Summary: At its forty-eighth session, the
General Assembly adopted
resolution 48/157
entitled "Protection of children
affected by armed conflicts". In
paragraph 10 of the resolution, the
General Assembly
invited the Commission on Human
Rights to consider the study at
its fifty-first session. This is the
report. Economic and social Council
E/CN.4/1995/112
28 December 1994
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Fifty-first session
Item 24 of the provisional agenda
RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
Impact on children of armed conflict
Report of the Secretary-General
1. At its forty-eighth session, the General Assembly adopted
resolution 48/157 entitled "Protection of children affected by
armed conflicts". The Assembly expressed its grave concern
about the tragic situation of children in many parts of the world
as a result of armed conflicts; urged all Member States to
continue seeking comprehensive improvement of the situation,
taking appropriate and concrete measures to alleviate it; and
requested bodies and organizations of the United Nations, as
well as intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations,
within the scope of their respective mandates to cooperate in
order to ensure more effective action in addressing the problem
of children affected by armed conflicts.
2. In the same resolution, the Assembly requested the Secretary-
General to appoint an expert, working in collaboration with the
Centre for Human Rights and the United Nations Children's Fund,
to undertake a comprehensive study of this question, including
the participation of children in armed conflict, as well as the
relevance and adequacy of existing standards, and to make
specific recommendations on ways and means of preventing
children from being affected by armed conflicts and of improving
the protection of children in armed conflicts and on measures to
ensure effective protection of these children, including
indiscriminate use of all weapons of war, especially anti-
personnel mines, and to promote their physical and psychological
recovery and social reintegration, in particular, measures to
ensure proper medical care and adequate nutrition, taking into
account the recommendations by the World Conference on
Human Rights and the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The
Assembly requested Member States and United Nations bodies
and organizations, as well as other relevant intergovernmental
and non-governmental organizations, including the Committee on
the Rights of the Child, the United Nations Children's Fund, the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the
World Health Organization and the International Committee of
the Red Cross, to contribute to the Study.
3. Ms. Graça Machel (Mozambique) has been appointed to
undertake the study in question.
4. In accordance with paragraph 9 of the resolution, a progress
report on the study was submitted to the General Assembly at its
forty-ninth session (A/49/643), which will be available to the
Commission at its fifty-first session. Subsequent to the
submission of this progress report, the expert conducted a field
visit to Rwanda and to the refugee camps in the United Republic
of Tanzania and Zaire. The expert also convened the first meeting
of her Technical Advisory Group, which will advise her on matters
of scope and substance throughout the study.
5. In paragraph 10 of the resolution, the General Assembly
invited the Commission on Human Rights to consider the study at
its fifty-first session.
Owner: Economic and Social Council