8 October 2007 - CRIN Children and Armed Conflict 112
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UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY: Machel Strategic Review [report]
EUROPEAN UNION: Members urged to sign declaration on child soldiers [call for action]
LIBERIA-COTE D'IVOIRE: Refugee children taught wrong curriculum [news]
COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD: Concluding Observations issued for Session 46 [news]
MYANMAR/ BURMA: Women and girls at risk [news]
LEBANON: The vulnerability of children to involvement in armed conflict [report]
**NEWS IN BRIEF**
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UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY: Machel Strategic Review [report]
[3 October 2007] - To mark the 10th anniversary of the United Nations report by Graça Machel, Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, the report of the Machel Strategic Review is to be formally presented to the UN General Assembly on 17 October 2007.
The strategic review, co-convened by the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and UNICEF, has been an inter-agency, multi-stakeholder initiative, with UN System bodies, NGOs and civil society involved in assessing progress and identifying gaps, taking into account the changing nature of conflicts and lessons learnt in the past decade.
In addition to the General Assembly presentation, a number of other events will take place to mark this occasion on the 17th, including the launch of the Machel Review Youth Report, Will you listen?: Young Voices from Conflict Zones. Plans for a second, more in-depth publication for mid-2008 are also being advanced.
The Machel 10 year strategic review will be presented as the second part of the Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (A/62/228), and is accessible here. The Machel Review Youth Report is available for viewing and endorsement here.
For further information on the review, contact Beth Verhey, Chief of the Machel Strategic Review, at [email protected], Susan Nicolai at [email protected] or Anne Makome at [email protected] or (1) 212 457 1778.
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=15124
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EUROPEAN UNION: Members urged to sign declaration on child soldiers [call for action]
The first ever European Parliament (EP) Written Declaration addressing the military recruitment and use of children in hostilities is open for signature at the European Parliament (EP), sponsored by British members of the EP Sharon Bowles and Glennys Kinnock. To be adopted, the declaration must be signed by 393 of the 785 members of the EP (MEPs) before 3 December 2007. If adopted, the Declaration could pave the way for more concerted and focused action by the EP. The Parliament would in future be able to put pressure on national governments and international organisations like the UN to take more concerted action to eliminate the recruitment or use of children in war.
Declaration 77/2007 on the Elimination of the Use of Child Soldiers outlines ways for the EU and others to prevent the recruitment and use of children under 18 years of age into armed forces and armed groups. Possible actions include: pressure for the ratification and implementation of the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict; application of targeted measures (such as travel bans) against those who recruit child soldiers or who knowingly support those who do so; and commitment of sustainable financial support for programmes to release child soldiers and assist their reintegration into civilian life. (Official programmes and process to assist such children are often referred to as demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration (DDR) programmes.)
See the text of the full declaration here
European Union actions on child soldiers
The European Union has increasingly addressed the issue of child soldiers in recent years, both multilaterally and through activities of individual Member States. In 2003 The EU adopted Policy Guidelines on children affected by armed conflict in order to address the situation of child soldiers through political dialogue, multilateral cooperation and other initiatives. At the time the European Parliament supported the adoption of the guidelines in a resolution. However, implementation of EU policies to stop the use of child soldiers has often been sketchy and the European Parliament has been less vocal in addressing the issue recently.
Paris Commitments and Paris Principles on protection of child soldiers
In an important step forward, 58 governments, including most EU governments, endorsed the texts of the Paris Commitments to protect children unlawfully recruited or used by armed forces or armed groups and the Principles and Guidelines on children associated with armed forces or armed groups at a ministerial meeting in Paris in February 2007. These documents reaffirmed existing international standards relating to the protection of child soldiers and outlined best practice principles relating to programmes to release child soldiers and assist their reintegration to civilian life. Despite these and numerous other initiatives, the UN has estimated that some 250,000 children continue to be involved in hostilities worldwide.
For the full texts of these documents see www.unicef.org.
[Source: Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers]
Further information
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LIBERIA-COTE D'IVOIRE: Refugee children taught wrong curriculum [news]
[SACLEPEA, 1 October 2007] - Ivorian children in a Liberia refugee camp have been deprived of an education based on their home country curriculum in a school that opened there over three years ago.
“This is really paining our hearts,” said Aisha Berete, mother of five of the 387 children attending the Saclepea Refugee Primary School in eastern Nimba County. “[The children] are losing their Ivorian identity and how will they fit in to the Ivorian school system once we return home?”
“I am afraid that our children will be considered strangers in their homeland,” she told IRIN.
The children, who fled the war in French-speaking Côte d’Ivoire, are learning a Liberian curriculum with mostly Liberian textbooks in English, the official language in the country.
The policy of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is for refugee children to receive schooling based on their home country curriculum. But UNHCR officials in Liberia say they have been unable to obtain the necessary materials from the Ivorian Education Ministry, mainly because of “civil disturbances” and “bureaucracy”.
“The ideal is that we offer the curriculum of the country of origin,” UNHCR external relations officer Oscar Nkulu told IRIN. “Nevertheless the country of asylum and the country of origin have to [cooperate on this].”
“[The proper curriculum] is something we can get only from the Education Ministry,” he said.
In a written statement to IRIN, UNHCR said it had made efforts to obtain the curriculum and textbooks but that "it was difficult to access the ministry". The statement also said the Ministry of Education was concerned that the school had not been accredited.
Officials with the Ivorian Education Ministry were not available for comment.
UNHCR said it recently received the curriculum through its partner non-governmental organisation, Caritas, and that the material would be sent to the Saclepea sub-office for use for the 2007-08 academic year.
Of the estimated 6,665 Ivorian refugees in Liberia, 1,139 are in the Saclepea camp, according to UNHCR. The rest live in local communities throughout the country.
UNHCR officials in Liberia told IRIN that some Ivorian textbooks are available to students at the Saclepea school and that students do receive some French-language instruction from teachers among the Ivorian refugee population.
UNHCR said that early on at the Saclepea camp refugee teachers worked to include lessons from Côte d’Ivoire. “Since it was not immediately possible to obtain the curriculum and textbooks from [Côte d’Ivoire] on account of the civil disturbances in the country of origin at the time, the refugee teachers organised themselves… In Saclepea particularly, the teachers managed to secure some textbooks from the country of origin.”
[Source: IRIN]
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=15022
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COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD: Concluding Observations issued for Session 46 [news]
The following Concluding Observations to the States Parties reports considered at the 46th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child are now available (in English) on CRIN's website. French and Spanish versions are forthcoming.
CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
OPTIONAL PROTOCOLS
The 47th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child will be held in January - February 2008. More here.
[Source: UN OHCHR]
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=15106
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MYANMAR/ BURMA: Women and girls at risk [news]
[3 October 2007] - The Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children condemns the use of force by the military junta in Burma (Myanmar) on unarmed civilians, and the arbitrary detention of civilians, including monks, some of whom are young boys.
The Women’s Commission calls on the US government and the international community, especially Burma’s primary trading partners, to put pressure on the junta to protect and respect the human rights of the civilian population.
The military regime has a long history of human rights abuses, including rape and sexual violence. Women and children are at great risk, whether they are fleeing the violence or held in detention. The international community must be ready to provide services and care for survivors of rape and sexual violence, including measures to prevent pregnancy or the transmission of HIV and AIDS which result from rape.
As a result of decades of oppression, more than 1.2 million people are internally displaced within Burma or living as refugees or forced migrants in neighbouring Thailand, most of them members of ethnic minority groups. The recent violence may cause additional large numbers of Burmese to try and seek safety in Thailand.
The Women's Commission is recommending that:
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the US government and the international community, especially Burma’s primary trading
partners, put pressure on the junta to protect and respect the human rights of the civilian
population;
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the Thai government keep the border open, and allow for the registration of refugees so
they can receive protection and access essential services, including food, shelter, health
care and education;
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the United States and the international community be prepared to provide assistance to the government of Thailand so it can fulfill its obligations to refugees.
[Source: Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children]
Further information
Visit:
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LEBANON: The vulnerability of children to involvement in armed conflict [report]
This briefing paper aims to support the national campaign for the ratification and implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (Optional Protocol) by Lebanon, launched by the Lebanese independent NGO, Permanent Peace Movement (PPM), with which the Coalition collaborates. The Protocol establishes that “States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that members of their armed forces who have not attained the age of 18 years do not take part in hostilities”.
Political violence has sharply escalated recently in Lebanon. A prominent parliamentarian, Antoine Ghanem, and at least six others were killed on 19 September 2007 in a car bomb attack in a series of political assassinations in Beirut for which no group has claimed responsibility.
Government troops and the Fatah al-Islam armed group fought in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp for over three months until the army took control of the camp on 2 September 2007. At least 300 people, including an unknown number of civilians, had died in and around the camp as a result of the fighting. Six peacekeepers of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were killed by a car bomb in southern Lebanon in June 2007; no group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Internally, the polarisation of Lebanese society around its political parties, which are divided along religious and communal lines, is mounting. Lebanese democracy, based on a delicate distribution of powers and institutions among communities, is increasingly fragile, with parties shifting their allegiances and publicly denouncing one another.
Externally, Lebanon continues to be drawn into the region's multiple conflicts. Israel and Hezbollah continue to pose a threat to each other and to stability in the country following a 33-day war in 2006. Syria continues to have an influence on Lebanese politics, which the Lebanese political parties acknowledge openly, despite its withdrawal of troops in 2006. This briefing paper describes how the current crisis in Lebanon may increase the vulnerability of children to being used in the context of escalating political violence and makes a number of recommendations, which, if implemented, could help to better protect children there.
The paper was prepared following a field visit to Lebanon in April 2007, during which Coalition staff visited Beirut and the Palestinian refugee camps of Shatila, Mar Elias and Burj el-Barajneh. The Coalition met numerous local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), UN staff, children, families, Lebanese authorities and political parties.
The Optional Protocol states that “States Parties shall ensure that persons who have not attained the age of 18 years are not compulsorily recruited into their armed forces”.
In relation to armed groups, the Protocol establishes that “Armed groups that are distinct from the armed forces of a State should not, under any circumstances, recruit or use in hostilities persons under the age of 18 years.
The campaign, launched by Permanent Peace Movement in March 2007, targets all sectors of Lebanese society, including community groups, political parties, the media, NGOs and other national stakeholders. It aims to raise awareness of the importance of protecting all children in Lebanon from violence and build a consensus around the need to ratify and implement the Optional Protocol as the most effective international legal instrument to stop and prevent the involvement of children in armed conflict. Permanent Peace Movement has recently created a network of Lebanese organisations to raise awareness of the involvement of children in armed conflict in Lebanon and the need to put in place effective protection and prevention measures. PPM has also initiated the creation of the Middle East Network on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict.
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: http://www.child-soldiers.org
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=15118
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**NEWS IN BRIEF**
Child Soldiers: Call for more States to sign pact (2 October 2007)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=15024&flag=news
UNICEF: "Will you listen?” – Young Voices from Conflict Zones (October 2007)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=15056&flag=report
Human Rights Council: Joint statement on children and armed conflict in Colombia (September 2007)
English: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=14984&flag=news
Spanish: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=14985&flag=news
Sudan: Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Sudan (September 2007)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=14895&flag=report
Cote d'Ivoire: Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict (September 2007)
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=14823&flag=report
Security Council: The next meeting of the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict will be held in November - updates will be available here: http://www.crin.org/themes/ViewTheme.asp?id=11
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