become pregnant, miscarried, or contracted sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.”

Increase in the number of children killed and maimed in Syria

“There has been a marked increase in the number of attacks on functioning schools resulting in the killing and maiming of children,” says the latest report from the Commission of Inquiry on Syria. The report then details some examples - with stark directness.

Children are also suffering post-traumatic stress disorder because of what they have experienced and witnessed. They are also denied their right to education because they and their parents are too afraid of schools - going to school is a choice “about life and death” said Paulo Pinheiro, chair of the Commission. The report also notes that children continue to be recruited to participate in the conflict, as does a new report by Human Rights Watch.

Presenting the report on 17 June to the Council during its 26th session, Pinheiro said: “The international community, and specifically the Security Council, has yet to demand accountability for the crimes that are being committed daily against the Syrian people. Through their inaction, a space has been created for the worst of humanity to express itself.”
 

Pakistan drones

US drone strikes in tribal areas of Pakistan are not eliminating terrorism, but causing terrorists to relocate to other areas of the country, which has led to an increase in terrorist activity and violence across the country, according to a new report that looks at the societal consequences of the drone strikes.

The report argues that terrorists’ relocation has caused an array of negative consequences for wider Pakistani society, including increased radicalisation, sectarian and gang violence and drug and weapon smuggling.

The report’s author, Dr Wali Aslam, says “...there is also a major flaw in thinking that drones have been effective in countering terrorism.  Drones have eliminated threats in FATA [Federally Administered Tribal Areas] in the short-term simply by spreading them to other parts of the country and have, in fact, increased the threat of terrorism by radicalising people in other areas of the country. To combat terrorism we need to tackle the root causes of instability – the poor education system and absence of rule of law in FATA – that are allowing militants to recruit, exist and operate”.
 

UN urges reparation for victims of sexual violence in conflict

Earlier this month, the UN launched a set of guidelines at a global summit in London on reparations for the individuals and the communities affected by conflict-related sexual violence.

The UN Secretary-General’s Guidance Note on Reparations for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, launched jointly with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), calls for “long-term, in-depth solutions” such as land and inheritance rights, and not just a once-off cash payment.

Its key principles call for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence to be at the centre, as agents of reform and acknowledge that human rights violations impact men and women differently and in multiple ways.

Children are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence in conflict, experiencing rape, gang-rape, sexual slavery and forced marriage, according to the UN's Special Representative on children and armed conflict (SRSG), Leila Zerrougui.

According to UNICEF, more than 150 million girls and 73 million boys experience sexual violence every year, with children in conflict zones being the most vulnerable.
 

Commitment to end the recruitment of children in South Sudan

The Government of South Sudan formally renewed its commitment this month to the Action Plan signed in 2012 with the United Nations to end the recruitment and use of children in Government armed forces and other grave violations against children.

The agreement recalls the measures agreed in the 2012 Action Plan and includes: releasing all children associated with government security forces, providing services for family reunification and reintegration, investigating grave violations against children and holding perpetrators accountable. The Government is also committing to ending all grave violations committed against children.

The Action Plan, originally signed in 2009 and renewed in 2012, resulted in the release of more than one thousand children, command orders banning child recruitment and use, as well as the creation of a Sudan People's Liberation Army’s (SPLA) unit dedicated to the protection of children.

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