29 November 2006 - CRIN Children and Armed Conflict 102
Special Edition on the UN Security Council
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Security Council holds open debate on children affected by armed conflict
Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict
Q&A on Security Council's work to protect children affected by armed conflict
News and reports on children in armed conflict in seven countries
Next Steps for the UN Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict
Quiz on children affected by armed conflict
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Security Council holds open debate on children affected by armed conflict
[NEW YORK, 28 November 2006] – Member States have done much over the past decade to protect children from the ravages of armed conflict, through new laws, prosecutions and investigations, but this is just the beginning and more needs to be done, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other senior officials told the Security Council on Tuesday.
Mr. Annan’s call came during a day-long meeting on children and armed conflict focusing largely on his recent report, highlighting that children are still being recruited as soldiers, and also being murdered, tortured or sexually abused during times of conflict. After the debate, the Council issued a statement reiterating its commitment to protect children in conflict.
“During the past 10 years, we have tried to place the issue firmly on the international agenda. Since 1998, when the first Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict began work and the Council held its first open debate on the subject, the subject has gained greater visibility… and yet, we have only begun to scratch the surface,” Mr. Annan said.
“It is incumbent on all of us to sustain this political and practical momentum, and to keep a close eye on situations of concern… I hope that the Council will consolidate the gains that have been made, and will move forward to cover all situations of concern and all grave violations.”
Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, echoed the call for more to be done, while also noting that many peace agreements signed over the past few years have included child protection provisions and a framework for child demobilisation.
“Despite these progressive developments many challenges remain and more action has to be taken to protect the interests of children trapped in situations of armed conflict. Though a great deal has been done in formulating standards and receiving commitments, the actual implementation on the ground is far from satisfactory,” she said.
“So far the process of scrutiny and monitoring has been selective and focused on only a few countries. It is our belief, jointly shared with UNICEF (the UN Children’s Fund) and other partners, that we must expand the focus to all situations of armed conflict so that there is equal treatment of children regardless of where they live.”
In her remarks, UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman said she remained deeply concerned by conflicts in several countries, noting for example that in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, some 119 Palestinian children had been killed this year, more than twice the number of deaths registered in 2005. She also cited the situations in Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Gabriel Oling Olang, representative of Save the Children, also addressed the Council, along with diplomats from over 40 countries, before Foreign Minister José Antonio García Belaunde of Peru, which holds this month’s presidency, read out a statement on behalf of the 15-member body.
“The Security Council strongly condemns the continuing recruitment and use of children in armed conflict in violation of applicable international law, the killing and maiming of children, rape and other sexual violence, abductions, denial of humanitarian access to children and attacks against schools and hospitals by parties to armed conflict.”
The Council urged States affected by armed conflict that are not yet involved in the implementation of the monitoring and reporting mechanism, as established in resolution 1612, to join it on a voluntary basis. It also called again on relevant parties to armed conflict that have not already done so to implement time-bound action plans to put an end to the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict. The Council has requested the Secretary-General to submit a further progress report on the implementation of resolution 1612, by February of 2008.
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=11590
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Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict
[NEW YORK, 20 November 2006] – Government forces, rebel groups, armed militia and mercenaries operating in conflicts in at least 12 countries recruit children to serve as soldiers or are responsible for murdering, torturing and committing sexual crimes against them, according to a new report from Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The report on children and armed conflict calls on the Security Council to maintain its pressure on those parties recruiting and using child soldiers to draw up time-bound action plans to end such behaviour.
Mr. Annan recommends that all countries which are party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child take specific measures to strengthen their protection of children, starting by signing and ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the involvement of children in armed conflict.
He also recommends enacting laws expressly prohibiting the recruitment of children under the age of 15 into armed forces, and much greater effort to be devoted to the rehabilitation and reintegration of former child soldiers.
The report to the General Assembly and Security Council finds that while progress has been made in some conflicts in protecting children, escalating violence in other places – particularly in the Middle East – “has resulted in thousands of child victims.”
In some areas, especially West Africa and the Great Lakes region of Central Africa, some rebel groups and bands of mercenaries are moving across borders to prey upon vulnerable children in neighbouring States.
The report lists parties in Burundi, Chad, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Uganda as recruiting or using children as armed combatants or committing other abuses and violations against them.
The report has been released as Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, marked the Universal Day of the Child by highlighting the terrible toll that war takes on children. Thousands of children are suffering severe physical and mental trauma, she said in a media statement. “Children deserve protection. Violations of children’s rights must stop; impunity must end.”
Meanwhile, in Kathmandu, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNICEF issued a joint appeal to the Government and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) to make sure they make the well-being of children a priority as they negotiate and implement a comprehensive peace agreement.
OHCHR and UNICEF expressed concern that even now the Maoists are recruiting, voluntarily or forcibly, children in violation of both their own commitments and international standards.
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=11375&flag=report
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Q&A on the UN Security Council’s work to protect children affected by armed conflict
What is the function of the Security Council?
The Security Council has primary responsibility, under the UN Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security.
When a complaint concerning a threat to peace is brought before it, the Council's first action is usually to recommend to the parties to try to reach agreement by peaceful means. In some cases, the Council itself undertakes investigation and mediation. It may appoint special representatives or request the Secretary-General to do so or to use his good offices. It may set forth principles for a peaceful settlement.
Full list of functions and powers
Who are the current members of the Security Council?
The Council is composed of five permanent members — China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States — and ten non-permament members who are elected by the General Assembly for a term of two years. The current non-permanent members are (with year of term's end): Argentina (2006), Congo (Republic of the) (2007), Denmark (2006), Ghana (2007), Greece (2006), Japan (2006), Peru (2007), Qatar (2007), Slovakia (2007), United Republic of Tanzania (2006)
Non-permanent members of the Security Council elected for a two-year term of office beginning on 1 January 2007: Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, Panama and South Africa.
How does the Security Council make decisions?
Each Council member has one vote. Decisions on procedural matters are made by an affirmative vote of at least nine of the 15 members. Decisions on substantive matters require nine votes, including the concurring votes of all five permanent members. This is the rule of "great Power unanimity", often referred to as the "veto" power.
See the Security Council's website for more information
What is the historical involvement of the Security Council in protecting children in situations of armed conflict?
The Council began to pay sustained attention to the issue of children and armed conflict once it realised that the use of children in armed conflict had grave consequences for peace and stability. Internal conflicts give rise to displaced families and communities, refugee flows across borders and the use of child soldiers creating the conditions for long-term regional and international instability.
Since 1999, the Council has become more active on the issue. While the early resolutions contained mainly generic and normative statements relating to how children should be treated in conflict situations, from 2001 the resolutions began to contain more concrete requests that addressed the practical reality of children involved in situations of armed conflict. The resolutions of the Security Council on this issue are Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on Children and Armed Conflict, The Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (Convention 182) of the International Labour Organisation and the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court.
What are ‘Annex I’ and ‘Annex II’ that are often mentioned in relation to the Security Council’s work on children and armed conflict?
Annex I and Annex II are “naming and shaming” lists of parties which violate international standards on children and armed conflict. These are included in the UN Secretary General’s reports.
Annex 1 lists parties on the agenda of the Council and Annex II lists the parties that are not on the Council agenda. States listed in Annex II are concerned that their listing will lead the Council to look at situations of armed conflict in their countries.
How does the Security Council monitor violations of the rights of children who are affected by armed conflict?
The Security Council passed resolution 1612 in 2005, which called for the creation of a monitoring and reporting mechanism on six grave violations of children's rights, as well as for the creation of the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict. The Working Group is piloting its work in seven countries: Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
What is the working group on children in armed conflict?
The Working Group has a mandate to review the reports of the monitoring and reporting mechanism and the progress in the development and implementation of action plans on steps taken by groups named in the Secretary General’s lists to stop recruitment and use of children in armed conflict. It also makes recommendations on measures to promote the protection of children affected by armed conflict. The Working Group also considers country reports. It has begun its work with seven pilot countries: Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
What are some of the internal challenges which the Security Council faces in protecting children in situations of armed conflict?
France has led on the protection of children and armed conflict within the Security Council, but the other four permanent members have sometimes shown reluctance in acting on this issue. Below are some of the political concerns of different countries and regions:
China and Russia: Both countries have expressed concern that thematic issues such as children and armed conflict provide a possibility for issues which are not on the Council’s agenda to be pushed onto the Council’s formal agenda.
China: The policy concern about the number of situations that the Security Council is dealing with on its formal agenda.
UK and Russia: The UK expressed concern about the mention of Northern Ireland and Russia about the reference to Chechnya in the Secretary-General’s 2003 report. They were included because there were groups involved in recruiting and using children in armed conflict. However, the UK and Russia argued that these were not situations of armed conflict. As a result of these protests, corrections were issued and references to Northern Ireland and Chechnya were dropped.
US: The US argues that the Security Council should be a place for action and must react to specific situations. The US is reluctant for the Council’s mandate on this issue to be expanded until it shows clear results.
South America: Some countries in South America, for example, Argentina and Brazil, have been strongly lobbied by Colombia, which often appears in Annex II. They have therefore not always been supportive of initiatives involving armed conflicts listed in Annex II.
Africa: Some African members countries, for example, Tanzania and Benin, have expressed unhappiness that most of the countries listed in Annex 1 are African countries.
Other issues that divide Security Council members on the issue of children and armed conflict include whether there should be one or two annexes and whether to use targeted sanctions or just send warning letters to groups involved in recruiting and using children in armed conflict.
For further information, go to the Security Council's website
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Next Steps for the UN Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict
[28 November 2006] - Since it began to address children and armed conflict in 1999, the UN Security Council has made substantial progress in developing strategies and mechanisms to end abuses against children in conflict situations, particularly in regards to the recruitment and use of children as soldiers. Each resolution adopted by the Council to date has built on those adopted previously, and advanced the agenda further.
Some of the most significant achievements of the Security Council attention to this agenda have included:
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the development of annual lists by the Secretary General to identify the specific governments and armed groups that recruit and use child soldiers in violation of international standards;
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clear expectations for dialogue with violators and the development of action plans to end child recruitment, resulting in greater involvement by UN country teams in addressing children and armed conflict issues;
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the establishment of a monitoring and reporting mechanism in seven countries to provide more detailed and comprehensive information on abuses for possible action by the Council;
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the establishment and activities of the Security Council working group on children and armed conflict, including its focused attention to the reports emanating from the monitoring and reporting mechanism and its concrete and specific recommendations for action to the Council;
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the first actions by the Security Council to apply targeted measures against individuals specifically for the recruitment and use of children as soldiers (SC resolution 1698 on the Democratic Republic of Congo, July 31, 2006; the Security Council Committee concerning Cote d”Ivoire’s February 7, 2006 decision to subject Martin Kouakou Fofie to measures established by SC resolution 1572).
These actions have resulted in a multifaceted set of tools and pressure points that, if fully utilised, represent a robust approach to ending abuses against children, including the recruitment and use of children as soldiers.
However, these mechanisms have not yet brought the results desired by the Security Council. Dozens of parties to armed conflict continue to recruit and use children with impunity, and requests from the Security Council for action plans to end this practice have generally gone unheeded.
In this paper the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers recommends some next steps for the Security Council on the monitoring and reporting mechanism, persistent violators, action plans, dialogue with parties, prosecutions . Many (though not all) of these recommendations can be taken up by the Security Council working group on children and armed conflict and implemented through country-specific resolutions.
Recommendations include:
Monitoring and reporting mechanism
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Expand the monitoring and reporting mechanism to all situations identified in the annexes of the Secretary-General’s report and examining reports from each of these situations from which to make recommendations.
Persistent violators
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Apply targeted measures to parties who use children in armed conflict such as travel bans, exclusion from governance structures, and restrictions on the flow of financial resources to the parties concerned.
Action plan
- Establish new deadlines for parties listed in this year’s report to create concrete and time-bound action plans. Request the Secretary-General to include an assessment of the successes and failures in developing action plans.
Dialogue with parties
- Request the Secretary-General to expand efforts to engage in dialogue to all parties in situations of armed conflict identified by the Secretary-General in the annexes to his report, and identify additional focal points within relevant UN country teams for this purpose;
- In situations on the Security Council’s agenda where systematic dialogue with parties has not taken place, request the Secretary-General to follow up with the UN country team focal points to create and implement a plan for substantive dialogue, with the objective of developing credible action plans.
Prosecutions
- Welcome the Democratic Republic of Congo’s prosecution of Jean Pierre Biyoyo, the only successful national-level prosecution to date for child recruitment and call on other member states to establish and implement mechanisms to investigate and prosecute individual perpetrators; request UN agencies to provide technical assistance, as appropriate.
- Request that information on national-level actions to identify and hold individual recruiters accountable through investigations, arrests, and prosecutions, are included in the country reports submitted through the UN monitoring and reporting mechanism to the Security Council working group on children and armed conflict.
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=11584
For more information, contact:
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
2nd Floor, 2-12 Pentonville Road, London, N1 9FP, UK
Tel: + 44 20 7713 2761
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.child-soldiers.org
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News and reports on children in armed conflict in seven countries
Below are some of recent news and reports on children and armed conflict in the seven countries which the Security Council's Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict is using to pilot its work to implement the monitoring and reporting mechanism established by resolution 1612.
Burundi
Côte d’Ivoire
Democratic Republic of Congo
Somalia
Sudan
Sri Lanka
Nepal
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Quiz on children affected by armed conflict
The UN Secretary-General recently submitted his 2006 report on children and armed conflict to the General Assembly and the Security Council. The report was examined on Tuesday 28 November 2006 in an open debate at the Security Council.
The Secretary-General's report was submitted pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1612, which requests him to submit a report on the implementation of that resolution and of Resolutions 1379, 1460 and 1539, on the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict, and other violations such as the killing and maiming of children, rape, abductions, denial of humanitarian access and attacks against schools and hospitals.
Find out about the current situation of children affected by armed conflict by taking CRIN’s quiz.
Visit: http://www.crin.org/quiz/index.asp?quizID=1017
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