14 October 2009 - CRIN Children and Armed Conflict 134
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**NEWS IN BRIEF**
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UGANDA: Report of the UN Secretary-General on children and armed conflict [publication]
This report has been prepared pursuant to Security Council resolution 1612 (2005) and covers the period from December 2008 to June 2009.
The Ugandan People's Defence Forces (UPDF) and its auxiliary forces, the local defence units, have been removed from the annexes to the eighth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict (A/63/785-S/2009/158). That delisting follows the signing in January 2009 of an action plan in line with Security Council resolutions 1539 (2004) and 1612 (2005) between the Government of Uganda and the United Nations country-level task force on monitoring and reporting. The present report outlines the implementation of that action plan and the follow-up activities to the conclusions and recommendations of the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict with regard to Uganda (S/AC.51/2008/13).
The report highlights that the cooperation with the Government of Uganda has been very effective and has allowed the United Nations and its partners to successfully verify that no more children are present in the ranks of UPDF or its auxiliary forces and that no cases of recruitment or use of children have been reported since August 2007.
The report also shows that the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) remains very active in the region, despite the fact that no military activity has been reported on Ugandan territory since the signing of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in August 2006. Violent incidents of killing and maiming of children, abductions, recruitment and grave sexual violence are regularly reported in neighbouring countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic and in southern Sudan. The report emphasizes the regional dimension of LRA activities and how United Nations actors and country-level task forces on monitoring and reporting are increasingly working on regional coordination for information-sharing, data collection and the repatriation of abducted children to their countries of origin.
The report ends with a series of recommendations that aim to address the remaining challenges in Uganda and the region for enhancing the protection of children.
[Source: UN Security Council]
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=21066
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PARIS COMMITMENTS: Member States commit to greater efforts to release and reintegrate child soldiers [news]
[NEW YORK, 29 September 2009] – A number of United Nations Member States added their names to the ‘Paris Commitments’ to protect children from recruitment and use by armed forces or armed groups in September, at a Ministerial level meeting at UN Headquarters. The number of States to have endorsed the commitments has increased to 84, the latest being Albania, the Central African Republic, Eritrea, Guinea, Jamaica, Liechtenstein, Panama and Senegal.
The Paris Commitments were adopted in Paris in February 2007, and are an expression of strengthened international resolve to prevent the recruitment of children and highlight the actions governments can and should take to protect children affected by conflict. The Paris Principles* are the operational guidelines related to sustainable reintegration of children formerly associated with armed forces and groups.
Tens of thousands of children worldwide are being used in armed conflict by more than 50 parties. Their release and reintegration, as well as the protection of other vulnerable children affected by armed conflict, remains an issue of grave concern to the international community. More resources must be dedicated to long-term reintegration programmes.
“The support to the ‘Paris Principles’ and new endorsements of the ‘Paris Commitments’ show that the international community is mobilized to stop this unbearable phenomenon,” said Mr. Alain Joyandet, French Minister of State for Cooperation and Francophonie.
Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict explained that the political determination that underlay the ‘Paris Commitments’ strengthened the existing child protection framework. She added that groups that recruited or used children in armed conflict must be held accountable. “Holding perpetrators of such a crime accountable has an important deterrence effect. The stronger the message, the more children will be saved.”
The event also served as an exchange of lessons-learned on the implementation of the ‘Paris Principles’. Mr. Walter A. Füllemann, ICRC Head of Delegation to the United Nations, speaking on behalf of the Paris Principles Steering Group, called for a holistic approach that includes national legislative reforms and successful reintegration of children formerly associated with armed groups and armed forces into their communities as a preventive measure. “Vulnerable children are more exposed to recruitment. We need long term prevention and reintegration programs to better protect them.”
“It is important that all children, whether they have joined an armed group by force or by circumstance, have access to vital assistance to help them reintegrate and lead empowered and productive lives,” said Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF. “Reintegration for children is a long-term process and can only be successful if it is sustainable, inclusive and community-based.”
[Source: UNICEF]
*CRIN note: Not to be confused with the Paris Principles relating to National Human Rights Institutions.
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=21073&flag=news
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RUSSIAN FEDERATION: Monitoring of IDPs still needed [publication]
At least 80,000 people are still internally displaced in Russia, more than 15 years after they were first forced to flee their homes. While large-scale hostilities ended several years ago, violence is still extensive in the North Caucasus and human rights abuses continue with perpetrators enjoying impunity. The economy is improving in Chechnya and reconstruction has brought impressive results in Grozny, but corruption and weak local governance continue to delay full recovery.
Over 275,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) have returned to Chechnya and North Ossetia, mainly since 1999, but most continue to live in inadequate temporary accommodation. Some returnees to Chechnya report they were under pressure to return from the local authorities, but promises of adequate alternative housing in Chechnya did not always materialise, while compensation programmes have been insufficient to fund permanent housing.
IDPs and returnees also lack stable incomes and some still face difficulty in obtaining and recovering documents needed to access their economic, social and political rights. The lack of documents limits IDPs’ chances of receiving property compensation, utilities subsidies, a full pension and other social benefits, and of being able to conduct legal transactions. Continued monitoring of IDPs and returnees is needed to ensure they can increasingly enjoy their rights on a par with their non-displaced neighbours.
Information on children in the report, includes:
- A positive development has been the restoration of the social benefit system across the region, which includes payments for children, veterans, and elderly, disabled and unemployed people. They are paid almost regularly and relatively reliably despite ensuing corruption (FEWER, 26 June 2009).
- About 80 per cent of children in Chechnya reportedly need some form of psychological help (UNICEF, 2006).
- UNICEF reported that 15,000 children have benefited from 31 psycho-social centres, and more are to be established (UNICEF, 2009; UN, 29 January 2009). However, there is a shortage of specialists in this area (WHO, November 2008). IDPs outside of Chechnya report that the psychological trauma they suffered needs to be treated, but is ignored as psycho-social assistance is seen as a luxury. There are two medico-psychological rehabilitation centres for people with forced migrant status, in Moscow and Krasnodar (FMS, no date,information accessed August 2009).
- All IDP children are entitled to free education within the mainstream school system throughout Russia. A small number of children in Chechnya do not go to school because of family issues, repeated change of residence, lack of residence registration or poverty (UNICEF, 2009).
- The main problems with schools are the lack of hot meals for children, lack of methodological literature and learning materials for teachers, inadequate training opportunities for teachers and a high teacher-student ratio (UNICEF, 2009). Currently, the government is repairing 142 out of 437 schools in Chechnya.
- The establishment of Child Rights Ombudsman’s offices in the North Caucasus is a significant development, but their capacity to monitor and report on child rights-related violations could be strengthened.
For more information, contact:
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
Chemin de Balexert, 7-9, 1219 Chatelaine, Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: +41 (22) 799 07 00; Fax: +41 (22) 799 07 01
Website: http://www.internal-displacement.org/
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=21072&flag=report
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UN COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD: Concluding Observations for OPAC reports [publications]
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has issued its Concluding Observations for its 52nd session. Follow the links below to read those related to State party's reports on the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children and armed conflict.
Search the CRIN website for other Concluding Observations here: http://www.crin.org/resources/treaties/index.asp
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LIBERIA: Dreams Deferred - Educational and skills building needs and opportunities for youth [publication]
As part of a global, multi-year research and advocacy project focused on strengthening educational and job training programmes for displaced, conflict-affected young people, the Women’s Refugee Commission undertook a field mission to the Republic of Liberia to look at young people’s education and skills-building needs and opportunities. With the demobilisation, disarmament, rehabilitation and reintegration process, which was completed in July 2009, now an opportune time to take stock of the youth employment training that has been ongoing since the end of Liberia’s 14-year civil war in 2003—and to find better ways forward.
While connecting youth to wage employment is challenging given the weak job market in Liberia, the Women’s Refugee Commission, through interviews with national and international organisations, local businesses and young people, identified a number of sectors with potential high labour demand for young people. Specific fields are listed in this report, with special attention to the needs of young people in rural areas where wage jobs in traditional trades are nearly non-existent.
The assessment found that the most successful training programs are those that offer a holistic package of services with literacy/numeracy and life skills in addition to market-driven livelihoods skills training. The best programmes also ensure close linkages between services and pay special attention to graduates’ progress over an extended period after completion of training. The assessment also identified lessons learned and offers recommendations to strengthen future projects and programmes.
For more information, contact:
Women's Refugee Commission
122 East 42nd Street, 12th Floor, New York NY 10168 - 1289
Tel: + 1 212 551 3140
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.womenscommission.org
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=21068&flag=report
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GREECE: Unsafe and unwelcoming shores [publication]
The European Union should press the newly elected Greek government to end the abusive detention and summary expulsions of migrants, including unaccompanied children, and to reform the country's broken asylum system, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
In a large-scale crackdown between June and August 2009, the Greek authorities arrested hundreds of migrants across the country, evicting them from run-down dwellings in Athens, bulldozing a makeshift camp in Patras, and detaining new arrivals on the islands. Unaccompanied children caught up in the crackdown were among the many subsequently transferred to detention centers in the north, close to the Turkish border. From there, in secret nighttime operations, the Greek police forced dozens of migrants - possibly hundreds, including unaccompanied children and potential refugees - across the border into Turkey.
"Greece's illegal expulsions have reached a new level," said Simone Troller, researcher at Human Rights Watch, "Migrants are now being arrested throughout the country and then pushed back to Turkey. Clearly, people who need protection are not safe in Greece."
Greece's dysfunctional asylum system is entirely in the hands of police, who create obstacles to filing asylum claims and deny asylum seekers fair hearings and assessments of their claims. More than 99 per cent of asylum seekers are denied after their first interview. In July, the previous government effectively abolished asylum appeal procedures, a standard requirement under European and international human rights law. The action left adults and children alike with no effective remedy and at risk of being deported to places where their lives and safety may be at risk.
Human Rights Watch interviewed 16 persons who were detained in Greece's northern border region between July and September. Two of them described to us how Greek police forced them across the Evros River into Turkey. The Turkish authorities then sent them back to Afghanistan. Eight others said they saw Greek police taking other migrants away from detention centers at nightfall in trucks or vans. Four of them said that those who were taken away later got in touch with detainees who stayed behind and told them the police had expelled them to Turkey.
These new accounts are consistent with Human Rights Watch's previous documentation of Greece's systematic and illegal expulsion of migrants and refugees in a November 2008 report, "Stuck in a Revolving Door: Iraqis and Other Asylum Seekers and Migrants at the Greece/Turkey Entrance to the European Union". At that time, Human Rights Watch conducted private and confidential interviews in various locations in both Greece and Turkey with 41 asylum seekers and refugees, all of whom gave consistent accounts of Greek authorities taking them to Evros River at night and forcing them across. The recent interviews present new evidence that Greek authorities are now not only expelling migrants caught near the border, but also those, including potential refugees and unaccompanied children, apprehended in other parts of the country.
Migrants, including asylum seekers and children who were held in detention facilities in northern Greece, also told Human Rights Watch of overcrowded, unhygienic conditions with insufficient food and untreated health problems. Several spoke of ill-treatment by guards. These reports are consistent with Human Rights Watch's earlier documentation of detention conditions for and ill-treatment of migrants and unaccompanied children.
Greece's asylum system and detention conditions clearly breach EU law as well as European and international human rights standards, Human Rights Watch said. Yet, despite ongoing criticism and a recent worsening of the situation in both law and practice, the European Commission remained silent and failed to hold Greece to account.
"Greece's abusive detention and illegal expulsion of migrants has gone unchecked for too long," said Troller. "With a new government in place, ending this abuse, protecting migrant children, and reforming asylum practices should be urgent priorities for Athens, and for Brussels."
Human Rights Watch called on the new government in Greece to put an immediate halt to the illegal expulsions across the Evros River. Greece should also enforce the prohibition on exposing people to a risk of ill-treatment, both in Greece or as a result of being removed from Greece. And it should guarantee access for all migrants to the asylum procedure, and restore a meaningful appeals process.
For more information, contact:
Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor, New York, NY 10118-3299, USA
Tel: + 1 212 216 1837
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.hrw.org
Further information
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=21065
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**NEWS IN BRIEF**
New on CRIN:
CRIN Review 23: Measuring Maturity - Understanding children's 'evolving capacities'
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=21049&flag=report
Toolkit on non-discrimination
http://www.crin.org/discrimination/
CRC20: Launch of UN event celebrating 20th birthday of CRC
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=21035&flag=news
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