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[MANILA, 15 May 2008] - The Philippines has sought its removal from a United Nations monitoring list of nations for having children involved in armed conflict. Philippine permanent representative to the UN ambassador Hilario Davide Jr called for the country's delisting during a meeting of the UN Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict in New York on 8 May. "In view of my country's legal firewall for the protection of children, the relative calm in the country and the cultural values placing children as the centerpiece of a family's attention, the Philippines should be dropped from Annex 2 so that the Working Group could train its eyes on other countries facing worse circumstances in regard to children and armed conflict," Davide said in a statement posted on the Philippine mission website. During the meeting, Davide also reaffirmed Manila's extreme sensitivity to the needs of Filipino children, particularly those trapped or maybe trapped in armed conflict. "The Philippines condemns non-state actors in the country who recruit, abduct, and use children, yet deny their illegal and unjustifiable deeds," he said. The Philippines was included in the Annex 2 shortly after the Security Council adopted Resolution 1612 in 2005 as a result of the actions and activities of the New People's Army (NPA), the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Abu Sayyaf Group. Davide cited the legal structure in the Philippines designed to protect children, particularly the 1987 Constitution and laws that aim to protect the nation's most valuable resource. He also mentioned the activities of government agencies including the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which is reintegrating and rehabilitating children involved in conflicts. With these in place, Davide said "it is a matter coming together and working with and among ourselves and the international community so that we can insure that the children are not affected by armed conflict and those that are, are given the proper treatment that they require." At the same meeting, the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, cited the constructive approach of the Philippine government in addressing the issue, particularly in agreeing to the launching of the monitoring "Let me also add that there is a substantial national capacity in the Philippines to deal with issues relating to children and we want to particularly commend the Commission on Human Rights for addressing questions related to children and armed conflict," the official said. Coomaraswamy also commended the Philippine government, a signatory to all core child protection instruments, for creating an exemplary framework of laws and policies that should provide for the protection of children in conflict. She said the inclusion of the Philippines in the Annex 2 countries in Resolution 1612 is not intended to embarrass the Philippine government but just to point out a situation wherein children are involved in armed conflict in the country and that non-state actors are the Also, she agreed with Davide that "recruitment and use of children as soldiers by the MILF, the Abu Sayyaf Group and the New People's Army continued from 2005 to 2007." Citing a study by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Coomaraswamy said "many children fighting with the MILF are orphans who are trained militarily, expected to do auxiliary assignments and defend the community when it comes under attack." On the NPA, she said the UNICEF study "points to a large number of children at risk being used as porters, cooks, and message carriers. Thirty-one children who were combatants with the NPA were taken in by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and a large percentage were girls." "The international community should support, as a priority, national processes and national institutions in the Philippines to deliver the promises contained in the provisions of their law," Coomaraswamy said. "The Philippines has the national capacity to deal with these issues and therefore their efforts should be supported and enhanced by their international partners," she added. The UN Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict includes France as chair and the following members of the Security Council—Belgium, Burkina Faso, People's Republic of China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Indonesia, Italy, Libya, Panama, Russian Federation, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam. Further information
and reporting mechanism and in welcoming her visit to Manila later this year.
culpable parties.
pdf: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/95339/RP-seeks-delisting-from-UN-list-of-cou...Association: GMANews.TV