CRINMAIL 163:

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UN Security Council annual debate on children and armed conflict

This year's debate on Children and Armed Conflict at the UN Security Council was held on September 19.

The Security Council adopted a resolution strongly condemning violations of international law against children in armed conflict, calling on States to bring persistent perpetrators of violations to justice, including those who recruit and use children, kill and maim, commit sexual violence or attack schools and hospitals, and reiterating its readiness to take targeted and graduated measures against such perpetrators.

The resolution was adopted by a vote of 11 in favour and none opposed with four abstaining - China, Russia, Azerbaijan, Pakistan. This is the first time a country has ever abstained from a resolution of the Security Council protecting children and armed conflict. Read more.

Click here to watch the webcast of the open debate.

Increase of violence

The scale and frequency of gross human rights violations in Syria has significantly increased in recent weeks, according to a new report by the United Nations independent panel probing abuses committed during the country’s ongoing conflict.

 “Gross violations of human rights have grown in number, in pace and in scale,” the Chair of the Commission, Paulo Pinheiro, told the Human Rights Council. “Civilians, many of them children, are bearing the brunt of the spiralling violence.”"

The report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on Syria states that indiscriminate attacks against civilians are now occurring on a daily basis in many areas of the country including Aleppo, Damascus, Dera, Larakia, Idlib and Homs. The report found reasonable grounds to believe that Government forces and members of the Government-controlled militia known as the Shabiha had committed war crimes, gross violations against human rights and crimes against humanity.

Anti-Government armed groups have also committed war crimes, including murder and torture, Mr. Pinheiro said. In addition, children under 18 years of age are fighting and performing auxiliary roles for anti-Government armed groups.

Violations conducted by Government forces include murder, summary executions, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, sexual violence, violations of children’s rights, pillaging and destruction of civilian objects – including hospitals and schools.

Syria has been wracked by violence, with an estimated 19,000 people, mostly civilians, killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 18 months ago. Read more.

In a report to the Human Rights Council, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay condemned the ongoing human rights violations in northern Mali and called on the Government and the international community to urgently address the crisis.

 “These include cruel punishments, such as amputations, the stoning to death of an unmarried couple, summary executions, recruitment of child soldiers, as well as violations of women’s rights, children’s rights, freedom of expression, the rights to food, health, education, to freedom of religion and belief, and cultural rights”, said Navi Pillay.

In January, fighting between Government forces and Tuareg rebels broke out in northern Mali. The instability and insecurity resulting from the renewed clashes, as well as the proliferation of armed groups in the region and political instability in the wake of a military coup d’état in March, have led over 250,000 Malians to flee to neighbouring countries, with 174,000 Malians estimated to be internally displaced. Read more.

Accountability and prevention of violations against conflict-affected children

Earlier in September, the new Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (SRSG), Leila Zerrougui, delivered a statement to the Human Rights Council, during which she highlighted the need for more action to prevent violations from being committed against conflict-affected children and greater accountability for such violations.

The newly appointed SRSG Zerrougui highlighted the complex set of factors leading to child recruitment and the need to strengthen the capacity of Governments to investigate and prosecute adult recruiters before national courts. Read the statement.

Ms. Zerrougui took up her new functions on 4 September 2012, following four years as the deputy head of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in the Congo, MONUSCO.

Find out more about the new Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui.

Child recruitment in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Following the deepening security, political and diplomatic crisis in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a group of 11 NGOs issued a joint statement to remind the Congolese government of its duty to prevent the involvement of children in armed conflict.

Since the emergence of the 'M23' armed group in April 2012, there have been numerous and credible reports, as well as testimonies, denouncing the recruitment and use of children.

In May 2012, Human Rights Watch revealed that at least 48 children had been forcibly recruited by the M23. But the recruitment of children is also increasing among other armed groups – whether foreign or Congolese – in North Kivu, South Kivu, Province Orientale and Katanga. Read more.

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Louder than words: An agenda to end state use of child soldiers

Child Soldiers International published a new report to mark the 10th anniversary year of the entry into force of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OPAC).

The report, Louder than words: An agenda to end state use of child soldiers, examines the record of states in protecting children from being used in hostilities by their own forces and by state-allied armed groups.

It illustrates that whilst international commitment to ensuring the protection of children is high (over three quarters of the world’s states are party to the Optional Protocol), in practice a significant number of states have yet to translate their words into action. Download the report.

Military Use of Schools in Yemen’s Capital

Government forces and other armed groups deployed in schools in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, during the 2011-2012 uprising, putting students at risk and undermining education. The uprising ended the 33-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

In a new report, “Classrooms in the Crosshairs: Military Use of Schools in Yemen’s Capital”, Human Rights Watch details the occupation of schools by government security forces, militias, and opposition armed groups, risking the lives and education of tens of thousands of students.

Forces on both sides used schools as barracks, bases, surveillance posts, and firing positions. Combatants also stored weapons and ammunition, detained prisoners, and in some cases tortured or otherwise abused detainees on school grounds or in school buildings.

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