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Political violence has sharply escalated recently in Lebanon. A prominent parliamentarian, Antoine Ghanem, and at least six others were killed on 19 September 2007 in a car bomb attack in a series of political assassinations in Beirut for which no group has claimed responsibility. Government troops and the Fatah al-Islam armed group fought in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp for over three months until the army took control of the camp on 2 September 2007. At least 300 people, including an unknown number of civilians, had died in and around the camp as a result of the fighting. Six peacekeepers of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were killed by a car bomb in southern Lebanon in June 2007; no group claimed responsibility for the attack. Internally, the polarisation of Lebanese society around its political parties, which are divided along religious and communal lines, is mounting. Lebanese democracy, based on a delicate distribution of powers and institutions among communities, is increasingly fragile, with parties shifting their allegiances and publicly denouncing one another. Externally, Lebanon continues to be drawn into the region‟s multiple conflicts. Israel and Hezbollah continue to pose a threat to each other and to stability in the country following a 33-day war in 2006. Syria continues to have an influence on Lebanese politics, which the Lebanese political parties acknowledge openly, despite its withdrawal of troops in 2006. This briefing paper describes how the current crisis in Lebanon may increase the vulnerability of children to being used in the context of escalating political violence and makes a number of recommendations, which, if implemented, could help to better protect children there. The paper was prepared following a field visit to Lebanon in April 2007, during which Coalition staff visited Beirut and the Palestinian refugee camps of Shatila, Mar Elias and Burj el-Barajneh. The Coalition met numerous local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), UN staff, children, families, Lebanese authorities and political parties. This briefing paper aims to support the national campaign for the ratification and implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (Optional Protocol) by Lebanon, launched by the Lebanese independent NGO, Permanent Peace Movement (PPM), with which the Coalition collaborates. The Protocol establishes that “States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that members of their armed forces who have not attained the age of 18 years do not take part in hostilities”. The Protocol also states that “States Parties shall ensure that persons who have not attained the age of 18 years are not compulsorily recruited into their armed forces”. In relation to armed groups, the Protocol establishes that “Armed groups that are distinct from the armed forces of a State should not, under any circumstances, recruit or use in hostilities persons under the age of 18 years. The campaign, launched by Permanent Peace Movement in March 2007, targets all sectors of Lebanese society, including community groups, political parties, the media, NGOs and other national stakeholders. It aims to raise awareness of the importance of protecting all children in Lebanon from violence and build a consensus around the need to ratify and implement the Optional Protocol as the most effective international legal instrument to stop and prevent the involvement of children in armed conflict. Permanent Peace Movement has recently created a network of Lebanese organisations to raise awareness of the involvement of children in armed conflict in Lebanon and the need to put in place effective protection and prevention measures. PPM has also initiated the creation of the Middle East Network on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. Further information
pdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/Coalition_child_soldiers_lebanon.pdf