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SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- The 1996 Graça Machel study on the impact of armed conflict on children (A/51/306 and Add.1) and the 2007 10-year review of that study (see A/62/228) noted that the changing nature of conflict put children at a higher risk than ever before. Children have become more vulnerable to new tactics of war, including the blurring of lines between military and civilian targets, constriction of humanitarian space and access to affected populations, deliberate targeting of traditional safe havens and critical infrastructures such as educational institutions and medical facilities, and the rise of terrorism as well as counter-terrorism measures. Studies have also shown that armed conflicts hamper the achievement of the eight Millennium Development Goals, six of which promote the rights and well-being of children. Conflicts create an environment in which grave violations are committed against children and, by interrupting or slowing development, children are denied opportunities for a better future. Therefore, the changing nature of conflict and the impact on children continues to be an overarching framework of analysis for the agenda on children and armed conflict.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- Protecting vulnerable populations, and especially children, should be paramount during military operations. New tactics of war, the absence of clear battlefields and increasingly numerous and diverse parties to conflict in terms of their composition, motivations and character have complicated matters. Moreover, the rise of terrorism where civilians are the main victims directly challenges the distinction between military and civilian targets, one of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law. Counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency also blur the line between what is legitimate and what is not in addressing security threats. Raids against predominately civilian targets, including night raids, and the use of aerial bombardment in civilian-populated areas, make children more vulnerable to being killed or maimed and often serve to fuel resentment and conflict.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Rules of engagement of armed forces stipulate that the protection of civilians should remain the foremost consideration in the course of military operations. Increasingly, however, the record indicates that these strictures are inadequate to ensure the safety of children. Moreover, as noted by the Secretary-General in his most recent report on children and armed conflict (A/64/742-S/2010/181), there also seems to be a growing practice of putting children in the direct line of danger, through, for instance, their use for intelligence-gathering in military operations. This includes the interrogation of children separated from armed groups during military actions, in contravention of standards that require the immediate transfer of such children to protection actors.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 6a
- Paragraph text
- [In this regard, the development of standard operating procedures by armed forces is critical in order to put in place additional protection measures for children during military operations. Regional and United Nations peacekeeping missions should also prioritize such measures and procedures in the context of peacekeeping engagements or where international forces are supporting national forces in joint operations. These standard operating procedures may vary from one context to another, but a minimum set of measures should include:] Joint military-civilian assessment of the security risk for populations, and especially children, prior to any military action;
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 6b
- Paragraph text
- [In this regard, the development of standard operating procedures by armed forces is critical in order to put in place additional protection measures for children during military operations. Regional and United Nations peacekeeping missions should also prioritize such measures and procedures in the context of peacekeeping engagements or where international forces are supporting national forces in joint operations. These standard operating procedures may vary from one context to another, but a minimum set of measures should include:] Refraining from engaging in combat and/or using heavy artillery in highly populated areas;
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 6c
- Paragraph text
- [In this regard, the development of standard operating procedures by armed forces is critical in order to put in place additional protection measures for children during military operations. Regional and United Nations peacekeeping missions should also prioritize such measures and procedures in the context of peacekeeping engagements or where international forces are supporting national forces in joint operations. These standard operating procedures may vary from one context to another, but a minimum set of measures should include:] Protecting schools and hospitals as zones of peace;
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 6d
- Paragraph text
- [In this regard, the development of standard operating procedures by armed forces is critical in order to put in place additional protection measures for children during military operations. Regional and United Nations peacekeeping missions should also prioritize such measures and procedures in the context of peacekeeping engagements or where international forces are supporting national forces in joint operations. These standard operating procedures may vary from one context to another, but a minimum set of measures should include:] Refraining from occupying or using schools and health facilities, or their vicinity, for purposes that could turn them into military targets;
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 6e
- Paragraph text
- [In this regard, the development of standard operating procedures by armed forces is critical in order to put in place additional protection measures for children during military operations. Regional and United Nations peacekeeping missions should also prioritize such measures and procedures in the context of peacekeeping engagements or where international forces are supporting national forces in joint operations. These standard operating procedures may vary from one context to another, but a minimum set of measures should include:] Undertaking post-operation evaluations of the impact on civilians, including children;
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 6f
- Paragraph text
- [In this regard, the development of standard operating procedures by armed forces is critical in order to put in place additional protection measures for children during military operations. Regional and United Nations peacekeeping missions should also prioritize such measures and procedures in the context of peacekeeping engagements or where international forces are supporting national forces in joint operations. These standard operating procedures may vary from one context to another, but a minimum set of measures should include:] Developing procedures for the reception, treatment and rapid handover to United Nations child protection actors of children separated from armed groups in the course of military operations.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Member States seem increasingly resolved to better protect vulnerable populations, including through more explicit civilian protection provisions in peacekeeping mandates. In United Nations peacekeeping, this has led to the development of new operational arrangements such as the Joint Protection Teams and Rapid Response and Early Warning Cell of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). The objective of these initiatives is to deepen information as the basis for more effective action; to better coordinate action across civilian, police and military components of peacekeeping operations; and to leverage peacekeeping resources more effectively, in particular the advantage of their physical presence in remote areas where the access of humanitarian actors may be limited. The evolution of the "conditionality policy" in MONUSCO (ensuring that support to national forces will be provided only if they comply with the condition that they protect civilians) is another healthy practice in the development of peacekeeping norms.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Detention of children for alleged association with armed groups or other threats to security remains a significant concern. This includes the use of administrative detention in several conflict scenarios. An unknown number of children have been captured, arrested and detained by security and law enforcement forces in contravention of international standards for juvenile justice.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Detention of children should be in line with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice, which include specific protection with regard to the age of the child, access granted to child protection partners, appropriate legal counsel and provision of psychosocial support and activities. The treatment of children must be based on the objective of their future reintegration into society.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- Child protection actors have regularly raised specific concerns related to conditions of detention, especially in overcrowded facilities, ill-treatment, including torture by adult detainees and corrections personnel, and acts of sexual violence perpetrated in detention facilities. The age of criminal responsibility is also a specific concern, particularly as it relates to children detained on security-related charges. Emphasis should be placed on alternatives to institutionalization of these children and on non-judicial and restorative processes.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Children being detained by multinational forces is also a concern that must be addressed by Member States. In such cases, access by child protection actors to all facilities, including high-security sites, is necessary for ensuring that procedures of detention and due process for children are in line with international standards. Beyond the responsibility and imperative to protect children, this represents a critical issue in respect of the credibility of international and multinational forces.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- A marked characteristic of the changing nature of conflict is deliberate attacks against and destruction of educational infrastructure, including the targeting of schoolchildren and teachers. This is illustrated by data which indicate that over one third of the 72 million out-of-school children of primary school age reside in low-income countries affected by conflict.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- In response to this crisis of education in conflict and other emergency settings, Member States, United Nations entities and civil society organizations have undertaken a concerted campaign in the past several years, which resulted in the adoption by the General Assembly in July 2010 of resolution 64/290 on the right to education in emergency situations. The resolution affirms that attacks on educational buildings is a war crime and threatens the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, including in the context of education for all.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Another positive development is the recent creation of the interdisciplinary Global Coalition for Protecting Education from Attack, comprising United Nations organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and researchers. The Coalition will focus on the prevention of attacks on education, effective response, enhanced monitoring and reporting, increased accountability and development of stronger international norms.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Beyond the destruction of educational facilities through deliberate targeting or as collateral damage during armed confrontation, attacks against education also present other faces. For instance, there are reports of the use of acid and gas on girl students on their way to or at school, as well as shootings and suicide bombings in school premises. In some contexts, schools are a prime recruiting ground of children by armed groups. Elsewhere, school buildings are used as training centres or as military bases, turning them into high-value military targets.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- The motivations for attacking teachers, students and school buildings are numerous and cynical, including to achieve military, political or sociocultural objectives. In some cases, attacks are perpetrated as a means of creating a general climate of insecurity, to destabilize local communities or target them for retribution for perceived support of the Government, or to undermine the Government by destroying symbols of State institutions. The result is a growing disregard for the sanctity of schools, the notion that schools, above all other places, are safe havens for children. The consequence is a growing fear among children to attend school, among teachers to give classes, and among parents to send their children to school.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Attacks against schools and hospitals have been designated as one of six grave violations that are now systematically recorded under the Secretary-General's monitoring and reporting mechanism on grave violations against children in armed conflict. However, such attacks are still underreported and there remains a lack of knowledge concerning the context of attacks, the perpetrators and their specific motivations, and other factors that need to be understood in order to address the problem.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- It is imperative that schools and other educational facilities be considered as zones of peace for children - safe havens even in contexts of conflict and instability. The concept of schools as zones of peace should extend also to school instruction and curricula, with emphasis on peace education and fostering cultures of tolerance. There are examples in numerous contexts of educational institutions being hotbeds for radicalization and recruitment of children, a trend that must be countered.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Sexual violence against children, particularly in the context of armed conflict, continues to be of utmost concern. Such violations are exacerbated in conflict situations by the general security vacuum and the lack of administrative, law enforcement and judicial infrastructures, among other factors.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Sexual violence is often used to achieve military, political and social objectives through, for instance, the targeting of specific ethnicities or terrorizing populations to force displacement. Data indicate that children are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence in and around refugee and internally displaced population settings, and when they are directly associated with armed forces and groups. Child survivors of sexual violence suffer both physical and psychological consequences, which are often debilitating. This is particularly true for girls who have been raped or forced to "marry" combatants, as well as for their children born of rape.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Girls remain the main victims of sexual violence in armed conflict. However, there are increasing reports of sexual abuse committed against boys. This phenomenon is still not adequately understood, and is yet to be comprehensively addressed in advocacy, monitoring, reporting and response. Knowledge about sexual violence against boys continues to be thin, in part because boys are more reluctant to speak out about sexual violence and there is inherently a bias against questioning boys about such abuse.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Another aspect that tends to be underestimated is the trauma boys face as perpetrators or witnesses of sexual violence. They may be forced to commit rapes either directly by their commander or indirectly through peer pressure. Many may be forced to witness sexual violence perpetrated by others. It should be noted that through the jurisprudence of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (1998, Furundzija case), forcing an individual to witness acts of rapes and other sexual violence is considered as sexual torture under international law.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- The previous reports of the Special Representative to the General Assembly emphasized the challenges of collecting data and reporting on sexual violence against children in armed conflict. Part of the problem lies in the fact that these acts are considered in many contexts as strong taboos, and as such survivors and communities are not encouraged to speak out. The lack of trust in judicial process and the fear of reprisals accentuate the culture of silence. Yet, more precise and comprehensive information, including details of incidents and the identity of perpetrators is a prerequisite to combating impunity and for more effective response programming. Monitoring, reporting and response to sexual violence requires both new perspectives and new methodologies, as well as more extensive partnerships across the United Nations system and beyond. For example, in the context of United Nations peacekeeping, collaboration between civilian components and United Nations military and police components may entail the matching of information on sexual violence with intelligence gathered on movements of armed parties, as a contribution to the identification of perpetrators, particularly in remote areas where humanitarian presence is thin. At the same time, more precise incident-related information must be complemented by macro-level information as it relates to the scope and trends of sexual violence. More timely and effective programming and dedication of sufficient resources depends on the deepening of all aspects of the information base on sexual violence.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- In this regard, Security Council resolutions 1882 (2009) and 1888 (2009) challenge United Nations actors to put in place more rigorous monitoring and reporting mechanisms on sexual violence. Resolution 1882 (2009) advances monitoring practice by requiring the Secretary-General to list in his annual report on children and armed conflict parties who commit patterns of rape and other grave acts of sexual violence against children in contravention of international law. The Office of the Special Representative is in the process of developing templates, with the assistance of an international legal expert and former prosecutor of gender cases in the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, for action plans to ensure that parties that are listed will enter into agreements with the United Nations to prevent such violations, hold individuals accountable and take action to provide support to the victims.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Security Council resolution 1888 (2009) also breaks new ground through its establishment of a focused mandate of the Council dedicated to sexual violence in conflict. These developments have brought a new momentum to address this critical issue, and also represent new challenges in terms of coordinated action among a broad array of United Nations and civil society partners. Beyond the specific focus of the Council on addressing impunity of perpetrators of sexual violence, at the level of the General Assembly the new United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) has been established, with a broad mandate to coordinate the global efforts of the United Nations on gender-related issues as a whole.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Although these developments at the level of the General Assembly and Security Council represent critical and complementary advances, it is clear that action at the national level related to the prevention of and response to sexual violence is ultimately of paramount importance. Emphasis must be placed on the development and implementation of comprehensive national strategies to combat sexual violence, particularly in conflict situations and where children are more vulnerable. In this connection, United Nations organizations stand ready to provide technical support to national authorities in developing such strategies, and donors are encouraged to ensure that adequate resources are available for these efforts.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeeping personnel and humanitarian workers remains a challenge and represents a crisis of credibility for the international community as a whole. Since the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to report on such incidents, there has been an increase in the cases that have been reported, especially in the context of abuses in internally displaced person and refugee settings. The creation in 2002 of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Task Force on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Humanitarian Crises represents a step forward in enhancing protection measures. However, even greater commitment is required in implementation of accountability mechanisms and delivery of assistance to survivors. This is a collective responsibility of United Nations entities, regional organizations in the context of their peacekeeping engagements, NGOs and individual Member States in their capacity as troop-contributing countries.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph