TAccording to the office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-
General forChildren and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, the next UN
Security Council debate is scheduled to take place on 23 February 2005 in
New York, and will be chaired by Benin. In the recent years, the Security
Council has played an increasingly important role in condemning the use of
children as soldiers, and has passed five resolutions.
The role of the Special Representative (SRSG) is to assess progress
achieved and difficulties encountered in strengthening the protection of
children in situations of armed conflict, to raise awareness and encourage
the development of networking, and foster international cooperation to
ensure the protection and rehabilitation of children affected by conflict.
In collaboration with the Special Representative, the UN Secretary-General
submits an annual report to the Security Council pursuant to paragraph 15
of Security Council resolution 1379 (2001). This report reviews activities
and
progress made during the reporting period in the protection of children
affected by situations of armed conflict and in post-conflict situations, as
well as in the implementation of previous resolutions.
The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers will be actively lobbying
around the next debate, as it has for the past three years. This year's
campaign message is intended to be linked with the anniversary of the
entry into force of an international treaty banning child soldiers (the
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the
involvement of children in armed conflict).
The Coalition's main recommendation is to continue the annual Secretary-
General's report with its two annexed lists that identify the parties to
armed conflict and other situations of concern that are using child soldiers.
The other advocacy aim of the Coalition is to ask member nations of the
Security Council to put some teeth into the Security Council resolutions,
both as a body and as individual governments, particularly as international
accountability will be on the agenda at this year's meeting.
According to the Coalition, concrete consequences for continuing to flout UN
demands to release children from the ranks should be exacted against
those army and armed group commanders who ignore repeated Security
Council condemnations. The last resolution adopted in 2004 promised such
action, suggesting travel restrictions and arms embargoes in Afghanistan,
Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and
Somalia.
The report of the Secretary-General has not been made public yet, but will
be made available on the website of the Security Council at the following:
http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/sgrep05.htm
To view last years' statement by the SRSG to the Security Council, entitled
"Making the 'era of application' a reality for war-affected children",
visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=5070
pdf: www.un.org/special-rep/children-armed-conflict/KeyDocuments/Resolution/S...