International NGOs highlight child protection issues with UN Security Council in El Fashir, North Darfur
On Friday 9 June, SCS and six other INGOs in Darfur met with UN Security Council delegation in El Fashir, North Darfur. The Security Council had visited Juba and Khartoum, before ending up in Darfur for an update of the situation in the conflict stricken area. Save the Children Sweden addressed the members of the delegation on child protection issues, focusing on:
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The ongoing recruitment of children to the armed forces – many children have been killed and many others abducted following attacks on villages. The Government of Sudan has committed itself to criminalisation of recruitment of children to the armed forces, by signing the optional protocol to the CRC on children in armed conflict;
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Disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) and reunification – children must be demobilised and reintegrated with their families and communities. A rigorous system of independent monitoring of DDR must be put in place. Provisions of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) are not sufficiently rigorous. Many children in armed conflict are separated from their families. There is an urgent need for the state to take responsibilities for setting up family tracing and reunification services. The DPA’s provisions for this are not adequate;
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Child labour – conflict, displacement and impoverishment have increased child labour. Poor families/ households depend heavily on income from children’s work. Children who work in these conditions are at risk of abuse, exploitation and recruitment to the armed forces. They are also at physical risk as many sexual and physical attacks on children take place when they are working; and
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Sexual violence against girls – more than one third of the reported sexual attacks in 2005 were carried out against girls below the age of 18.
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