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Summary: The information below is based on the 2011 report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council (A/65/820-S/2011/250) issued on 23 April 2011. More information is available in the report.
Scroll down for UN documents on Children and Armed Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Child protection actors recorded 447 cases of child recruitment (including 49 girls) so far in 2010, representing about half of the number of recruitment cases reported in my last report (S/2010/181). This difference can be attributed to the surge of recruitments just before FARDC fast track integration in 2009. Of the recruitments that took place in 2010, 311 took place in North Kivu Province, 74 in South Kivu Province, 60 in Orientale Province and 1 in Bandundu Province. One child was reportedly recruited in Uganda and separated in North Kivu. Perpetrators include FARDC, FDLR, PARECO, Mai-Mai, LRA, FRPI/FPJC, CNDP, Police nationale congolaise, ADF/NALU and unidentified armed elements. The majority of children recruited in 2010 were used in military operations and were recruited more than once by the same or other groups. Of particular note is the ongoing recruitment and threats of re-recruitment, including from schools, in Masisi and Rutshuru territories by former elements of CNDP that have been integrated into FARDC. For example, in November 2010 in this area, at least 79 children who had been reunified with their families returned to transit centres for fear of re-recruitment. A total of 26 cases of killing of children and 16 cases of maiming of children by armed forces and groups were documented in 2010 (compared to 23 cases of killing and 12 cases of maiming in 2009). Of the 26 cases, 13 were attributed to FARDC, 5 to LRA, 2 to ADF/NALU, 2 to FRPI/FPJC, 2 to PARECO, and 1 each to FDLR and Mai-Mai groups, respectively. Seven cases of maiming were reportedly perpetrated by FARDC, four by FDLR, three by Mai-Mai, one by PARECO and one by an unidentified group. Sexual violence against children by security forces (army and the Police nationale congolaise) and armed groups continued to be a serious concern in 2010. A total of 141 cases (including two against boys) were recorded in 2010 by child protection actors, compared to 134 cases in 2009. Of the 141 cases, 73 occurred in North Kivu Province, 35 in Orientale Province (13 in Ituri and 22 in Haut and Bas Uélé), and 33 in South Kivu Province. Sixty-seven cases of sexual violence against children were allegedly perpetrated by FARDC, followed by FDLR (20 cases), LRA (15 cases), Police nationale congolaise (12 cases), PARECO (4 cases), FRPI (2 cases), Mai-Mai factions (1 case), ADF/NALU (1 case) and Agence nationale de renseignement (1 case). On 10 January 2010, an element of the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) reportedly raped a 16-year-old girl in Haut Uélé territory, Orientale Province. In 15 cases, perpetrators remained unidentified. Twenty-six children who were victims of sexual violence, including one boy, were under the age of 10. In addition to the 141 cases of sexual violence against children that occurred in 2010, 89 other cases that occurred in 2009 and earlier were also documented in 2010. Ensuring accountability for perpetrators of crimes against children remained problematic. Despite the large number of reported cases of child recruitment, particularly by FARDC commanders involved in “Amani Leo” operations, no judicial action has been initiated against them. Bosco Ntaganda, Innocent Zimurinda and Beaudoin Ngaruye, all of whom are suspected of recruitment and use of children, remained in the command structure of FARDC. On the positive side, 28 security forces were arrested for sexual abuses against children (19 in South Kivu Province and 9 in Province Orientale). Among those arrested, 20 FARDC and two Police nationale congolaise elements were convicted. In addition, in the Kivus, two FARDC elements and one member of the Mai-Mai were convicted for the killing and maiming of children. In 2010, at least 14 schools and 9 hospitals (10 in North Kivu, 8 in Ituri, 5 in South Kivu) were attacked by armed forces and groups (7 by FRPI/FPJC, 7 by FARDC, 3 by PARECO, 1 by FRF, 2 by FDLR, 3 unidentified). The attacks included 10 cases in which the buildings were destroyed, 18 cases of looting and 7 cases of occupation of the buildings. Humanitarian access continued to be hampered in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo throughout 2010, not only as a consequence of armed group activity and military operations against these groups, but also because of the direct targeting of humanitarian staff. The number of recorded security incidents against humanitarian partners increased in 2010 by 10 per cent compared to 2009. All parties to the conflict targeted humanitarian personnel, severely limiting the provision of aid to vulnerable populations. While the national security forces and armed groups accounted for some cases (mostly FDLR and Mai-Mai), the majority remains unidentified. The trend was particularly worrisome in North and South Kivu, with Masisi, Rutshuru and Fizi territories being most affected. In South Kivu alone, the number of attacks against aid workers more than doubled in 2010 compared to 2009. In the Haut and Bas Uélé districts of Orientale Province, insecurity owing to the threat attributed to LRA and other tensions severely restricted the movement of humanitarian staff throughout the year. The provision of humanitarian assistance by United Nations agencies in the east has continued to depend largely on the capacity of MONUSCO to deploy troops to escort relief convoys and secure the areas where assistance is being delivered. The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has not been forthcoming in engaging with the United Nations on an action plan to end the recruitment and use of children by the Forces armées de la République démocratique du Congo (FARDC), despite advocacy by child protection actors, including the country task force on monitoring and reporting, over the last several years. While efforts have been ongoing to professionalize FARDC, these efforts have not consistently involved a formal process to remove all children from FARDC units. Many children continue to be recruited and remain associated with FARDC units, particularly within former Congrès national pour la défense du peuple (CNDP) units. Many children released in 2010 reported that they had been recruited several times, even after family reunification. This reaffirms the urgent need for a political commitment at the highest levels of the Government in order to move forward on the action plan and ensure its coherence with ongoing security sector reform efforts. In a positive move, new military directives were issued by the “Amani Leo” chain of command ordering the release of all children remaining in FARDC units. A total of 1,656 children (including 47 from Rwanda, 5 from Uganda and 2 from Central African Republic) escaped or were separated from armed forces and groups during the year. Of these, 71 per cent were released in North Kivu Province; 17 per cent in Orientale Province; 8 per cent in South Kivu Province; 2 per cent in Katanga Province; and the remaining 2 per cent in other provinces. A number of factors may have contributed to the higher number of children released in North Kivu, including the comparative ease of access to locations in North Kivu, and the greater number of child protection actors in the province from which children can seek protection and assistance. These children were released or escaped from the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) (29 per cent); FARDC (21 per cent); the Coalition des patriotes résistants congolais (PARECO)-Mai-Mai (18 per cent); remaining Mai-Mai factions (15 per cent); Forces de résistance patriotique en Ituri/Front populaire pour la justice au Congo (FRPI/FPJC) (13 per cent); the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) (3 per cent); and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF)/National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU), the Forces républicaines fédéralistes (FRF), non-integrated elements of CNDP and the national police (1 per cent). Of the 1,656 children, only 240 were separated by child protection actors, while the large majority escaped and approached United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) bases or service providers for assistance. Four hundred forty-seven of the children released reported that they were recruited in 2010, indicating that 73 per cent of the children were therefore recruited before 2010 and have been associated with armed forces and groups for one to four years. Access to girls associated with armed forces and groups remained a challenge, as indicated by the small number of girls (121) among the children released. In addition to the 1,656 children released in 2010, 387 children who had separated from armed groups or forces in 2009 were also registered by the country task force on monitoring and reporting in 2010. As part of MONUSCO support to FARDC during “Amani Leo” military operations, a conditionality policy issued pursuant to Security Council resolution 1925 (2010) required the screening of all FARDC units to verify the presence of children and, if found, their separation from FARDC ranks. Although over 50 attempts of screening were carried out in coordination with the FARDC units supported by MONUSCO, only five children were separated during the exercise. That was owed mainly to troops not being made available for screening. Despite numerous attempts to coordinate with FARDC and implement new military directives and the conditionality policy, no formal organized operation to separate children in 2010 took place; as a result, children continued to be present in the ranks of FARDC. * Parties that recruit and use children. UN documents on Children and Armed Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo:Information on progress made by parties to conflict on dialogue and action plans to halt the recruitment and use of children, patterns of killing and maiming of children or rape and other forms of sexual violence against children in armed conflict
Information on progress made in the release of children from armed forces and armed groups
Parties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
‡ Parties that commit rape and other forms of sexual violence against children.
pdf: http://www.un.org/children/conflict/english/index.html