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SRSG Coomaraswamy. 10 September 2009 Recommendations: I am heartened by the fact that as of August 2009, there are no more known cases of children associated with armed groups in Burundi. The Government of Burundi, with the assistance of the United Nations country team in Burundi, the World Bank and partners, should undertake, as a priority, to ensure that all 626 children formerly associated with armed groups are fully reintegrated and that a viable protection and prevention system is in place to reduce the vulnerability of children to any possible new recruitment or rerecruitment. The Government of Burundi, with support from its partners, should continue to ensure that children formerly associated with armed groups and other children identified as highly vulnerable are prioritized in longer-term community-based reintegration programmes, in compliance with the Paris Principles on children associated with armed forces or armed groups. In the light of the above, the Security Council Working Group on children and armed conflict may wish, as a matter of follow-up on the gains and progress made in the protection of children in Burundi, to consider a visit to Burundi in the coming months to follow up on the progress made there in the reintegration of all children released from armed groups, to establish lessons learned. The Government of Burundi, the United Nations system and child protection actors should also include the girls and boys formerly associated with armed groups, as appropriate, in any future community-based peacebuilding activities, such as youth ambassadors for peace. A comprehensive strategy to combat sexual violence that ensures an end to impunity through the prosecution of perpetrators and that takes measures to provide support for girl and boy victims of sexual violence should be formulated and implemented by the Government of Burundi with the support of the United Nations country team. I invite the Government of Burundi to establish rules and regulations to prevent the use of children in electoral violence, with specific attention to the need to prevent the utilization of children formerly associated with armed groups during the conflict. The Government of Burundi is urged to ensure that children who are prosecuted for association with armed groups and crimes are treated in accordance with international standards specific to the rights of the child, in particular with regard to the age of criminal responsibility, due process and the principle of deprivation of liberty as a measure of last resort. In addition, the participation, as appropriate, and protection of child victims and witnesses in justice processes should be conducted in line with the United Nations guidelines for justice involving child victims and witnesses of crime. I commend the leadership demonstrated by the Government of Burundi in ensuring, in cooperation with BINUB and the United Nations country team, systematic predeployment training for its peacekeeping troops, I call upon the Government of Burundi to consider, in conjunction with like-minded Member States and troop-contributing countries, forming a contact group within the C-34 committee to further advocate the need for systematic predeployment training on child protection for all peacekeeping troops. (paragraphs 49 to 56)