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SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- [Vulnerabilities and risks faced by children who are internally displaced during armed conflict – addressing their rights]: Ultimately, displacement should be a temporary condition and a durable solution should be secured where all those who were internally displaced no longer have any specific protection and assistance needs linked to their displacement and can enjoy their human rights without discrimination. States have a responsibility to create the conditions for a durable solution to displacement, either through voluntary return, integration or resettlement. The best interests of a child – determined through participatory, age-appropriate and gender-competent assessments – should always be the primary consideration when seeking a durable solution.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative welcomes and appreciates the strengthened collaboration between her Office and the United Nations human rights system, and reiterates her continued support, including sharing regular information and advocating the protection of children affected by armed conflict. The Special Representative emphasizes that unless all parties to conflict adhere to their commitments, comply with their international obligations and are held accountable for non-compliance, the plight of children in situations of armed conflict risks deterioration. To this end, the Special Representative offers the following recommendations.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- State parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child are encouraged to strengthen national and international measures for the prevention of recruitment of children into the armed forces or armed groups and their use in hostilities. In particular, those measures include signing and ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict and enacting legislation that explicitly prohibits and criminalizes the recruitment of children into armed forces or groups and their use in hostilities; exercising extraterritorial jurisdiction in order to strengthen the international protection of children against recruitment; taking measures to implement the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child; and submitting timely reports to the Committee under the Optional Protocol.
- 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. 67
- Paragraph text
- The international community is urged to continue to mobilize its energies towards: advocating unequivocally for 18 as the minimum age for recruitment and participation in hostilities; exerting international pressure on parties that continue to recruit and use children; monitoring and compelling adherence by parties to conflict to commitments made to protect children, and holding them accountable for failure to comply with international standards; addressing the political, social and economic factors that facilitate the recruitment and use of children; and responding to the rehabilitation and reintegration needs of former child soldiers.
- 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. 44
- Paragraph text
- In his report on the rule of law and transitional justice in conflict and post-conflict societies (S/2004/616), the Secretary-General defines transitional justice as the full range of processes and mechanisms associated with a society's attempts to come to terms with a legacy of large-scale past abuses, in order to ensure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation. These may include both judicial and non-judicial mechanisms, with differing levels of international involvement (or none at all) and individual prosecutions, reparations, truth-seeking, institutional reform, vetting and dismissals, or a combination thereof. Given the deep impact of conflict on children, child protection actors have advocated for a comprehensive view of the involvement and participation of children in all aspects of transitional justice. To attempt transitional justice processes without involving children not only fails to comply with the Convention on the Rights of the Child - the most universally ratified international instrument - it also compromises the outcome of those processes.
- 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. 73
- Paragraph text
- Member States which bear a central and immediate political, legal and moral responsibility, should comply with international law for the protection of children within their territories. They should take strong and urgent action to bring to justice individuals responsible for the recruitment and use of children in the armed forces or armed groups, and their use in hostilities, in violation of applicable international law. They should also take action against other grave violations against children through national justice systems, including undertaking appropriate reforms of national legislation for the protection of children, in order to bring laws into line with international obligations, as well as strengthening child-protection capacity and training for the military, the police, and law enforcement and judiciary officials within national security sector reform efforts.
- 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. 63
- Paragraph text
- One of the key challenges is to overturn the inclination, including of many mediators, that broader political considerations and dynamics may be adversely affected or compromised by child protection issues surfacing at negotiating tables. There is often a reticence to consider the protection of children as a "high line" priority on an equal footing with considerations of achieving or maintaining ceasefires, for instance. Yet, such issues as the immediate cessation of grave violations against children and the unconditional release of all children associated with fighting forces should be seen as fundamental to any ceasefire agreement. Continued violations such as child recruitment, or unwillingness to identify and release children already in fighting forces, must be formally stipulated as violations of ceasefire agreements by parties to a 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. 75
- Paragraph text
- In view of the disturbing trend of civilian casualties, especially children, during the course of military operations, Member States are urged to ensure that national and multinational forces adopt standard operating procedures to mitigate the direct targeting or collateral death and injury of children. Regional and United Nations peacekeeping missions are also urged to support the development of such procedures. If support is given to national forces by international peacekeeping operations it must be on the condition that those forces have procedures in place for the protection of civilians.
- 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. 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 2011, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- With regard to attacks on schools and hospitals, limited knowledge of international humanitarian law by parties to conflict, insufficient implementation of the law’s provisions and limited insight into the different country contexts in which violations occur still hamper the design of clear strategies to address such violations. The case of the military use of schools exemplifies the complexity of the issue; although strictly speaking not a violation of international humanitarian law, the military occupation of schools clearly impedes children’s access to education and puts them at risk. Further complicating the issue are cases where the military provide security to a school at the school’s request, and there is collocation between children and military in the same school, or even partial occupation.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- [Accountability of children involved in armed conflict]: Traditional justice, aimed at the reintegration of child soldiers, can make a significant contribution to healing, recovery and reintegration. It may employ an array of measures, such as punishment, reparation, truth-telling, involving confession and absolution, and healing or cleansing ceremonies. Traditional justice can be most helpful in assisting reintegration where it focuses on re-establishing the child as a member of the community rather than relying upon punishment or public shaming. Restorative justice is very often the only way of bringing reconciliation to victims and perpetrators alike in a war-torn society where victims of offences suffer, as do child perpetrators, having been forced to commit offences.
- 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
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- [Attacks on schools and hospitals: an emerging concern]: Attacks on schools and hospitals in armed conflict are widespread and are of increasing concern. Out of 22 country situations reported in the annual report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict (A/65/820-S/2011/250), 15 referred to attacks on schools and hospitals. Apart from the direct and physical damage to schools and hospitals, incidents of closure of schools and hospitals as a result of threats and intimidation, as well as the military use of these civilian institutions, have been documented. In addition, schools are often used as recruiting grounds for children.
- 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
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- The above are some of the key factors which create an environment that is conducive to children being caught up in conflict. Without addressing the conditions which create conflict at the strategic level, children will continue to be victimized by armed conflict. In this regard, as called for by the General Assembly in its resolution 63/241, States must “enhance complementarity and coordination of national policies and strategies related to security, development, human rights and humanitarian issues, with a view to addressing the short-, medium- and long-term impact of armed conflict on children in an effective, sustainable and comprehensive manner”. The United Nations system and the international community more widely must support the efforts of Governments in building societies that are resilient during conflict, including by contributing to economic development and equity, while supporting initiatives to strengthen social justice and accountability.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Trial Chamber I accepted the approach taken by the Pre-Trial Chamber and suggested by the Special Representative, according to which both conscription and enlistment are forms of recruitment, in that they refer to the incorporation of a boy or a girl under the age of 15 years into an armed group, whether coercively or voluntarily. The Special Representative argued in her brief to the Court that the distinction between voluntary enlistment and forced recruitment was a distinction without meaning, as even the most voluntary of acts could be a desperate attempt to survive by children with a limited number of options. In such circumstances, any consent given by a child could not be regarded as truly voluntary in the full sense of the word. Whether the child enlisted or was conscripted, the line between voluntary and involuntary recruitment was legally irrelevant and practically superficial in the context of children’s association with armed forces or armed groups in times of conflict.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- At the start of any conflict, community leaders should be persuaded to make a special effort to negotiate with parties to ensure that schools are designated as “zones of peace” and are not the targets of attacks or use by military forces or armed groups. In this way, children will be free to pursue their education without abuse or violence. Community-based action to protect schools is another way in which to ensure that children are safe. Maintaining a degree of normalcy in the lives of children during conflict, through the continuation of schooling, sustains their development, while protecting them from recruitment by armed actors.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- Efforts to strengthen the links between the work of the Security Council on children and armed conflict and its sanctions regime is an area of ongoing work. Targeted and graduated sanctions should be applied against persistent perpetrators as a measure of last resort, when all other means have failed to end impunity for crimes committed against children. In its most recent resolution on children and armed conflict (resolution 1998 (2011)), the Security Council reaffirmed its readiness, expressed in previous resolutions and presidential statements, to adopt targeted and graduated measures against persistent perpetrators of grave violations against children, and increasingly to integrate violations against children into its sanctions regimes.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- [Reparations for children and the restoration of children’s rights]: The experiences of a significantly larger number of victims, and the loss and harm resulting from a wider range of violations, can be acknowledged and repaired through reparations programmes. Any decision on reparations should avoid an overly narrow definition of victims and their eligibility and not limit the violations allowing for reparations. It is important to include those victims who have not participated in court proceedings, maintaining an open list of applicants and conducting a series of registration periods. In deciding who is eligible for reparations, however, the limited human and financial resources must be taken into account. Priority should therefore be accorded to the immediate and direct victims of the crime and their families, including the victims of forced recruitment and the victims and families of the crimes committed by the armed group. Moreover, an assessment of the current needs of the victims is crucial as several years may have passed since the events took place.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- Member States bear a central and immediate political, legal and moral responsibility for the protection of children and should comply with international law for the protection of children within their territories. The Rome Statute defined the recruitment and use of children in armed forces or armed groups as a war crime. Member States should enact the appropriate legislation to criminalize these violations and hold adult recruiters to account, including military commanders and political leaders, for both the crime of child recruitment and for the crimes that they forced children to commit. They should also take action against other grave violations against children through their national justice systems, including by bringing their laws into line with international obligations and by according priority to child protection capacity and training for the military, the police and law enforcement and judiciary officials in the context of national security sector reform efforts.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- [Empowering children through education, skills and livelihood opportunities]: The recruitment of children into armed forces or groups has been documented as being often closely connected to poverty and social disadvantage. Poverty, often combined with social exclusion, has been found to stir the frustration of young people and create incentives for them to join armed groups. In many post-conflict societies, young people have little choice but to remain unemployed or accept short-term and exploitative work. Accordingly, providing children and young people with alternatives through high-quality education, both formal and non-formal, and national programmes for job creation and income generation for young people should be top priorities in national prevention strategies. Donor agencies should also accord priority to work in this regard. Food security and livelihood measures, tailored to the specific economic context, together with cultural and psychosocial support activities, can also contribute to preventing the recruitment and the rerecruitment of children.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- Explosive weapons with wide-area effect, such as multiple-launch rockets, high-explosive artillery, mortars, car bombs and other improvised explosive devices, are a particular cause for concern. In 2011, mortar and artillery shells, which are indiscriminate weapons traditionally used against massed infantry, killed and injured children in Libya, Somalia and the Syrian Arab Republic, among others. In Afghanistan and Iraq, there has been an increasing number of complex attacks involving the combination of two or more attacks on one target using explosive weapons by armed groups. These attacks, usually perpetrated against Government institutions, resulted in significant child casualties. Aerial bombardments and drone attacks in countries such as Pakistan and Yemen have also killed and injured children.
- 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
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- In most of the 23 country situations reflected in the report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict covering the period from January to December 2011 (A/66/782-S/2012/261), explosive weapons were used in direct physical attacks against schools and hospitals, a grave violation of children’s rights. They posed a threat to children and medical and educational personnel, resulting in the forced closure or the compromised functioning of those institutions. In some country situations, children were denied humanitarian access because of the presence of explosive remnants of war from previous conflicts.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- While recognition of the distinct problems associated with explosive weapons has grown over time, there is a need for further policy attention and immediate action to effectively protect children from such weapons. There is also a need for greater acknowledgement that the use of such weapons, especially those with wide-area effect and those used in densely populated areas, severely harm children and communities. Systematic data collection and analysis of the human cost of these weapons is critical to the development of baseline information, which would in turn further strengthen the empirical basis for advocacy efforts to better protect children. In the context of the monitoring and reporting mechanism on grave violations against children, the Office of the Special Representative will, together with United Nations partners, endeavour to gather disaggregated and more detailed information on child casualties resulting from the use of such weapons. The Office will also advocate the inclusion of specific provisions against the use of explosive weapons in action plans signed by parties to conflict that aim at halting the killing and maiming of children.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- The criminalization of underage recruitment and the domestication of international norms and standards against the recruitment and use of children are crucial first steps in the prevention of child soldiering. Setting the parameters of who can be lawfully recruited into armed forces and groups, and ensuring that those who do not abide by those parameters may receive punishment, is the basis for regulation. Effective criminalization can be hindered by amnesties and de facto immunities granted to members of armed forces suspected of serious human rights abuses and/or armed groups that will become part of a national army in the framework of a peace process. In developing legal provisions, care must be taken to ensure that amnesties are not applicable to individuals who recruited or recruit children.
- 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
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- To follow up on these important advances, the Office of the Special Representative, in cooperation with partners, is preparing guidance for the field on monitoring and reporting on attacks on educational and health-care facilities and plans to have dialogue with parties to conflict to halt and prevent such violations. A collaborative effort between United Nations peacekeeping and political missions in the field, as well as other United Nations entities, including UNICEF, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the World Health Organization, will be essential in strengthening and disseminating good practices for mitigating the effects of conflict on children's education and health care.
- 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
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- During the reporting period, notable progress was made in devising and reinforcing protective measures to ensure education in times of conflict. The Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, created in 2010 and composed of United Nations entities and non-governmental organizations, spearheaded the development of draft guidelines for protecting schools and universities from military use during armed conflict, also known as the Lucens guidelines. The initiative, which results from broad consultations among military experts, child protection actors, education specialists and international humanitarian and human rights lawyers, is aimed at enhancing knowledge and understanding, as well as improving the monitoring and reporting of attacks on schools. It also served to advocate for the development of clear international norms on the interaction of military forces with schools and schoolchildren. The Special Representative strongly encourages Member States to support this process at both the technical and strategic levels and to promote concrete changes in national policies and legislation, as well as the inclusion of the guidelines in military doctrine, manuals and training.
- 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
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- It has been widely acknowledged that the mainstreaming of children's issues and concerns in peacemaking processes is essential in mobilizing efforts for the critical protection that children need in times of conflict. Incorporating specific commitments in political settlements, ceasefire arrangements, peace agreements and relevant implementation mechanisms can provide important opportunities and entry points for the rapid release of children from armed forces and groups and their reintegration. Early consideration of children's issues in peacemaking processes also facilitates planning and resource mobilization.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Attacks on schools, hospitals, teachers, schoolchildren and medical personnel in situations of conflict remain widespread and alarming. Access to education and health care continues to be disrupted by the damage or destruction resulting from targeted attacks on schools and medical facilities and by the use of explosive weapons. Many schools and hospitals are looted by armed groups, used as barracks, operational centres and detention sites, including by governmental forces. Access to education is also hampered, as schools are targeted by armed groups as places for the indoctrination and recruitment of children. In some cases, extremist armed groups also interfere in school programmes. Teachers and medical personnel are often threatened or become victims of targeted killings and abductions. Girls' access to education is particularly affected by all forms of attack on schools.
- 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
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Schools remain at the heart of armed conflict in many countries around the world. The use of schools for military purposes by armed forces and groups continues to put schoolchildren at risk of attack and hampers children's access to education. Schools are often being used as military barracks, weapon storage areas, command centres, detention and interrogation sites, firing and observation positions and training grounds for combatants, as well as serving as recruiting grounds for children. This practice not only results in reduced enrolment, high dropout rates and overcrowding of schools, but also changes the civilian nature of schools and may lead to the perception of schools as legitimate targets for attack. Even when children are evacuated from schools used by military forces, their right to an education under international human rights law is compromised. In some situations, as a direct result of the military use of schools, children have been injured or killed and schools have been damaged or destroyed in targeted attacks and by the indiscriminate use of weapons.
- 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
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- The use of explosive weapons in populated areas has been shown to result in a pattern of harm affecting children and their families. In recent years, United Nations actors have noted with concern how evolving technologies and tactics reflecting the changing nature of armed conflict pose a threat to children. Over the past decade, reports of child casualties in the course of military operations by armed unmanned aerial vehicles, referred to as drones, have multiplied. While precise information is not available on the number and circumstances of these incidents, such reports indicate that drones have had a significant impact on children.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Early consideration of children's issues in peace-making processes can also facilitate the planning and mobilization of resources. For instance, the release and reintegration of children associated with armed forces or groups is strongly linked to security arrangements in peace processes. It is also an integral part of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration process, which requires a specific focus on provisions for children, in particular girls. In that regard, the Special Representative commends the General Assembly for its continued call to States and regional organizations to support the inclusion of such commitments in peace agreements (see resolution 68/147). However, this aspect often remains neglected.
- 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
- Girls
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- In order to ensure the adequate treatment of children separated from armed groups, the Special Representative advocated with the Member States concerned for standard operating procedures for the handover of children to child protection actors. In September 2014, the United Nations and the Government of Chad signed a protocol on the handover of children, which included specific provisions regulating detention. Those standard operating procedures build on previous agreements signed with the Governments of Mali, Somalia and Uganda in recent years. Child protection provisions have also been included in the concept of operations of the Multinational Joint Task Force to fight Boko Haram/JAS. The Special Representative encourages all Member States to develop such standard operating procedures where applicable to prevent the detention of children and protect their primary status as victims.
- 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
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- In that spirit, the Special Representative reached out to the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region to ensure that the issue of children remained central in her engagements with pertinent parties. Similarly, she liaised closely with the former Joint Special Representative of the United Nations and the League of Arab States for Syria. Regarding the conflict in the Central African Republic, the Special Representative engaged with mediators involved in peace efforts, such as representatives of the Economic Community of Central African States, the African Union and the United Nations, to advocate for the inclusion of specific commitments. Regarding the situation in Yemen, the Special Representative reached out to the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Yemen and engaged with representatives of the countries of the Gulf Initiative to ensure that the protection of children, including in respect of implementing the action plan and reintegration, will be included in their discussions and initiatives. More recently, she engaged with Intergovernmental Authority on Development mediators to identify ways of strengthening cooperation in the context of the peace talks in South Sudan.
- 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
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The recent commitments that the Special Representative was able to obtain from the Government of South Sudan and the opposition forces demonstrate that, in some cases, eliciting commitments by parties to conflict in the context of a mediation process to end grave violations committed against children can only be achieved through complementary and synergistic actions by different actors. In that regard, the Special Representative is engaging with a number of partners to identify and refine key elements of guidance that can be used in mediation processes, with due consideration given to the specifics of each mediation process. She will continue to work closely with the mediation community and to reach out to representatives of academia, specialized civil society organizations, experienced third-party mediators and other practitioners.
- 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
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- The burdensome process of rebuilding and reopening schools and restoring a community's trust in their safety often leaves children without education for months or even years. In that regard, the Special Representative underlines the importance of targeted initiatives, such as the Secretary-General's Global Education First Initiative, the "No Lost Generation" initiative by the United Nations and its partners in the Syrian Arab Republic, the planned data hub project on global attacks on education by Protect Education in Insecurity and Conflict, which will be publicly available for advocacy use, and the European Union Children of Peace initiative. Children growing up in the absence of health care or education will have an impact on a society's potential for development and peace for many years after a conflict has ended. Ensuring access to education and health care, in particular during times of war, must be a priority so as to better protect children from the impact of armed 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
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Sexual violence continues to be a prominent violation of children's rights in most situations of conflict, affecting both girls and boys dramatically. Rape and other forms of sexual violence are committed in the context of attacks against the civilian population and children are usually targeted due to their vulnerability and frequently because of their ethnicity. Violations are also committed in the context of recruitment and use of children and abductions. Girls are particularly vulnerable to abduction or recruitment by armed groups to be used for sexual purposes. Parties to conflict use sexual violence against children as a tactic to instil fear so as to assert control over people and land. It is also an increasing trend used by extremist groups to terrorize populations. For example, Boko Haram has been abducting girls from schools, and reports indicate that those girls have been forcibly married to local commanders.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- In Sudan, following advocacy by the United Nations, several non-State actors issued command orders or launched internal sensitization campaigns on the protection of children and the prohibition of their recruitment and use. In August 2014, Minni Minnawi, leader of a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army, further operationalized its commitment by putting in place a mechanism to end the recruitment and use of child soldiers. A community-based strategic plan was also initiated by Sheikh Musa Hilal and endorsed by the leaders of five tribes. The strategic plan was designed to curb the use of children as fighters in inter- and intra-ethnic clashes.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative met in Addis Ababa, in May 2014, with the former Vice President of South Sudan and leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition, Riek Machar, to whom she relayed her concerns regarding reports of large numbers of children recruited and used, killed, maimed or raped by his forces. She obtained a signed commitment to end the recruitment and use of children and all grave violations against children, and command orders were issued following the meeting. However, at the time of reporting, the commitment had yet to be implemented and violations against children continued unabated by both sides.
- 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
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative welcomes the international community’s increasing attention to the issue of the military use of schools, in particular with the adoption, at a conference held in Oslo on 28 and 29 May 2015, of the Safe Schools Declaration. In that regard, the Special Representative highlights the May 2014 guidance note entitled “Protect schools and hospitals: end attacks on education and health care”, prepared jointly by the Office of the Special Representative and other entities of the United Nations system. The guidance note includes a draft operational strategy for preventing the military use of schools. The Special Representative also commends the efforts of the Human Rights Council to dedicate attention to the continuing attacks on education around the world as a gross violation of human rights, particularly through Council resolution 29/7 on the right to education, adopted on 2 July 2015. The Special Representative will continue to support these efforts through the monitoring and reporting mechanism and sustained advocacy, with the hope of curbing such violations and promoting children’s right to education.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative commends the Human Rights Council, the treaty bodies, the special rapporteurs and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention for their work in relation to children deprived of liberty and encourages continued focus on this issue, including in the framework of the universal periodic review. She encourages Member States to treat children associated with armed groups primarily as victims, to consider alternatives to deprivation of liberty and to ensure that, at a minimum, deprivation of liberty be used as a last resort and for the shortest time possible.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- In instances where children are accused of specific crimes during their association with an armed force or group, they should not be brought to trial before military courts or special courts, which often do not fully recognize the special status of juveniles before the law. The Special Representative continued to remind States that children accused of criminal acts should be treated in compliance with due process and juvenile justice standards. Accordingly, the best interests of the child should always be taken into account, detention should only be used as a measure of last resort and for the shortest time possible, and there should be no capital punishment or life imprisonment for children.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Armed conflict has resulted not only in human casualties and physical destruction, but also in forced displacement. In the course of the past year, an ever-growing number of people have fled conflict zones and sought refuge in safer places. UNHCR reports that, globally, one in every 122 persons is now either a refugee, internally displaced or seeking asylum. In many situations, as in the Central African Republic, Iraq, Nigeria, South Sudan and the Syrian Arab Republic, children, many of them unaccompanied or separated from their families, represent a high proportion of the displaced population and have been at a particularly high risk of human rights violations and abuses. Children can be victims of grave violations inside and around refugee camps or camps for internally displaced persons. Armed groups take advantage of the vulnerability and concentration of displaced populations in camps to recruit children and commit other violations, including sexual violence and human trafficking.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- During the reporting period, children continued to be severely affected by violent extremism and were often the direct targets of acts intended to cause maximum civilian casualties and terrorize communities. The recruitment and use of children was a prevalent concern, with armed groups controlling large swaths of territory, leaving many civilians without Government protection and resulting in children being abducted and forcibly recruited. The conduct of Government forces and their allies when retaking territory can also be a significant factor in the recruitment and use of children, since abuses and human rights violations can create or add to real or perceived grievances in the affected population as well as forcing civilians, including children, to seek protection from other parties to conflict. Social media also continues to be used for purposes of propaganda and to encourage recruitment of children, particularly outside areas affected by conflict.
- 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
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The right to education is a fundamental human right. It is key for the development of children, but also critical for peacebuilding, economic growth and sustainable development for society as a whole. In times of conflict, infringements of the right to education in the form of targeted attacks on and obstacles to safe access to schools, threats to children and teachers and the military use of schools have a negative impact reaching beyond the education sector alone. Moreover, education is often interrupted due to a general climate of fear and insecurity or because of the displacement of school children, teachers and school personnel. Not only is there a large financial cost to rebuilding schools, repairing infrastructure, replacing equipment and training new teachers, there is a significant individual and societal cost. The loss of educational opportunities owing to war has long-lasting effects on the social and economic development of a country, which in turn increases the likelihood of new cycles of violence and conflict.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Attacks against schools, teachers and students during armed conflicts are particularly worrying as they interfere with education precisely when it can be of most benefit, not only to teach essential life skills but also to promote respect, tolerance and understanding, all of which are vital for social reconstruction and cohesion. Affected populations often view education as essential to both their short- and long-term well-being, as it helps mitigate the psychological and social impacts of conflict by creating a sense of normality, stability, structure and hope and, therefore, to overcome a crisis. All parties to a conflict have a responsibility to ensure safe access to education. It is essential that there be continuous engagement with non-State armed groups on the protection of education to remind their leadership of their obligations to avoid interfering with education, whether directly or indirectly.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- The present report is submitted to the Human Rights Council 20 years after Graça Machel presented her findings on the impact of armed conflict on children (A/51/306) to the General Assembly, which through its resolution 51/77 subsequently created the mandate of the Special Representative. The Assembly also requested in its resolution that an annual report containing relevant information on the situation of children affected by armed conflict be transmitted to the then Commission on Human Rights. The anniversary thus provides an important opportunity to take stock of the longer-term achievements since the first report and to highlight to the Human Rights Council areas where progress is still required in order to enhance the protection of children and of their rights during armed conflict.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- An ongoing concern in some contexts is the very definition of a child. While it is almost universally accepted at the international level that a child means every human being below the age of 18, in line with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, practice between and even within States is sometimes contradictory. Member States should take measures to close legal lacunae and ensure that the definition of a child is set at 18 years, in line with the international normative framework. Member States should also make additional efforts to ensure that the international obligations regarding the definition of a child are widely known and are adhered to by all national, regional and local authorities. A connected concern is the process for determining the age of a person who is allegedly associated with a party to a conflict. In many conflict settings, birth registration systems are lacking, and age assessment mechanisms are frequently inadequate and children are often presumed to be adults. In this regard, it is important for Member States to ensure adherence to the principle that if there is any doubt, the individual should be considered a child and protected as such.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Over the reporting period, the increased use of screening of civilians by government security forces or pro-government militias in situations such as those in as Iraq and Nigeria has been an emerging concern related to the deprivation of liberty of children. Centres have been established by parties to conflict in order to process civilians fleeing from armed groups. This practice has resulted in mass deprivation of liberty of civilians, including children, due to long processing times but also due to a presumption of affiliation with the very armed group from which they are fleeing. Screening has been undertaken by parties to conflict, including militias, who are poorly trained and, in many instances, lack the neutrality and capacity required to engage in a child-sensitive manner. Presumptions of affiliation have been based on broad categories, such as the age, gender or ethnic affiliation of the people being screened, and screening has also been used for intelligence gathering. This practice of screening and subsequent detention often violates the right to challenge the lawfulness of the deprivation of liberty before a court or another competent, independent and impartial authority. In some instances, the presumption of affiliation can also amount to a form of collective punishment. While the Special Representative is cognizant of the need to ensure the safety of civilians, she reminds Governments in conflict-affected countries of the importance of using civilian actors with child protection expertise to carry out screening and of adhering to the last resort and shortest possible time provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Screening without clear legal oversight also leaves children open to other violations, such as extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearance and torture. In this regard, the Special Representative welcomes the continuing attention that the Human Rights Council has given to the issue of deprivation of liberty in its country-specific and thematic resolutions, which has included calls for accountability in instances of secret detention, torture and practices tantamount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, including under the pretext of countering terrorism.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- An issue connected to the deprivation of liberty of children for association with non-State armed groups is the recruitment and use of children under the age of 18 by government forces. Member States should be cognizant of the fact that when they recruit children under the age of 18, even in non-conflict situations, notwithstanding the provisions of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, this can be used by the leadership of non-State armed actors to legitimize their own actions. More children are thus likely to be encountered during military operations and detained by Member States. In this regard, the Special Representative calls upon Member States to consider establishing the minimum age for recruitment into the armed forces at 18 years, even if the children are not used in conflict.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- The risk of trafficking from situations of armed conflict is a related issue of concern for the protection of girls, including during displacement. The Special Representative welcomes the Human Rights Council's call to Governments in June 2016 to ensure that the prevention of and responses to trafficking in persons continue to take into account the specific needs of women and girls and their participation in and contribution to all phases of preventing and responding to trafficking, especially in addressing specific forms of exploitation, such as sexual exploitation. The Special Representative has also undertaken a number of initiatives to support that aim, including contributing to the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of measures to counter trafficking in persons and addressing an event on the role of the United Nations in combating modern slavery and human trafficking in conflict, which was hosted in New York in November by the United Nations University.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Girls are also significantly affected by recruitment and use, with some estimates indicating that as many as 40 per cent of children associated with armed forces or armed groups are female. In addition to the use of girls in support functions, for sexual purposes or to be forced into marriage, they are also used for combat and to commit violent acts. For example, in a particularly grave example, in Nigeria in 2016, girls were increasingly being forced by Boko Haram to be suicide bombers, and were used for the purpose of avoiding detection by security personnel. Although the advocacy that has taken place since the Machel study has led to increased recognition of the plight of girls associated with parties to conflict, they still face significant obstacles in the process of being released and separated from parties to conflict. For example, it was noted in a recent report on the Democratic Republic of the Congo that out of the 1,004 children who had escaped or been separated from one armed group between 2009 and 2014, only 19 girls had been documented. While there was a significant number of young girls present in camps who were allegedly used as wives, concubines, cooks, and combatants in the ranks, male members of the group claimed that these girls were their daughters. In the light of this repudiation of their role, girls are often less visible and are frequently neglected in disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes. When their role is recognized, societal factors have an impact, as girls are sometimes reluctant to join disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes, fearing rejection by their families and communities. Further action is required in order to raise awareness of the needs of girls in disarmament, demobilization and reintegration processes and also of the risks that they face after separation from armed groups, with special attention needing to be given to their reintegration into families and communities.
- 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
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Within the United Nations system, the Office of the Special Representative has continued to support the efforts developed as part of the Secretary-General's Human Rights Up Front initiative, and participated with the Deputy Secretary-General in the interactive dialogue on the initiative at the General Assembly in January 2016, highlighting the importance of strengthened collaboration to address human rights concerns in conflict-affected situations. Children and armed conflict concerns have also been mainstreamed in Organization-wide initiatives on human rights issues. For example, in connection with the Sustainable Development Goals, the Special Representative took part in the launch of Alliance 8.7, which is led by the International Labour Organization and is aimed at enhancing coordinated efforts to eradicate forced labour, including the recruitment and use of child soldiers. On another occasion, the Office of the Special Representative provided input for the Secretary-General's Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism (A/70/674), in order to ensure that safeguards were included for the protection of children.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- In the light of the gravity and scale of the concern relating to children deprived of their liberty in situations of armed conflict, the Special Representative continues to bring this matter to the attention of the Human Rights Council. It is stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child that children must be detained only as a measure of last resort, in exceptional circumstances and for the shortest appropriate period of time. These provisions are recognition of the detrimental long-term impact that deprivation of liberty has on a child and his or her development, however for thousands of children around the world, these safeguards are compromised and their rights are denied, particularly in the context of counter-terrorism operations or other security responses.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- [Attacks on schools and hospitals: an emerging concern]: The abduction of educational and medical personnel is also of grave concern to the children and armed conflict agenda, as it severely affects the provision of basic services to children. The Office of the Special Representative is concerned at the use of schools as recruiting grounds for children with the aim of involving them in armed hostilities and military operations. Schools should be considered safe havens protecting children from involvement in armed 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
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative commends the inclusion of accountability for grave violations against children in armed conflict in the Committee on the Rights of the Child's consideration of States parties' reports, and encourages the Committee to continue to integrate the monitoring of the six grave violations against children affected by armed conflict.
- 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
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- Recalling that the sustainable reintegration of children is crucial for allowing children formerly associated with armed groups to exercise their human rights, the Special Representative encourages Member States to provide appropriate resources to the reintegration of the children recruited and used by any party to a conflict, giving special attention to the needs of girls.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative encourages the Human Rights Council to highlight the rights of children displaced by conflict and the obligations of States of origin, transit and destination, in its resolutions on country-specific situations and thematic issues and in the mandates of special procedure mandate holders and commissions of inquiry.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 60a
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Representative urges the international community:] To continue to advocate for 18 years as the minimum age for recruitment and participation in hostilities;
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 60d
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Representative urges the international community:] To address the political, social and economic factors that facilitate the recruitment and use of children;
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- Lastly, States, which bear the primary duty and responsibility for addressing internal displacement should abide by their obligations under international law and adhere to the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. States should: safeguard populations on their territory from arbitrary displacement; protect and assist those who have been displaced; and support and facilitate voluntary, safe and dignified solutions to displacement, particularly those of their most vulnerable citizens – their children.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- It is therefore a matter of practical consideration that the United Nations, as well as regional mediation infrastructures and initiatives, are committed to incorporating child protection perspectives and expertise. Child protection elements should be routinely included in guidance materials for mediators, in mediation training programmes and in development of mediation tools. This includes establishment of modalities for child protection actors to regularly collaborate with mediation support focal points and to brief the mediators themselves.
- 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. 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 2012, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative urges States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to strengthen national and international measures for the prevention of recruitment of children into the armed forces or armed groups and their use in hostilities, in particular by signing and ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the involvement of children in armed conflict and enacting legislation to explicitly prohibit and criminalize the recruitment of children into armed forces or groups and their use in hostilities.
- 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
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- A specific commitment to uphold international legal obligations such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child should also be referenced, and no blanket amnesty should be granted to parties having committed grave violations against children. In addition to a general guarantee of safe humanitarian passage for civilians and humanitarian organizations, peace agreements should expressly prohibit the use of schools for military purposes. The inclusion of these provisions provides legitimacy to child protection actors and facilitates dialogue with the parties to end and prevent grave violations.
- 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
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- It is the Special Representative’s hope that, through acknowledgement that the military use of schools may result in increased risk of attack, consensus will grow to address this concern. The Special Representative calls upon Member States to tackle this issue by taking concrete and proactive initiatives to protect schools and promote their civilian status, through the inclusion of protection elements in military training and doctrine and operational planning, as well as the incorporation of the recent Lucens Guidelines into national legislation.
- 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
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- Addressing the structural causes of fragility to escape "conflict traps" can be achieved only if a country's long-term recovery efforts include priorities for the successful rehabilitation of the lives of conflict-affected children and young people. While there are several reasons why children join armed forces and groups, poverty a lack of education and limited socioeconomic opportunities have been recognized as an important factor for children's association with armed forces and groups in conflict-affected and fragile countries.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative calls anew upon Member States to treat children allegedly associated with non-State armed groups primarily as victims entitled to full protection of their rights and to urgently adopt protocols for their handover to child protection actors. The Special Representative also urges the Human Rights Council, treaty bodies and the relevant special procedures to focus closely on the detrimental impact on the rights of children that results from exercises of widespread screening of civilians in situations of 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
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 100
- Paragraph text
- To minimize their effects on children, drone strikes must be carried out in accordance with principles of precaution, distinction and proportionality. A transparent normative framework governing drone use must be put in place, recognizing the special status of children, with the aim of avoiding child casualties. The Special Representative calls upon Member States to review their policies and to make a greater effort to investigate incidents involving the killing and maiming of children.
- 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
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- During the universal periodic review process, States are urged to include, as appropriate, in their recommendations to the State under review, specific references to information from the monitoring and reporting mechanism on grave violations against children that was established in accordance with Security Council resolution 1612 (2005), in addition to the country conclusions adopted by the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, as appropriate.
- 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
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- [Vulnerabilities and risks faced by children who are internally displaced during armed conflict – addressing their rights]: The rights of internally displaced children are expressly guaranteed and firmly entrenched in international humanitarian law and human rights law – the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict. These instruments obligate State and non-State actors alike to protect children from the harmful effects of armed conflict, to prevent arbitrary displacement, to protect and assist persons who are displaced, and to facilitate durable solutions to displacement, paying special attention to the particular vulnerabilities and risks faced by internally displaced children.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- The overarching considerations for the involvement of children in transitional justice processes are set out in the annex to the present report.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Another priority and challenge is to ensure that a level of child protection expertise is maintained as peacekeeping operations are drawn down and restructured in transition to peacebuilding configurations. During that phase, it remains critical that the representatives of the Secretary-General retain adequate advisory capacity on child protection within their offices. In particular, child protection advisers will be responsible for ensuring ongoing monitoring and verification of child protection action plans with parties to conflict, as well as maintenance of the cycle of reporting to Member States on implementation of children and armed conflict resolutions and the recommendations of the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, which often remain relevant and in effect through the transition to post-conflict peace consolidation and peacebuilding.
- 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. 42
- Paragraph text
- [Vulnerabilities and risks faced by children who are internally displaced during armed conflict – addressing their rights]: In situations of internal displacement, the freedom of movement of the affected population, including their right to move freely in and out of camps and settlements should be respected. For children, it entails the right to move freely with their family. Few threats to a child’s well-being equal that of being separated from his or her family during conflict, and for these children all possible action should be taken to prevent separation from their families and to ensure rapid reunification in the case of separation. To this end, displaced children, in particular separated and unaccompanied minors, should have their own identity documentation in order to enjoy their full legal rights and to have access to basic social services, such as health care and education.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- 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 2011, para. 60b
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Representative urges the international community:] To exert international pressure on parties that continue to recruit and use 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
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 60e
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Representative urges the international community:] To respond to the rehabilitation and reintegration needs of former child soldiers.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
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 2011, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- The weak writ of the State, particularly in peripheral areas, is another contributing factor to conflict and has played a role in exposing children to violence. Where the State is challenged in its ability to provide security, deliver basic social services, adjudicate on grievances and facilitate economic activity, local communities turn to alternative forms of authority. Traditional governance structures and/or justice mechanisms, may take precedence over weak statutory institutions. However, traditional governance structures are often not underpinned by the normative standards and protection mechanisms facilitated by the State. Where conflict is occurring, local communities also often form self-defence groups and frequently enlist young children in the community to fight and defend them against external threats.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- In some societies, protracted violent conflict becomes an end in itself, with a political economy driven by the logic of economic gain and political compromise. In such contexts, children are socialized to accept war as the norm, not the exception, and to seek advancement in the structures it creates. Military commanders become role models for children and the military ethos becomes part of everyday life. Joining an armed group may facilitate social mobility, with access to resources and the ability to wield power and influence in the territory under the control of the armed group. In such situations of chronic conflict, joining an armed group may be seen by children as a legitimate avenue of advancement in a society that offers them few other options.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- [Attacks on schools and hospitals: an emerging concern]: Armed conflict can either directly or indirectly result in the forced closure or the compromised functioning of civilian facilities. Children, teachers and health-care providers can be subject to direct threats and acts of intimidation by parties, which, for example, target Government institutions or medical personnel assisting the other party to the conflict. In other situations, armed elements are opposed to secular and/or girls’ education, or to girls being seen by male medical personnel. The delivery of health-care services to children is also heavily affected by lack of supplies and manpower caused by looting of the facilities and/or access constraints. A general climate of fear and insecurity as a result of armed hostilities can also prevent children, teachers and medical personnel from attending school or seeking medical help. Parents, for example, may find it too risky to send their children to school in a volatile security situation, or children may be denied timely access to hospitals because of checkpoints and roadblocks.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- [Attacks on schools and hospitals: an emerging concern]: Military control and use of school facilities also endangers children. The Office of the Special Representative will advocate with parties, urging them to take all precautionary measures not to endanger the life of civilians and civilian objects in the vicinity of military objectives. Extreme caution should also be exercised in identifying objects normally dedicated to civilian purposes as military targets. In armed conflict situations, the use of schools as polling stations may put the physical integrity of such facilities at risk, as some armed groups see these civilian institutions as legitimate targets of attack. The Office of the Special Representative will further continue to advocate with Governments for the adoption of precautionary measures that avoid jeopardizing school facilities.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Where armed forces and groups are merged, or demobilized and reintegrated as part of a peace agreement, there is a need to ensure, as a first step in any security sector reform process, that children who may be associated with the parties are separated. The initial stage in such situations is often the registration of combatants. Measures must be systematically put in place to effect age verification or, where reliable State-managed data on birth dates are not available, to establish a solid method of for age determination. However, separating children from armed forces and groups should not be dependent on security sector reform plans. Recruitment and use of children in armed conflict is a violation of international law; there is a normative imperative for children to be identified and separated, inter alia in the context of the action plans mentioned earlier.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- At the strategic level, clearly the most effective way of protecting children from the scourge of war is by mitigating the outbreak of armed conflict. Conflict prevention means addressing the root causes of violence and promoting sustainable and equitable human development. As identified in the Machel study and the 2007 10-year review of that study (see A/62/228), sustainable conflict prevention and peacebuilding require going beyond political settlements and strengthening the key vectors of peace, including good governance; the creation of an accountable, legitimate and rule-based security sector; an independent and effective judicial system; the delivery of basic social services; and the creation of an economic environment conducive to employment and wealth creation.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- The above are broad and long-term measures that States affected by conflict must address progressively, with the sustained support of the international community. A number of more direct protective steps may be taken by national actors, with international support. During conflict, the creation of child protection networks may assist in helping communities to better protect their children. These networks alert the community to threats or violations and can help develop a community-based response to the consequences of violence. They can also help prevent abuses by raising awareness and forging linkages with entities that can provide protection. Being able to rely on a network of support makes children feel more secure and provides a mechanism for assistance when violations or abuses are committed against them.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- The Chamber also decided to apply a broad interpretation of the term “participate actively in hostilities” to ensure justice and protection for all children associated with armed forces or armed groups. The Court held that the term included a wide range of individuals, from those on the front line (who participated directly) to the boys and girls who were involved in multiple roles that supported the combatants. The Court further refined that interpretation, using a case-by-case determination and adopting a double test: whether support was given and whether the support provided to the combatants exposed the child to real danger as a potential target. The Chamber made a clear distinction between the term “direct participation in hostilities”, which determines combatant status under international humanitarian law, and the term “actively participating in hostilities”, which is the criteria applicable to the use of children in hostilities, holding that the latter was to be interpreted broadly, and without conferring combatant status on those children.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Following the adoption by the General Assembly of its groundbreaking resolution 64/290 on the right to education in emergency situations, the Security Council also strengthened its efforts on this matter. In July 2011, the Security Council adopted resolution 1998 (2011), expanding the listing in the annexes to the annual reports of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict to perpetrators of recurrent attacks against schools and recurrent attacks or threats of attacks against protected personnel in relation to such facilities. The Special Representative commends the focused attention of the General Assembly and the Security Council on the right of children to access education and urges Member States, together with other child protection partners, to implement the decisions of both bodies.
- 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
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- First, there is a need to ensure a well-coordinated monitoring and reporting mechanism, which is able to pull the various country-specific strands of information together in order to develop a comprehensive view of the trends and patterns of violations perpetrated by armed groups. This is critical in order to ensure that appropriate practical measures are taken to protect civilians in affected areas. For instance, during the reporting period, with the support of the Office of the Special Representative, UNICEF enhanced its capacity to facilitate coordination and information-sharing on LRA between child protection teams in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Sudan and Uganda.
- 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
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Research has demonstrated a strong correlation between poverty and violent conflict, as well as between violent conflict and poor human development indicators. Millennium Development Goal indicators reveal that countries in situations of armed conflict account for one third of those living in extreme poverty, half of the children with no access to primary education and half of the children who die before their fifth birthday. While not all poor children in conflict situations become soldiers, poverty is an important motivating factor for children to join armed forces and groups. In some areas, poverty means a lack of access to education and other basic social services and few opportunities for employment and income generation. Children, often with the encouragement of parents and the incitement of armed actors, become combatants in the hope that they will be well fed, housed and protected.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Partnering with and building the capacity of local child protection systems requires a situation analysis of each country in order to identify the strengths of and gaps in child protection systems at both the national and community levels. Community-based child protection mechanisms have been found to be a highly diverse and adaptable approach to child protection in different contexts. In some situations, child protection mechanisms have sprung out of women’s associations and have been engaged in collecting information on violations of children’s rights and in protecting children at particular risk of recruitment. Other community-led protection networks spring up spontaneously or are fostered by non-governmental organizations working with the community.
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- A common challenge is the creation of linkages between local, community-based protection structures, on the one hand, and elements of the formal child protection system and Government services, on the other. Often, the existence of strong legal and policy frameworks notwithstanding, Government-led services are not filtering down to the communities. In extremely fragile contexts, the weakness of the State and its lack of control over all areas may be a factor accounting for gaps in Government services at the community level. In other contexts, it is a sign of insufficient priority and resources being accorded to the commitments made in the national framework. In the absence of formal mechanisms, community-led mechanisms often step in. These may include groups formed specifically for the purpose, such as child protection committees or community care coalitions, or they may simply consist of existing structures, such as women’s groups, faith-based organizations and other community associations that take on a role in protecting children. To be effective, these mechanisms need adequate funding, capacity and knowledge to deal with child protection issues.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- At the national level, effective investigations and prosecutions are potentially powerful prevention tools but are often hindered by lack of resources and capacity. The failure to investigate grave violations against children or to sanction those responsible is often linked to broader accountability issues. Short of systematic prosecution, a system for deterrence should be built through the prosecution of the most persistent violators. In addition, practical measures can be implemented by Governments to prevent underage recruitment, such as free birth registration or alternative mechanisms for age verification, in addition to conscription policies and mandatory vetting procedures to monitor child recruitment by national armies.
- 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
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- Recognizing that sustainable, long-term social and economic reintegration is the cornerstone for the durable separation of children from parties to armed conflict, the Special Representative urges donors to provide sustained and long-term support to reintegration in line with the Paris Principles and Guidelines on Children associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups, including in the areas of education, vocational training and income-generating activities, as appropriate, and to support the financial aspects of the implementation of actions plans to end the recruitment and use, killing and maiming of and sexual violence against children, as well as attacks on schools and hospitals.
- 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
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- During the reporting period, extreme violence rose to an unprecedented level. The impact on children has multiplied in a number of countries, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria and the Syrian Arab Republic. Children were victims of grave violations and were often forced to witness or take part in beheadings, immolations and summary executions. They were also indoctrinated, recruited and forced to be suicide bombers or human shields. Girls were subjected to additional abuses, including sexual slavery, abduction and forced marriage. The violations often took place in the context of mass abductions. Such brutal tactics had severe repercussions on children, which will have lasting effects for generations to come.
- 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
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Extremist groups have benefited from advances in technology, which have facilitated their rapid growth and led to the expansion of their territorial control, often across national borders. The military response to the threat has also raised protection challenges for children. Children caught in the middle of counter-terrorism operations have been killed and maimed and their homes and schools destroyed. In some cases, State-allied militias have been mobilized, resulting in boys and sometimes girls being used in support roles and even as combatants. Despite international calls for due process and respect for the rule of law, counter-terrorism operations often lack those elements. The Special Representative recalls that efforts to counteract extremist groups must be carried out in full compliance with international humanitarian, refugee and human rights law and must ensure that children are treated primarily as victims.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 92
- Paragraph text
- The adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty by the General Assembly in its resolution 67/234 B in April constitutes an important opportunity for child protection. There is long-standing awareness of the link between the global trade in conventional weapons, including small arms and light weapons, and grave violations committed against children in conflict situations. A growing body of evidence demonstrates that the widespread availability of small arms and light weapons, fostered by the inadequate regulation of the global arms trade, exacerbates conflicts and disproportionately affects children. Solid evidence also exists of the correlation between the proliferation of small arms and light weapons and the widespread practice of recruitment and use of children in conflict.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 93
- Paragraph text
- Significantly, the Treaty recognizes the link between the arms trade and the effects of conflict on children. Small arms and light weapons fall under the scope of the Treaty, and ammunition/munitions and parts and components are covered by its prohibition and export assessment provisions. The entry into force of the Treaty has the potential to generate a positive long-term impact on the situation of children in conflict. It forbids the transfer of arms that could be used in the commission of attacks directed against civilians, including children, grave breaches of international humanitarian law and war crimes defined by international agreements to which a State is a party, such as the crime of child recruitment under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Furthermore, under the Treaty's export assessment provisions, exporting States are requested to assess whether arms transfers would directly or indirectly lead to serious acts of violence against women and children, including killing and maiming, but also recruitment and use and, if an overriding risk is identified, to refrain from them.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 94
- Paragraph text
- The Arms Trade Treaty, if duly enforced, has the potential to curb the recruitment and use of children in conflict through the prohibition of arms sales to States parties that engage in child recruitment, falling in line with the long-standing interpretation of the Committee on the Rights of the Child of States parties' obligations to do so under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. The Treaty's contribution to reducing the plight of children in conflict can thus be understood as being twofold: seeking to curb both armed violence against children and the recruitment and use of children.
- 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
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- In its resolution 2225 (2015), the Security Council also encouraged Member States to take concrete measures to deter the military use of schools by armed forces and armed groups. In that regard, the Special Representative welcomes the adoption by 37 countries of the Safe Schools Declaration on 29 May 2015, which endorsed the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict. An additional 10 countries have adopted the Declaration since its launch. Although the Guidelines are not legally binding, they highlight good practice for all parties to conflict and aim to provide guidance to reduce the impact of armed conflict on education, particularly in relation to military use.
- 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
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Access to justice by survivors of sexual violence remains a challenge in most conflict situations, with social stigma and fear of reprisal being contributing factors. The challenge of accessing justice in areas where instability prevails and State authority is weak or absent is an additional constraint. Inappropriate legislation or administrative obstacles also exist. In some cases, criminal codes do not have a definition of the rape, which may lead to inconsistent application of the law by the police and judicial authorities. In other cases, corruption - for example, the false requirement to present costly medical certificates - may prevent victims from filing complaints. Another major impediment to accessing justice is the often inadequate compensation provided to survivors, as well as lengthy and costly procedures before the courts, which may lead a victim's family to reach an amicable settlement with the perpetrators, rather than bring the case to justice.
- 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
- Families
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- In its resolution S-23/1 on atrocities committed by the terrorist group Boko Haram and its effects on human rights in the affected States, the Human Rights Council expressed deep concern regarding the recruitment and use of children and other grave violations by Boko Haram. In January 2015, following the listing of Boko Haram as a party in conflict that kills and maims children and that engages in attacks on schools and hospitals (see A/68/878-S/2014/339, annex II), the Special Representative travelled to Nigeria. During that visit, she assessed the impact of the conflict in north-eastern Nigeria on children, supported the roll-out of the monitoring and reporting mechanism and engaged with the Nigerian authorities. The Government of Nigeria agreed to enter into a formal collaboration with the United Nations on children and armed conflict through an interministerial committee based in Abuja and decentralized committees in the three conflict-affected states, and through the appointment of focal points at the federal and state levels. In her meetings with government and military officials, the Special Representative raised concerns relating to allegations of violations committed by the Nigerian defence and security forces, the Civilian Joint Task Force and other vigilante groups in the course of their operations against Boko Haram. In November 2015, on the margins of the International Forum on Peace and Security in Africa, held in Dakar, the Special Representative met with the newly appointed National Security Adviser of Nigeria, who expressed interest in working to improve the protection of children separated from Boko Haram. At the same event, the Special Representative also met with the Force Commander of the multinational joint task force and advocated for enhanced protection of children in its operations.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative welcomes the recent ratifications of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict and reiterates her urgent call upon States who have not yet done so to sign and ratify the Convention and its Protocols; to enact legislation to explicitly prohibit and criminalize the recruitment of children into armed forces or groups and the use of children in hostilities; and to establish the minimum age for voluntary recruitment into the armed forces at 18 years, when depositing their binding declaration (under article 3) upon ratification of the Optional Protocol.
- 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
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Despite the advances that have been achieved in those two decades, the basic rights of children were regularly violated during the reporting period. In the Middle East, in addition to the direct impact of current conflicts on children, with thousands being killed, maimed, and recruited and used, there were rapidly developing and evolving humanitarian crises that were of serious concern at the time of writing, in December 2016. In Iraq, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimated that over half a million children and their families were trapped in Mosul with food and medicine running out and clean water in short supply. In a similar vein, in the Syrian Arab Republic, it was estimated that, at the end of the reporting period, nearly 500,000 children were living in besieged areas and were completely cut off from sustained humanitarian aid. In Yemen, intense conflict has resulted in a lack of food and water, which has put one and a half million children at risk of acute malnutrition.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- In a particularly important milestone in the reporting period, all Member States concerned by the "Children, Not Soldiers" campaign have now concluded a formal written commitment with the United Nations to end the recruitment and use of children in their security forces. In March, the Government of the Sudan signed its action plan; high-level and technical committees have been established to facilitate and coordinate the action plan's implementation. In 2016, progress has also been ongoing in other countries concerned by the campaign. For example, the Government of Afghanistan endorsed age assessment guidelines for use in recruitment processes for its national defence and security forces. The Democratic Republic of the Congo continued to make progress to address the remaining gaps to prevent the recruitment of children into the country's armed forces, including by realizing most of the goals of the 2015 road map that had been developed to expedite the implementation of the action plan. In Myanmar, 101 children and young people recruited as children were released from the army and reintegrated into their communities during the reporting period. Regrettably, the high levels of conflict intensity in Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen had a detrimental impact on children and continued to hamper progress on existing action plans. Despite positive developments in most countries concerned by the "Children, Not Soldiers" campaign, gaps nevertheless remain in almost all of these countries as regards ensuring systematic prevention and accountability in relation to the recruitment and use of children. Those gaps are outlined in the most recent report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict (see A/70/836-S/2016/360).
- 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
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- Lastly, the Special Representative has been extensively involved throughout the reporting period in the Secretary-General's efforts to enhance the United Nations response to allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse. She has participated in the high-level steering committee on implementation of the recommendations of the report of the external independent review panel on sexual exploitation and abuse by international peacekeeping forces in the Central African Republic. The Office of the Special Representative has also taken part in various working groups, including on the implementation of Security Council resolution 2272 (2016), and was involved in the drafting of related documents on improving responses. For example, her Office was heavily involved in drafting the guidance on the preparation, deployment and repatriation of current or future United Nations peacekeeping operations.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative remains deeply concerned at the scale and severity of the grave violations that were committed against children in 2016, which included alarming levels of killing and maiming, recruitment and use and denials of humanitarian access, and calls upon the Human Rights Council and Member States to take all available measures to prevent these violations from occurring. In particular, in light of the impact on children, the Special Representative calls upon parties to conflict to immediately end all restriction on the receipt of humanitarian aid by civilians and allow unimpeded access by humanitarian actors.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative encourages the Human Rights Council to maintain the practice of including recommendations on the protection of children affected by armed conflict when considering or adopting resolutions on country-specific situations or thematic issues as well as in the universal periodic review process, with particular attention to the implementation of the recommendations. The Special Representative also encourages the Human Rights Council to continue to include child rights violations in its resolutions establishing or renewing the relevant mandates of special procedures.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative welcomes the recent ratifications of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict and continues her call to States that have not yet done so to sign and ratify the treaty, to enact legislation to explicitly prohibit and criminalize the recruitment and use of children by armed forces or groups and the use of children in hostilities, and to establish the minimum age for recruitment into the armed forces at 18 years, when depositing their binding declaration upon ratification of the Optional Protocol.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- In the past year, the Special Representative has continued to prioritize interactions with parties to conflict to end grave violations against children. However, while progress has been forthcoming, the sheer number and differing nature of actors in armed conflicts has contributed to the creation of an environment where the protection of children is increasingly challenging and resource-intensive. In particular, the multiplicity of non-State armed groups, including militias that are used to fight on behalf of Governments, and the increasing number of military operations carried out by international coalitions, have challenged the child protection community's ability to prevent and respond to grave violations. The very nature of these actors, with their loose composition and the lack of clarity in their command structures, can hamper advocacy efforts seeking to ensure that fundamental safeguards are implemented, such as precautionary measures and adherence to the principle of distinction.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Education is a key component of empowerment, however in times of conflict, children's access to education is often severely restricted, with a particular effect on girls as their schools are often directly targeted by attacks. Even when schools are operating in situations of armed conflict where girls' enrolment rates were high prior to the conflict, some parents prevent girls from going to schools due to insecurity, or because the facilities have been used by armed actors. The military use of schools exposes girls to an increased likelihood of sexual violence by armed elements and also increases the likelihood of attack by other parties to the conflict. In addition, girls are sometimes given extra household responsibilities that oblige them to stay home. There is also increased vulnerability to forced early marriage in situations of conflict, which is at times encouraged by families with the aim of providing their child with physical and financial security and results in girls withdrawing from schooling. Forced marriage is another practice that has increasingly been used by armed groups as an expression of power and control over populations. Given these susceptibilities, it is important to develop protection and education programmes for conflict-affected girls in order to provide them with support and avoid long out-of-school interruptions. In this regard, the Special Representative welcomes the call by the Human Rights Council for all States to strengthen and intensify their efforts to realize progressively the equal enjoyment of the right to education by every girl and encourages a focus on girls affected by armed conflict.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- The Convention on the Rights of the Child requires that States seek alternatives to judicial proceedings for children at the national level and that any solution needs to take into account “the child’s assuming of a constructive role in society.” For children, understanding and acknowledging a past wrongdoing plays a crucial role in their psychosocial development and reintegration process. Accountability based on restorative approaches contributes to a child’s rehabilitation and reconciliation with his or her community.
- 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
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- States are encouraged, to establish 18 as the minimum age for voluntary recruitment into armed forces when depositing their binding declaration (under article 3) upon ratification of the Optional Protocol. States which have ratified but not adopted the straight-18 policy are urged to reconsider their declarations in order to raise the minimum age to 18.
- 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 2012, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- [Prevention of child recruitment]: Given the complex set of factors influencing child recruitment, prevention strategies, to be successful, require a holistic approach and should be conducted by a variety of actors at the local, national and international levels. From a broad perspective, three prevention strategies can be identified: effective legal prevention mechanisms at the national level, strengthening community protection mechanisms at the local level, and providing children with alternatives.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- International and national courts are encouraged to use and build on the jurisprudence arising from the judgement handed down by the International Criminal Court in the Lubanga case and to be guided by the measures that the Court has put in place related to child protection and child participation in judicial proceedings.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative commends the Human Rights Council for its work in relation to persons deprived of their liberty as well as on juvenile justice, and encourages the Council to continue to give due consideration to the rights of children affected by armed conflict in that regard, including in its resolutions on country-specific situations and thematic issues and in the mandates of special procedures and commissions of inquiry.
- 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
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- [Strengthening family and community protection mechanisms]: Initiatives to raise community awareness about the rights of children and the long-term implications of children’s association with armed groups and to promote attitudinal change or encourage the intervention of community and religious leaders to halt child recruitment should be conducted in close collaboration with parents, community and religious leaders, teachers and children themselves. Dialogue to foster community ownership is crucial, as are consultations that aim at identifying and building on existing positive practices.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 95
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative urges Member States that have not done so to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict and to enact effective national legislation and policies to criminalize the recruitment and use of children by armed forces. She calls upon the international community to support those efforts, including by providing the necessary technical and financial support to concerned Member States to end the recruitment and use of children in armed 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
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 101
- Paragraph text
- Measures to address the structural causes of child recruitment must tackle social exclusion and provide children and youth with education and socioeconomic alternatives. At the national level, measures to reintegrate children must be systematically included in broader recovery and development strategies. The economic dimensions of preventing the recruitment of children and reintegrating them into society need to figure prominently in the peacebuilding, recovery and development agenda of international agencies and bilateral donors.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative notes with appreciation the attention paid by the special procedure mandate holders and commissions of inquiry to child protection concerns. She encourages mandate holders and commissions of inquiry to continue to include the plight of children affected by armed conflict in their monitoring efforts, reports and recommendations, and to bring those concerns to her attention. The Special Representative will continue to use such observations for advocacy purposes with the Member States concerned.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- All incidents must be investigated promptly and effectively, as ending impunity for attacks on health care is the best way to prevent their recurrence. Member States should investigate incidents, in a timely and transparent manner, and punish those responsible. Putting remedial measures in place is also a necessary element of accountability. When attacks have taken place, Governments should ensure that they mitigate the impact by repairing damage, clearing military hazards, providing emergency medical care and establishing safe routes and alternative medical facilities.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative calls upon Member States to treat children allegedly associated with non-State armed groups as victims entitled to full protection of their human rights, to ensure that they are not used as spies or for the purposes of intelligence gathering, and to urgently put into place alternatives to the systematic detention of children. The Special Representative urges the General Assembly to take these issues into account and ensure the protection of children in the review of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.
- 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
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative urges Member States, United Nations agencies, funds and programmes and NGOs to redouble efforts to implement the full range of protection and programmatic measures outlined in the recommendations of the 1996 Machel study and the 2007 10-year review of that study. In this regard, part two of the report of the Special Representative of 2007 (A/62/228), which included recommendations based on the findings of the 10-year review, is referenced.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- In light of continued grave violations against children in situations of armed conflict, Member States are strongly urged to prioritize the investigation and prosecution of perpetrators through national judicial processes, including high-ranking officials and members of the armed forces as necessary. Furthermore, at the international level Member States are encouraged to take action against persistent perpetrators through the imposition of sanctions and other targeted measures.
- 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. 76
- Paragraph text
- In the context of the global campaign for education in emergencies and in light of trends related to attacks in conflict situations against educational facilities, teachers and students, Member States, United Nations entities and civil society organizations are encouraged to take all measures necessary to promote and enforce the concept of schools as zones of peace. This should extend to the development of curricula with an emphasis on peace education and fostering cultures of tolerance.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Drone strikes directly affect the psychosocial well-being of children and their families, as well as their economic situations and educational opportunities. The unannounced and often mixed use of drones for both surveillance and military operations has created a pervasive sense of fear in affected areas. Children have been increasingly kept away from schools because of the fear that they could be killed on their way to school or to compensate for the income lost after the death or injury of a relative due to a drone strike.
- 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
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 88
- Paragraph text
- The continuing development of national legislation criminalizing violations against children is another encouraging gain for the children and armed conflict agenda and is often a direct result of the implementation of an action plan. In that regard, the Special Representative welcomes the efforts of the Governments of Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Philippines and their notable progress on strengthening national legislation related to children and armed conflict during the reporting period.
- 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
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative also commends the pilot mobile court scheme initiated by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to improve access to justice for refugees who have been victims of crime. Such projects have recently been initiated in Uganda, in collaboration with the Government of Uganda, and aim to address the lengthy wait that refugees face before their cases are heard, and to encourage victims of sensitive crimes including rape, sexual assault and domestic violence to report allegations.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Notwithstanding the challenges outlined above, the present report highlights important new initiatives taken by the Special Representative and other child protection actors to improve the well-being of children living through conflict. Encouragingly, progress has been achieved: thousands of children have been released by parties to conflict, commitments have been issued by non-State armed groups and progress has been made in implementing actions plans with Governments to end and prevent grave violations against children.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- [Vulnerabilities and risks faced by children who are internally displaced during armed conflict – addressing their rights]: On several of her missions in recent years, the Special Representative has witnessed the deeply distressing and precarious conditions of IDPs, the vast majority of whom are children and women. For instance, in November 2009, the Special Representative visited Sudan where she met with communities who were internally displaced. Many children have been displaced for years, with some of them having been born during displacement, while others were newly displaced in 2009 because of continuing armed violence. In these camps, the concerns include tensions caused by the presence of armed groups and the increase in incidents of gender-based violence. Due to lack of security, livelihoods and basic services, few internally displaced families manage to return to their place of origin. Further, during her last visit to Uganda in May – June 2010, the Special Representative spoke with victims of armed conflict and displacement in Gulu, northern Uganda, where many women and children were forced to flee in search of safety and livelihoods. Upon return to their villages, they faced multiple challenges, such as the absence of clean water, health care and education. Schools struggled with a lack of teachers, classrooms and teaching materials. Another major concern was the protection of children and young women against sexual and gender-based violence, caused by a frequent lack of rule of law in IDP return areas.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- In the previous report of the Special Representative to the General Assembly, concerns related to internally displaced children were highlighted and the report included an annex specifying the rights and guarantees for this vulnerable group (A/64/254, annex I). The Assembly acknowledged the guarantees in its resolution 64/162 on the protection of and assistance to internally displaced persons. These rights and guarantees include the principle of non-discrimination, the right to documentation, protection from violence and abuse, the right to essential services, and the requirement that when dealing with internally displaced children the best interest of the child must prevail.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- A number of regional legal instruments also affirm the rights of internally displaced children, most notably the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (the Kampala Convention), which was adopted in October 2009. It includes specific provisions reaffirming the right of internally displaced persons to personal documentation, education, protection against recruitment and use in hostilities, kidnapping, abduction, sexual slavery and trafficking, and protection that addresses the special needs of separated and unaccompanied minors, as well as of mothers with young children. The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child emphasizes the responsibility of States to ensure that internally displaced children receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance and pays special attention to the importance of reuniting families separated by displacement. Furthermore, the Council of Europe has adopted a number of recommendations concerning internal displacement, including the right of internally displaced children to education.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Beyond the national level, a central rationale and strategy for the engagement of the Security Council on the issue of children and armed conflict has been to hold perpetrators accountable under international law. The unique means of the Council to impose sanctions and other direct and targeted measures raises the stakes for perpetrators. Thus far, the Council has expressed its readiness to consider targeted measures against perpetrators of grave violations through its resolutions on children and armed conflict, including 1539 (2004), 1612 (2005) and 1882 (2009). Council resolution 1882 (2009) also establishes a linkage between the Security Council's children and armed conflict agenda and its sanctions committees.
- 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. 41
- Paragraph text
- It is the long-held position of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children in Armed Conflict and United Nations child protection partners that the international community must seek to engage all parties to conflict in dialogue for the purpose of eliciting concrete child protection commitments and to ensure that parties prepare and implement action plans to both prevent and address grave violations for which they have been cited. Such dialogue does not prejudge the legal status of non-state parties, nor does it confer legitimacy. The primacy and imperative to protect children must override political considerations.
- 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. 82
- Paragraph text
- Member States, bearing the primary duty and responsibility for addressing internal displacement, should abide by their obligations under international law and adhere to the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. This includes as provided for in the rights and guarantees for internally displaced children, safeguarding populations on their territory from arbitrary displacement; provision of protection and assistance to those who have been displaced; and supporting and facilitating voluntary, safe and dignified solutions to displacement, particularly as regards children.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative encourages State parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to strengthen national and international measures for the prevention of recruitment of children into the armed forces or armed groups and their use in hostilities. In particular, those measures include signing and ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the involvement of children in armed conflict and enacting legislation that explicitly prohibits and criminalizes the recruitment of children into armed forces or groups and their use in hostilities; exercising extraterritorial jurisdiction in order to strengthen the international protection of children against recruitment; establishing mechanisms to identify children, including asylum-seeking and refugee children, who have been or may have been recruited or used in hostilities; providing such children with the necessary assistance, including psychological and psychological rehabilitation and social integration; and prohibiting the export of arms to countries where children are recruited or used in hostilities.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2011
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 2011, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- Member States bear a central and immediate political, legal and moral responsibility for the protection of children and should comply with international law for the protection of children within their territories. They should bring to justice individuals responsible for the recruitment and use of children in the armed forces or armed groups, and their use in hostilities, in violation of applicable international law. They should also take action against other grave violations against children through national justice systems, including undertaking appropriate reforms of national legislation for the protection of children, in order to bring laws into line with international obligations, as well as strengthening child-protection capacity and training for the military, the police, and law enforcement and judiciary officials in the context of national security sector reform efforts.
- 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
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- Member States should ensure the participation of children in justice processes, whenever grave child rights violations are committed during armed conflict. Children who participate in justice processes should be protected and their best interests should be the main concern at all times. The appropriate justice mechanism, whether judicial or non-judicial, should be sought. In addition, a child who commits international crimes while associated with armed forces or armed groups should be regarded primarily as a victim, not as a perpetrator. In the event that a child is held accountable, the appropriate form of accountability should be sought. Any decision made should take into account the best interest of the child and his or her reintegration into society.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Little is known of the strategies used by armed actors to access children for these acts of violence. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that families are forced to hand over their children to take part in these actions, and there have also been cases of poor families being induced by armed groups to give their children away, through the promise of money. The use of very young children and/or disabled children for such acts is also a horrifying trend of grave concern. There is an urgent need to fill the knowledge gap and to reach a better understanding of how these acts could be prevented. Concomitantly, there is a need to better address the stigmatization of, and prejudice against, children suspected of collaboration with armed actors, which lead to other violations including beatings, threats to children and their families, acts tantamount to torture, arbitrary arrests and detentions. In this context, particular attention must be given to young children, girls and disabled children.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2011
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 2011, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- In recent years, at the request of Governments or the Security Council, United Nations bodies have played an increasing role in assisting national actors in their efforts to develop accountable and effective security institutions on the basis of non-discrimination, respect for human rights and the rule of law. Support has ranged from facilitating discussions on security arrangements as part of wider negotiations between parties to a prospective peace agreement, to technical advice on and/or support for the implementation of security sector reform plans. In this context, child protection considerations are central to efforts to build rights-based, accountable security systems.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- The security needs of marginalized or socially excluded groups, particularly those of children and women, should be taken into account when developing plans for security sector reform. Security institutions should integrate the protection of children as a priority area of their mandates; threats to children have often been overlooked, resulting in the exposure of children to grave violations, both in conflict and peacetime. In countries such as the Sudan and South Sudan, the establishment of specialized child protection units in the armed forces has gone a long way to ensuring timely response to cases of violations against children and has helped raise awareness of child rights and welfare among the security forces more widely. Such positive initiatives should be replicated elsewhere. In addition, in order to prevent mobilization of children, recruitment protocols must ensure rigorous age verification: civil registry records, when incomplete or inaccurate, must be supplemented by other procedures to ascertain age.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative expresses her appreciation for the strengthened collaboration between her Office and the United Nations human rights system, and reiterates her continued support, including through regular information-sharing and advocating for the protection of children affected by armed conflict. The Special Representative wishes to reiterate that, unless all parties to conflict adhere to their commitments, comply with their international obligations and are held accountable for non-compliance, there will be no improvement in the situation of children in armed conflict. To this end, the Special Representative makes the recommendations below.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- [Development, dissemination and enforcement of the law]: At the national level, effective investigations and prosecutions are potentially powerful prevention tools but continue to be weak. The failure to investigate grave violations against children or to sanction those responsible is often linked to broader accountability issues. Short of systematic prosecution, a system for deterrence should be built through the prosecution of the most persistent violators. Furthermore, practical measures can be implemented by Governments to prevent under-age recruitment, such as free birth registration or alternative mechanisms for age verification, in addition to conscription policies and mandatory vetting procedures to monitor child recruitment by national armies.
- 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
- Infants
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- [Strengthening family and community protection mechanisms]: Establishing and strengthening community protection mechanisms and raising the awareness of families, communities and their leaders of the issue are other critical factors for prevention. Child protection and recruitment prevention policies are unlikely to work in contexts in which the community promotes the association of children with armed groups. Children are also most vulnerable to recruitment when family and community protection systems are weakened. In some contexts, children join armed groups because they are encouraged to do so by their families and/or communities. Domestic violence has also been found to be a central factor in the recruitment of children. Abusive families propel children on to the streets, where they are more vulnerable to recruitment, or directly into the ranks of an armed group. In Colombia, for example, the decision of children, mainly girls, to run away and join an armed group has been found to be closely linked to domestic exploitation and physical and sexual abuse.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- The Human Rights Council is encouraged, when considering or adopting resolutions on country-specific situations or thematic issues, to include therein recommendations on, or references to, the protection of children affected by armed conflict. It is also encouraged to act as a complementary follow-up mechanism to assess the implementation of the observations and recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, particularly with regard to the parties to conflict in all situations of concern addressed in the annual report of the Secretary-General (A/66/782-S/2012/261).
- 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
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- In response, in May of this year, the Special Representative briefed the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 751 (1992) and 1907 (2009) concerning Somalia and Eritrea, proposing the addition of grave violations against children as designation criteria for sanctions. The Security Council, by its resolution 2002 (2011), expanded the sanctions regime in Somalia to include grave violations against children in armed conflict in its designation criteria. Closer collaboration between the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 751 (1992) and 1907 (2009) concerning Somalia and Eritrea and the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict will enhance coherence in the work of the Council and strengthen its actions against impunity. Going forward, it will be critical to expand this practice to other sanctions committees which address persistent perpetrators of grave violations against 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
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- Governments bear the primary responsibility for the protection of children and, more widely, of civilians. A number of steps must be taken to build a protective environment for children, before, during and after conflict. Foremost is the establishment of a national legal framework enshrining international norms that upholds the rights of children and protects them from the consequences of conflict. In this regard, the ratification and subsequent implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, inter alia through translation into national legislation, followed by the necessary administrative, budgetary and social policy adjustments, is a key foundational step towards the protection of children. Further child-specific legal instruments, such as child protection codes or acts, which include a gamut of measures from juvenile justice to punitive measures against violations and abuses of child rights, have provided an additional layer of legal protection in States affected by conflict.
- 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
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- The multiple challenges faced by conflict-affected countries cannot be resolved by short-term or partial solutions. Heavy debt burdens, lack of resources and other capacity constraints hinder their ability to provide effective and sustained responses. The Special Representative welcomes the report of the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda (A/67/890, annex), which highlights the importance of including in the agenda beyond 2015 the goal of eliminating all forms of violence against children and reiterates the need to ensure education for every child regardless of circumstances.
- 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
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- This initiative aims at increasing knowledge and understanding, improving monitoring and reporting, and advocating for clear and explicit domestic legislation on the interaction of military forces with schools and schoolchildren. Member States are encouraged, both in times of conflict and of peace, to support and adhere to this set of principles, and to integrate them in a practical way into their national policies and legislation, as well as into their military doctrine, manuals and training. While the Lucens Guidelines have been produced specifically for application during armed conflict, they may also be instructive in other situations, including post-conflict situations with the potential to return to armed conflict.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- The Office of the Special Representative has developed, in cooperation with partners, an operational strategy to reduce the military use of schools and to mitigate the impact of this on children. The strategy aims to address the concern raised by the Security Council in its resolution 1998 with regard to the military use of schools and the impact of this on the safety of schoolchildren and their teachers and on the right to education. Complementing the principles outlined in the Lucens Guidelines, this operational strategy provides a number of concrete, practical activities that can be voluntarily undertaken by parties to conflict with a view to implementing a voluntary commitment to further refrain from using schools for military purposes. The activities proposed in the operational strategy pave the way for the practical implementation of the Lucens Guidelines by parties to conflict, with the support of the United Nations.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- Adherence to international law through the ratification of legal instruments is a crucial first step for States to improve the protection of children affected by armed conflict, and to address impunity for perpetrators. However, the establishment of national legislation and institutions frequently represents an obstacle to the effective implementation of obligations in States affected by conflict, owing to their weakened capacity. Even when legislation and institutions are in place, the challenge remains to ensure access to independent courts so that right holders can enforce respect of their rights.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative welcomes the surrender into the custody of the International Criminal Court, on 22 March 2013, of Bosco Ntaganda, against whom the Court had issued two arrest warrants, on 22 August 2006 and 13 July 2012 respectively. As the alleged former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Forces patriotiques pour la libération du Congo, Mr. Ntaganda is accused of seven counts of war crimes, including the enlistment of children under the age of 15, the conscription of children under the age of 15, and using children under the age of 15 to participate actively in hostilities, as well as murder, attacks against the civilian population, rape and sexual slavery, pillaging, and three counts of crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Ituri (Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 2002 and 2003. At the time of writing, the hearing for the confirmation of charges, which was initially scheduled for September 2013, had been postponed to allow the Prosecutor to complete the numerous tasks necessary after the case had been “dormant” for several years.
- 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
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 86
- Paragraph text
- If a peace agreement exclusively refers to the separation of child combatants, many children and youth, especially girls and those serving in so-called support functions, in particular victims of sexual violence, are at risk of being excluded from adequate reintegration assistance. Peace agreements should acknowledge the special needs of girls and provide for the establishment of rehabilitation programmes, health-care and counselling services for all boys and girls separated from armed forces and groups. Specific consideration should also be given to concerns regarding the protection of vulnerable children, such as refugee and internally displaced children, children separated from their families, unaccompanied minors and children orphaned by war.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 82
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative reiterates the recommendations made in previous reports and in her recent oral update to the Human Rights Council, in which she encouraged the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review to systematically take into account the concluding observations made by the Committee on the Rights of the Child when reviewing a State submission. The Special Representative urges State parties to accord priority to the implementation of relevant recommendations of the Working Group, with the assistance of the international community as needed.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- The detention of children without criminal charge or on national security charges constitutes a growing challenge and a grave concern for the Special Representative, and is present in nearly all situations that fall within the scope of her mandate. The challenge has been compounded by the response of governments to extremist groups and the changing perceptions of the status of combatants within the counter-terrorism framework. Governments holding children for their alleged or actual association with radical armed groups no longer view them primarily as victims of armed conflict but often consider the children as security threats. Many counter-terrorism strategies typically comprise the long-term deprivation of liberty and solitary confinement of individuals involved in perceived or actual terrorist activities, which not only violates their rights to a fair trial but also has a particularly devastating psychological impact on children. The impact of treating children recruited and used by armed groups as security threats compounds the challenge of addressing reintegration.
- 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
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The problem of children detained by government authorities is also present in situations in which there is little threat from extremists. Children arrested or captured in the course of more conventional military operations are often held in poor conditions and detained without being brought before a judge or granted access to a lawyer. If children are prosecuted for acts allegedly committed during their involvement with an armed group, the courts do not apply basic standards of fair trial and juvenile justice standards. Military courts are particularly inappropriate forums for hearing cases involving children, given that they do not fully recognize the special status of juveniles in conflict with the law. Moreover, when deprived of their liberty, children are vulnerable to human rights violations, including sexual abuse, degrading and inhumane treatment and, in some instances, torture.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Despite the challenges, agreements have been reached with a number of governments to ensure that detained children are handed over to the United Nations. In March 2014, a standard operating procedure for the handover of children formerly associated with armed forces and groups was adopted by the Government of Somalia. An agreement for the handover of children formerly associated with armed forces and groups was also reached with the African Union Mission in Somalia. On 10 September 2014, the United Nations and the Government of Chad signed a protocol on the handover of children associated with armed forces and groups, which includes specific provisions regulating detention. Those procedures build on the progress made with protocols for the handover of children formerly associated with armed forces and groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Mali signed in 2013.
- 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
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Accountability for those who attack schools and hospitals is a key aspect of prevention. The Special Representative reiterates her call upon Member States to promote the guidance note, institute changes in national policies and legislation as well as in military doctrine, manuals and training, and investigate and prosecute those who deliberately target schools and hospitals. The Security Council expressed deep concern about the military use of schools and hospitals as it compromises their civilian status, puts them at risk of attacks as lawful military targets, and has a disruptive effect on educational and medical activities. The Special Representative invites the Human Rights Council and other human rights bodies to use all available means to draw attention to the issue, including the universal periodic review, country situations and thematic reports. Lastly, the Special Representative welcomes the release on 16 December 2014 of the "Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict", by the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, and encourages Member States to adopt them.
- 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
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative continues to mobilize support for the signing and ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. During the reporting period, she held bilateral meetings with Member States that had not ratified and/or signed the treaty, and actively briefed regional organizations, civil society, and regional groups on the matter. The Special Representative also highlighted the need for Member States to ratify and implement the Optional Protocol at the 2013 annual treaty event organized by the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs.
- 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
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- During the reporting period, children in conflict zones worldwide continued to face violations of their human rights. Much of the Middle East and North Africa was in the grip of, or affected by overspill from, increasingly complex and widening conflicts. In Africa and Asia, many protracted and relapsing conflicts showed no signs of abating. In all of those situations, many parties to conflict failed to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law. As the Human Rights Council has noted in recent resolutions, disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks have been committed against civilians, including children, and civilian infrastructure such as medical facilities and schools.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- The effect of armed conflict on children during the reporting period was unyielding, with the Central African Republic, Israel and the State of Palestine, Libya, South Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen serving as regrettable examples where the situation worsened to a significant degree or saw no improvement. In the Central African Republic, a breakdown in law and order led to more intense violence between armed groups and the large-scale forced displacement of children, particularly since September. Nearly 2,000 children have been separated from armed groups by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its partners in the Central African Republic in 2015. These children are now at risk of being re-recruited owing to the persistent instability and lack of appropriate reintegration programmes. In South Sudan, witnesses and survivors of government offensives between May and August 2015 gave horrifying accounts of children being thrown into burning houses, run over by military vehicles and hanged from trees, and of girls being killed if they resisted rape. In several instances, boys were reportedly found castrated and killed after attacks. In Yemen, heavy aerial bombardments and ground operations since the end of March 2015 have dramatically increased the number of child casualties and had a devastating impact on access to education in an already highly precarious environment. Nearly all parties to the conflict on the ground in Yemen have engaged in widespread child recruitment, with information indicating that four times as many children were recruited in the six-month period from March to September 2015 than in the whole of 2014. In the Syrian Arab Republic and Iraq, the increasingly complex conflict and persistent violations of international law are taking an ever-increasing toll on the civilian population, as evidenced by rising displacement and refugee outflows. Libya is also facing worsening instability, violence and localized conflicts, and the rising tensions and violence in the State of Palestine and Israel show no signs of abating at the end of the reporting period.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- Extreme violence was a prevalent feature of the conflicts taking place in 2015 in Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria and the Syrian Arab Republic. Children were disproportionately affected and were often the direct targets of acts of violence intended to cause maximum civilian casualties and terrorize entire communities. Groups perpetrating extreme violence targeted, in particular, children pursuing their right to an education. The distribution of violent images and videos on social media placed the plight of children caught in the midst of these conflicts at the forefront of the world’s collective consciousness.
- 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
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- In its resolution 70/137 on the rights of the child , the General Assembly underlined that full access to quality education was an essential precondition for achieving sustainable development and for the full realization of the right to education. In that regard, Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Inclusiveness, quality and non-discrimination are fundamental principles that need to be systematically associated with education. When these principles are not given due consideration, education may increase social, ethnic and gender inequalities, further exacerbating divisions in society.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- All too often counter-terrorism strategies are implemented without regard for the long-term effects the policies may have. Prolonged detention is not only detrimental to the development of the child, who misses out on crucial years of education, but also for society as a whole. The effective reintegration of children who are allegedly associated with non-State armed groups must be the primary response since it is essential for their well-being and to ensure long-term peace and security. These children should be primarily treated as victims, as the majority have suffered ill treatment and violations. The Special Representative calls upon Member States to develop operating procedures to expeditiously hand over children who are captured or who surrender in the course of military operations to child protection actors to reintegrate them into their communities. Upon return, such children are often stigmatized, and sufficient resources should be allocated for their reintegration. Resources and assistance should also be given to the receiving communities to support reintegration efforts.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- In countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Nigeria and Somalia, as well as others, hundreds of children have been detained, sometimes for specific criminal offences, but often purely for association with parties to conflict. Given the vulnerability of children who have been recruited and used, the Special Representative once again urges Member States to ensure that children's reintegration is the prevailing approach and that children are treated primarily as victims of recruitment. This approach is in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, in which it is stated that children should be the object of special respect and that parties to the conflict should provide them with the care and aid that they require. This protection is not lost even in cases where a child has been recruited and used by a party to conflict. In addition, Member States that have ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict should strongly heed the provisions stipulating that all feasible measures should be taken to ensure that persons recruited or used in hostilities are demobilized and that appropriate assistance is afforded for their physical and psychological recovery and their social reintegration. Standard operating procedures for the handover of children encountered during military operations to child protection actors are important tools for adhering to the principles of the Optional Protocol. In recent years, handover agreements have been signed by the Governments of Chad, Mali, Somalia and Uganda, and together with UNICEF and other United Nations entities the Special Representative has continued advocacy with Member States and provided technical support for the development of new procedures during the reporting period.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Given the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in October 2015 by Somalia, there is almost universal ratification of that treaty and the global normative framework to protect the rights of children is robust. However, the Special Representative continues to engage with Member States that have not already ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, with the aim of achieving universal ratification thereof and enhancing the legal protection of children's rights in conflict. In the reporting period, she held bilateral meetings with Member States and actively engaged with regional organizations, civil society and regional groups on the matter. Four additional countries - Brunei Darussalam, Guinea, Pakistan and Samoa - became States parties to the Optional Protocol during the reporting period.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- While this international legal framework has sometimes been supported and enhanced by legislation and policies adopted at the regional, national and local levels, the present report has outlined how there is a disconnect between the internationally agreed standards for children's rights and their practical implementation in situations of armed conflict. In this regard, the Special Representative has continued to prioritize closer cooperation between her Office and international human rights mechanisms, in particular the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Human Rights Committee. Through State reporting mechanisms, treaty bodies have played an important role in identifying gaps between the legal and policy framework and the practice, and have made recommendations to address any shortcomings. The Special Representative is encouraged by the continued attention given to both progress and challenges in addressing the impact of armed conflict on children in State parties' reports reviewed by the respective committees. For example, in the reports of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC/C/COD/3-5) and the Human Rights Committee (CCPR/C/COD/4), the State party referred to the progress achieved in implementing the action plan to end the recruitment and use of children and other serious violations of the rights of the child by the armed forces and the security services. In this regard, increased collaborative efforts between the State party, the Special Representative and relevant special procedures of the Human Rights Council have been highlighted as a way forward to put an end to the suffering of children caused by the armed conflict. As another illustration of mutually reinforcing messages, the situation of children affected by armed conflicts in the Central African Republic has been outlined in the report of the Government to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC/C/CAF/2), and the Special Representative encourages the Committee and relevant actors to follow up in a timely manner, in particular through the adoption of strong concluding observations and by providing support for their swift implementation. The Special Representative also welcomes the collaboration with the Human Rights Committee, in particular through the list of issues in relation to the seventh periodic report of Colombia (CCPR/C/COL/Q/7) and the replies by the Government thereto (CCPR/C/COL/Q/7/Add.1), which resulted in a focus on the prevention of the use and recruitment of children by armed groups and on measures to prevent the involvement of children in intelligence activities or in civic-military activities. In addition, in its most recent concluding observations on Colombia (CCPR/C/COL/CO/7), the Human Rights Committee encouraged the State to continue and intensify its efforts to prevent the use and recruitment of children by armed groups, to provide adequate reintegration support and to guarantee that all children separated from armed groups are considered as victims.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- The World Humanitarian Summit, held in May 2016, also focused on increasing adherence to international law by parties to conflict. At the summit, the Special Representative took part in the high-level leaders' round table on upholding the norms that safeguard humanity, where she represented the United Nations and made commitments on behalf of the Organization to intensify the monitoring, investigation and reporting of violations and to engage in increased advocacy with parties to conflict when violations occur. At the same event, the Charter on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action was launched. This initiative will help to ensure that the many children who are permanently disabled during conflict, sometimes purely as the result of a lack of basic medical services to treat minor conditions, are not forgotten.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The complexity of dealing with the increasing number of parties to conflict has also been detrimental to the investigation of incidents when there are allegations of violations. Accountability remains key to ending grave violations, and the Special Representative sustained strong engagement to end impunity, including through advocacy with individual Member States to pursue national accountability initiatives. International initiatives to pursue accountability have also borne fruit in 2016, with the launch of a policy paper on children by the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, in November. The Office of the Special Representative supported the development of this document, which will aid the inclusion of crimes in indictments where the evidence permits, as well as enhancing the Court's interactions with children as victims and witnesses. At the request of the Security Council, the Special Representative continued to brief sanctions committees throughout the reporting period and to provide them with information on grave violations committed against children, including the committees for South Sudan in March, the Sudan in April and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in November.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- Relevant United Nations entities are also encouraged to use the concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Human Rights Committee as advocacy tools to promote States parties' follow-up to and implementation of recommendations related to children and armed conflict.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Since receiving a request from the parties in May 2015, the Special Representative has played an active role in the peace talks between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army. Important progress has been made during the reporting period, which is outlined in the present report in the section on field visits.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- In this regard, the Innocenti Research Centre of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Human Rights Program of Harvard Law School convened a meeting of experts and practitioners in April 2009 to consult on new and emerging issues in the area of child rights and transitional justice. This forum led to the publication in March 2010 of Children and Transitional Justice: Truth-Telling, Accountability and Reconciliation. Critically, the publication outlines in an annex the key principles for children and transitional justice.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- 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. 78
- Paragraph text
- The Department of Peacekeeping Operations-Department of Field Support child protection policy directive is critical to ensuring that United Nations peacekeeping operations effectively implement child protection resolutions and other recommendations of Member States and its implementation should be further reinforced. The Department of Field Support is also encouraged to co-sign the directive to ensure consistent guidance to all United Nations peacekeeping operations and relevant special political missions.
- 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 2011, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- [What is “justice” for children?]Reports and research undertaken with children who are victims of armed conflict all find that child victims want perpetrators of grave violations to be held accountable, particularly when they continue to live in the same community. For children, however, justice includes far more than punishing a perpetrator. Even more important to them is the restoration of their rights, especially their socioeconomic rights, and concrete acts of compensation and reparation to address the loss of those rights.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- In order to ensure the protection of schools and hospitals during armed conflict, Member States, the Security Council, the United Nations and civil society are encouraged to undertake concerted action, in the form of a global campaign or a partnership. In addition, a strategy should be designed and implemented to halt and prevent further attacks on schools and hospitals. Creative solutions should also be found for complex problems such as the use of schools by the military and as recruiting grounds.
- 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
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- In her previous reports, the Special Representative has consistently noted with concern the increasing trend of attacks on education. Such acts include the partial or total destruction of schools and other education facilities and threatened or actual targeting of education personnel. Attacks on education undermine the establishment of a protective environment for children and their chances for a better future. In addition, violent attacks on girls and targeted attacks on their education undermine their role in society and prevent them from exercising their rights.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- With the flow of civilians and combatants across borders, the regional aspects of conflicts have brought new challenges to the safety, security and protection of children. The activities across borders by armed groups such as the LRA, operating over vast stretches of the central African hinterland, have proven difficult to follow, and as a result the threat posed by them has been concomitantly difficult to contain. Two aspects are worthy of note with regard to the operational response to the challenges posed by cross-border threats.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
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. 46
- Paragraph text
- In 2002, the indictment for grave violations against children of all the individuals charged by the Special Court for Sierra Leone, as well as the involvement of children in that country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, signified a shift that placed the issue of child participation centrally in the international discourse on justice and truth-seeking mechanisms. Since then there has been significant investment to create guidance and common perspectives on the basis of lessons learned and of best practices from Sierra Leone and elsewhere.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- Laws are not effective, however, if there is no implementation or awareness of their existence. Measures to foster their dissemination are therefore also critical for prevention. These may include the creation of child protection units in the military, which have played an important role in countries such as South Sudan and the Sudan. Educational training programmes to inform armed forces and groups of the legal protection for children during armed conflict are equally important in increasing awareness of and compliance with 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
- Children
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- As a key element in protecting children from being unlawfully deprived of their liberty, the Special Representative called on Member States to put in place standard operating procedures for armed forces regarding the handover to child protection actors of children who are captured or who surrender in the course of military operations. In line with the standard operating procedures, armed forces should hand children over as soon as possible after they have been encountered by the military so that they can be reintegrated into society and not be deprived of their liberty.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative continued to advocate for the strengthening of protection frameworks for children deprived of their liberty in times of conflict. To that end, she welcomed the adoption of the Basic Principles and Guidelines on Remedies and Procedures on the Right of Persons Deprived of Their Liberty to Bring Proceedings Before a Court, which were submitted to the Human Rights Council in September 2015 (see A/HRC/30/37, annex). The Basic Principles highlight that basic legal safeguards must be provided in all circumstances, including for children deprived of liberty for their protection or rehabilitation, particularly if detained by military or security services. The Special Representative urges the Council to use the tools at its disposal to ensure the implementation of the Basic Principles. The Special Representative is also engaged with other United Nations actors on the initial phase of the in-depth global study on children deprived of liberty, to be prepared pursuant to General Assembly resolution 69/157. Moreover, during the reporting period her Office participated in other forums related to the deprivation of liberty of children, such as the subregional workshop on the treatment of children allegedly involved with Boko Haram as alleged offenders, victims and/or witnesses of crime organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Senegal in October and the expert meeting on juvenile justice in a counter-terrorism context organized by the Global Counterterrorism Forum and the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law, held in Malta in November.
- 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
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- [Children’s access to education in times of armed conflict]: The Special Representative is deeply concerned by the fact that education is too often treated as a secondary need in situations of emergency. The life-saving and protective role of conflict-sensitive education must be fully acknowledged and prioritized, and initiatives aiming to ensure that schools are considered as safe spaces, neutral areas, or zones of peace should be strongly encouraged, promoted and supported, in order to make education the best weapon against ignorance and intolerance.
- 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
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative welcomes national and international efforts to achieve accountability for perpetrators for grave violations against children. Member States are encouraged to strengthen their support to justice systems by allocating sufficient resources and capacity for investigating and prosecuting those who perpetrate crimes against children in situations of conflict. The Human Rights Council is also urged to include a focus on the fight against impunity for grave violations when it mandates commissions of inquiry or holds special sessions.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- Children's rights to liberty and security of person were impacted by government security responses and many children were detained for their or their parents' alleged association with armed groups. While advocacy has been successful and some children have been released, many more remained deprived of their liberty in situations of armed conflict. In the reporting period, the screening of civilians during military operations was also an emerging detention-related concern in a number of situations on the children and armed conflict agenda, which is elaborated upon in the present report.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- In the reporting period, the Special Representative has engaged in extensive advocacy to protect children who have been deprived of their liberty for association with parties to conflict. Joint endeavours have helped to ensure appropriate protection of the rights of children separated from armed groups. For example, in the Sudan, following the Special Representative's visit and in the light of extensive efforts by many United Nations entities, 21 boys detained for their alleged association with a non-State armed group were released and pardoned by the President on 8 September 2016.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- During the universal periodic review process, States are urged to include, as appropriate, in their recommendations to the State under review specific references to information from the monitoring and reporting mechanism on grave violations against children established in accordance with Security Council resolution 1612 (2005), as well as the country conclusions adopted and recommendations made by the Working Group of the Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict, as appropriate.
- 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
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- States parties to the Convention and to the Optional Protocol are further urged to implement the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child as a matter of priority and to submit timely reports to the Committee under the Optional Protocol. To this end, States parties are encouraged to establish effective interministerial coordination mechanisms with a view to ensuring comprehensive measures to prevent and protect children from offences under the Optional Protocol.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- During the universal periodic review process, States are urged to include, as appropriate, in their recommendations to the State under review specific references to information from the monitoring and reporting mechanism on grave violations against children established in accordance with Security Council resolution 1612 (2005), in addition to the country conclusions adopted and recommendations made by the Working Group of the Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict, as appropriate.
- 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
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- Noting that 2015 is the year that the sustainable development goals will be adopted, and noting with concern the increasing number of attacks on schools and hospitals, the Special Representative calls upon Member States to ensure that the rights to education and health are a cornerstone of efforts to protect children from conflict, and upon the General Assembly to continue to give due consideration to the issue in its resolutions on humanitarian and development issues.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Addressing grave violations by State and non-State armed groups and engaging perpetrators on concrete measures to end and prevent such practices must be made using a case-by-case approach. One suggested strategy of engagement is the mainstreaming of child protection concerns in mediation and peace processes. Incorporating specific commitments into political settlements, ceasefire arrangements, peace agreements and relevant implementation mechanisms can provide unique opportunities and entry points for the protection of children.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
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 2011, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Since the previous report of the Special Representative submitted to the Human Rights Council, the child protection commitments made by the Government of Nepal and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Philippines, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army have been translated into concrete actions by these parties. New action plans to cease recruitment and use of children as well as to secure their release were signed by the United Nations and the Sudan Liberation Army/SLA-Free Will on 14 June 2010; the Sudan Liberation army/SLA-Mother Wing (Abu Gasim) on 15 August 2010; and the Government of Afghanistan on 30 January 2011, respectively.
- 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
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- In addition, in November 2010, during the visit of the Special Representative, the Transitional Federal Government in Somalia committed to work towards an action plan to release girls and boys within the ranks of the Government forces and allied militias. In Myanmar, action plan negotiations between the Government and the United Nations to end the recruitment and use of children in the Tatmadaw Kyi are ongoing. In the Sudan, a memorandum of understanding was signed by the Justice and Equality Movement and the United Nations on 21 July 2010, paving the way towards the signing of an action plan. On 22 December 2010, JEM/Peace Wing submitted a draft action plan to the United Nations, to be implemented in West Darfur. In Chad, some 1,000 children were released by 12 armed opposition groups during the reporting period. In April 2011, the Government of Chad prepared an action plan to address the recruitment and use of children by the Armée nationale tchadienne, which is ready for signature with the United Nations.
- 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
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- The reintegration of children formerly associated with armed forces and groups continues to be hampered by the lack of economic opportunities in already poor regions and insufficient long-term funding, such as is the Philippines. In many countries, ongoing fighting and insecurity make children vulnerable to re-recruitment and limit the access of actors delivering reintegration support. Inadequate sequencing between the implementation of an action plan on the one hand, and the rate of funding for reintegration of children on the other, may lead to instances where reintegration programmes are not able to absorb the caseload created by the successful implementation of an action plan. The establishment of regional coordination mechanisms to respond to reunification and reintegration of children abducted across borders, in particular by the Lord’s Resistance Army, presents an additional challenge.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Perceptions of discrimination, social injustice, political exclusion and economic disparity are often motivating factors for children to join armed groups. Compounded with collective identity, defined often in ethnic, regional or religious terms, these perceptions become potent mobilizers of communities, including children. Loyalty to the group sometimes becomes a bargaining tool for armed groups, and members of the community are called upon to play their part and contribute their children to the struggle. Children are susceptible to these demands, not only as a result of social pressure or a sense of obligation, but also as a consequence of personal injustices suffered. When crimes against children are committed with impunity, many join armed groups motivated by a desire for revenge.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- In her last report, the Special Representative emphasized the risks for children during the course of military operations and the need to put in place specific policies and procedures, including tactical directives and standard operating procedures, in order to uphold international humanitarian law and prevent violations against children. New instruments of war, including the use of new technologies, the absence of clear battlefields and identifiable opponents have led to greater risks to children during military operations. The use of aerial attacks, including by drone, and night raids should be reviewed as a matter of priority by all armed actors, in order to minimize incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- The safety and security of children is critical to the legitimacy and credibility of any military activity. This is even more important in the context of peacekeeping or stabilization operations, where consent for the foreign presence is paramount to the success of the mission. The rules of engagement of armed forces must stipulate the protection of civilians as a foremost consideration in military operations, including in the context of counter-insurgency activities. The principles of proportionality and distinction must be upheld in today’s conflict settings by all armed actors; it is only through respect for these principles that the victimization of children can be avoided.
- 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
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative reiterates her call for the development of directives and standard operating procedures to ensure that military operations are conducted in conformity with applicable international humanitarian law and safeguard the protection of civilians, including children. During the reporting period, standard operating procedures have been developed by the Ugandan army, with the support of the Office of the Special Representative, to ensure the protection of children captured by, or in the custody of, the armed forces during operations against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The Special Representative reiterates her call to all relevant military actors, including armed forces, multinational forces and peacekeeping operations, to implement as a matter of priority the minimum set of measures highlighted in the annex to the present report.
- 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
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- [First judgement of the International Criminal Court on the war crime of recruitment and use of children]: On 14 March 2012, the International Criminal Court delivered its verdict in the case The Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, convicting Thomas Lubanga of the crimes of conscripting and enlisting children under the age of 15 years into the Forces patriotiques pour la libération du Congo and using them to participate actively in hostilities. The Court’s first judgement on the issue of child recruitment constitutes important international jurisprudence for future cases. In 2008, the Special Representative testified as an expert witness before the Court and submitted an amicus curiae brief providing clarification on the terms “conscripting and enlisting children” and “using them to participate actively in hostilities”. Both interpretations adopted by the Court allow for greater protection for all children associated with armed forces or armed groups.
- 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
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- Where relevant and possible, dialogue with non-State actors may take place in the context of peace processes. However, working closely with the relevant Governments, dialogue on the establishment of time-bound and effective measures to protect child victims — including action plans to halt particular violations — should be explored regardless of the status of political discussions. Contexts vary and experience has shown that innovation is a key ingredient for effective protection measures to be put in place. In the absence of a peace process Governments, as the primary duty-bearers for the protection of children, should work in partnership with the United Nations to ensure that time-bound and effective measures, including action plans, are put in place by all parties.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- [Reparations for children and the restoration of children’s rights]: The International Criminal Court is the first international tribunal to include reparations to victims of war crimes in its mandate. It established the Trust Fund for Victims, which is tasked to provide general assistance in the form of physical rehabilitation, material support and psychosocial counselling to victims of international crimes in countries where the Court has jurisdiction, and to implement Court-ordered reparation awards. The Trust Fund has introduced an innovative approach to reparations in two ways: it is not linked to any specific case before the Court and supports victims both individually and collectively; and it is financed through basket funding from States and voluntary donations, which means that reparations are not limited to the financial means of the convicted person. Following the judgement in the Lubanga case, the Court and the Trust Fund will deal with legal and practical questions on the implementation of the reparations mandate, which may have implications for the larger child protection community.
- 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
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- [Strengthening family and community protection mechanisms]: Partnering with and building the capacity of local child protection systems requires a situation analysis of each country in order to identify the strengths of and gaps in child protection systems at both the national and community levels. Community-based child protection mechanisms have been found to be a highly diverse and adaptable approach to child protection in different contexts. In some situations, child protection mechanisms have sprung out of women’s associations and been engaged in collecting information on violations of children’s rights and in protecting children at particular risk of recruitment. Other community-led protection networks spring up spontaneously or are fostered by non-governmental organizations working with the community.
- 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
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- [Strengthening family and community protection mechanisms]: A common challenge is the creation of linkages between local, community-based protection structures, on the one hand, and elements of the formal child protection system and Government services, on the other. Often, the existence of strong legal and policy frameworks notwithstanding, Government-led services are not filtering down to the communities. In extremely fragile contexts, the weakness of the State and its lack of control over all areas may be a factor accounting for gaps in Government services at the community level. In other contexts, it is a sign of insufficient priority and resources being accorded to the commitments made in the national framework. In the absence of formal mechanisms, community-led mechanisms often step in. These may include groups formed specifically for the purpose, such as child protection committees or community care coalitions, or they may simply consist of existing structures, such as women’s groups, faith-based organizations and other community associations that take on a role in protecting children. To be effective, these mechanisms need adequate funding, capacity and knowledge to deal with child protection issues.
- 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
- Families
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- [Empowering children through education, skills and livelihood opportunities]: Evidence from armed conflicts suggests that there is a strong association between recruitment into armed forces or groups, on the one hand, and poverty and social disadvantage, on the other. Poverty, often combined with social exclusion, has been found to stir the frustration of young people and create incentives to join armed groups. In many post-conflict societies, young people have little choice but to remain unemployed or accept short-term and exploitative work. Accordingly, providing children and young people with alternatives through high-quality education, both formal and non-formal, and national programmes for job creation and income generation for young people should be top priorities in national prevention strategies. Food security and livelihood measures, tailored to the specific economic context, together with cultural and psychosocial support activities, can also contribute to preventing the recruitment and the rerecruitment of children.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- [Explosive weapons: an emerging concern]: Explosive weapons touch on four of the six grave violations against children and armed conflict, including killing or maiming. They are also used for direct and physical attacks on schools and hospitals, where they may result in forced closure or compromised functioning. Children recruited and used as suicide bombers and victim bombers both carry explosive weapons. In some country situations, children are denied humanitarian access because of the presence of explosive remnants of war. Recent developments in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, the Sudan and the Syrian Arab Republic, where thousands of children have been killed and maimed, have confirmed the gravity of the issue.
- 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
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Between June 2012 and December 2013, the Optional Protocol was ratified by Cameroon, Indonesia and Nigeria, and was acceded to by Swaziland and Zimbabwe, bringing the total number of States parties to 152. To date, a total of 20 Member States have signed but not ratified the Optional Protocol. Furthermore, the Special Representative welcomes the firm pledge made in December 2013 by Mr. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, to adhere to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and hopes that this will translate into ratification of the Convention and its Optional Protocols as soon as possible.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- The adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty by the General Assembly in its resolution 67/234 B of April 2013 constitutes an important opportunity for child protection. The entry into force of the Treaty falls in line with the long-standing interpretation by the Committee on the Rights of the Child of State parties’ obligations, and is expected to have strong potential for generating a positive long-term impact on the situation of children in conflict, as it forbids the transfer of arms that could be used in committing attacks directed against civilians, including children, or in committing grave breaches of international humanitarian law and war crimes as defined by the international agreements to which the State is a party, such as the crime of child recruitment under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. In addition, under the Treaty’s export assessment provisions, exporting States are requested to assess whether arms transfers would directly or indirectly lead to serious acts of violence against women and children, including killing and maiming, but also to the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict and, if an overriding risk is identified, to refrain from exporting.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- Armed forces and armed groups use schools for a variety of military purposes, including as barracks, sniper or defensive positions, munitions depots, detention centres, recruiting grounds and training facilities. This is particularly true in remote locations, where shelter and large structures may be rare. It can involve parts that are central to the functioning of schools, such as classrooms, or those that are more peripheral, such as playgrounds, and water and sanitation facilities. The Security Council, in its resolution 1998, explicitly mentions the use of schools for military purposes as a concern and an integral part of monitoring and reporting.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- In 1996, by its resolution 51/77, the General Assembly created the mandate of the Special Representative in response to the report on the impact of armed conflict on children submitted by Graça Machel (A/51/306), in which the full extent to which children are affected in situations of armed conflict was highlighted for the first time. Since then, the international community has rallied behind the plight of children and has united in the common goal to end grave violations. Progress has been made at the normative and policy levels and coordination has been enhanced among child protection actors within the United Nations system, as well as with national and international partners.
- 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
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- [Children’s access to health care in times of armed conflict]: Hospitals that remain operational during conflict are often looted or forced to close down for one or another reason. They run out of medical supplies. Military personnel stay close by, or set up check points near hospitals. Medical personnel are sometimes threatened and forced to withdraw medical care from patients. In some cases, health services are diverted to satisfy military needs. Attacks on hospitals, health workers and patients strike at the heart of protection of children affected by armed conflict. Health services save and sustain lives. Health services are crucial in order to meet the needs of children in conflict situations. Hospitals should have no part in warfare.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- [Children’s access to health care in times of armed conflict]: Unfortunately, this principle stands in sharp contrast to reality. The civil war in the Syrian Arab Republic is a tragic example that demonstrates how the strongest principles of humanity can be trampled on by warfare. A recent report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic dealing with the issue of medical care has illustrated how the deliberate targeting of hospitals, medical personnel and transport, the denial of access to medical care, and ill-treatment of the sick and wounded have become some of the most alarming features of the Syrian conflict. Violence against health care workers has a significant compound effect, which causes dramatic increases in the mortality rate of patients. The breakdown of medical services disproportionately affects the most vulnerable segment of the population, especially children, nursing mothers and the disabled.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- [Children’s access to health care in times of armed conflict]: These incidents are of grave concern, and constitute a complete disregard for the special status of medical facilities, persons and functions, and a failure to protect the civilian population, including children. Concerted action by the international community is needed in order to highlight and tackle this issue, by strengthening the engagement of Member States, the United Nations, humanitarian and human rights organizations, civil society partners, the global health community, and above all, the parties to conflict. Medical professionals in neighbouring countries also need support, in order to respond to the urgent medical needs of persons fleeing conflict, the majority of whom are women and children.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 87
- Paragraph text
- Mainstreaming child protection in peace agreements paves the way for the development of time-bound measures to address the needs of conflict-affected children. Where a previous action plan exists, a peace process can offer an opportunity to revitalize commitments and accelerate its implementation. The Special Representative strongly encourages Member States and other mediation actors to take into account children's issues and concerns in their political efforts. In the light of their ongoing involvement in conflict prevention and mediation, regional organizations have an important role to play in championing children's rights and interests in peacemaking processes.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- In Mali, the joint leadership of the Mouvement national pour la libération de l'Azawad and the Mouvement arabe de l'Azawad signed command orders prohibiting the six grave violations against children and granted screening access to the United Nations. Dialogue with other armed groups is ongoing. Armed groups also came forward in the Syrian Arab Republic, pledging to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children as well as other grave violations, including attacks on schools and hospitals, and the military use of schools. In Yemen, the United Nations country task force on monitoring and reporting engaged with the Al-Houthi armed group and maintained dialogue over a draft action plan, despite the challenging security developments.
- 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
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- In addition, the Special Representative participated in initiatives to promote South-South dialogue on child reintegration, such as the Third Global Conference on Child Labour organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO), which was convened in Brasilia in November 2013. At the conference, the Special Representative encouraged participants to prioritize the issue of child soldiers; participated at a side event hosted by Luxembourg during the African Union open debate held in May 2014; and attended a ministerial round table on children and armed conflict at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict convened in London in June. The events provided the opportunity to generate discussions between countries that have undergone similar experiences in child disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, and allowed participants to share experience and lessons learned. The Special Representative will continue to build upon such positive initiatives that promote South-South networking around child reintegration.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative is particularly pleased to note the efforts of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to increase access among refugees and internally displaced persons to education, even in the emergency phases of its operations. The UNHCR focus on access to education as a protection tool to prevent forced recruitment, sexual violence, child labour and early or forced marriages is a step in the right direction. With 51 million persons under its mandate, UNHCR has gone a long way, alongside host authorities, to ensure that education brings a brighter future for young people in difficult circumstances.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Youth
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- As more Member States are in the process of acquiring this technology, it is hoped that they will equally explore ways to address these concerns and mitigate the impact of drone strikes on children.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Conflict continues to cause displacement as civilians seek safety and refuge. The Special Representative noted, in her 2014 report to the Human Rights Council, that the number of displaced persons globally was the highest since the Second World War, including millions of children (see A/HRC/28/54, para. 6). That situation has not improved, as the number of protracted and new conflicts continues to grow. In June 2015, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) indicated that there were more internally displaced persons and refugees than ever before. This has led to vulnerable persons, including many children, losing their lives while taking perilous journeys to perceived safety.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative notes that the Human Rights Council has extensively considered the issue of extreme violence and the protection of human rights in relation to counter-terrorism, both in the context of country-specific situations and in general debates. In her advocacy efforts during the reporting period, the Special Representative emphasized that respect for human rights was a prerequisite for any effective response to extreme violence, in line with the conclusions of the Human Rights Council’s panel discussion on the effects of terrorism on the enjoyment by all persons of human rights and fundamental freedoms. In addition, military responses targeting groups perpetrating extreme violence continued to raise challenges for the protection of children. Children caught in the middle of such operations have been killed and maimed and their homes and schools destroyed. The proliferation of airstrikes is of particular concern for the protection of children, as many airstrikes are of an indiscriminate nature. Moreover, in some cases, State-allied militias and vigilante groups have been mobilized, and children have been used in support roles and even as combatants. The Special Representative has continued to remind Member States concerned by her agenda that efforts to counter extreme violence and armed groups engaged in such violence must be carried out in full compliance with international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law. Failure to abide by those obligations only worsens the suffering of the civilian population and can have the unintended consequence of creating or adding to real or perceived grievances in the affected population. Moreover, when responding to extreme violence, Member States should ensure that their rules of engagement take into account the fact that a large number of children are associated with these groups and may have been placed on the front line, either to engage in combat or as human shields.
- 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
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- As part of global efforts to address sexual violence against children, the Special Representative participated in the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, held in London, in June 2014, and was the keynote speaker for the session dedicated to the vulnerabilities of children to sexual violence in armed conflict. Her Office also contributed to the Secretary-General's guidance note on reparations for victims of conflict-related sexual violence, which was jointly coordinated by OHCHR and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women). The inclusion of special guarantees for non-repetition in the design and implementation of State policy, as well as the establishment of legal and institutional frameworks to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish crimes of sexual violence committed against children in situations of conflict, is a positive development.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative welcomes the recent ratifications of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict and reiterates her call upon States who have not yet done so to sign and ratify the Convention and its Optional Protocols; to enact legislation to explicitly prohibit and criminalize the recruitment and use of children by armed forces or groups and the use of children in hostilities; and to establish the minimum age for voluntary recruitment into the armed forces at 18 years, when depositing their binding declaration upon ratification of the Optional Protocol.
- 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
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- The international community has an important role to play in promoting accountability, protection and prevention. In resolution 69/132 on global health and foreign policy, the General Assembly urged Member States to protect, promote and respect the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, in accordance with obligations under relevant provisions of international human rights law. Similarly, the Security Council, in resolution 2286 (2016), demanded that all parties to armed conflict comply fully with their obligations under international law. The provisions set out in resolution 2286 (2016) complement those contained in Assembly resolutions relating to the children and armed conflict mandate to monitor and report on attacks on hospitals and schools.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- The protection of health care is also a key element of Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (General Assembly resolution 70/1). Initiatives to implement the Goals must include specific provisions for children affected by armed conflict. In that regard, the Special Representative welcomes the launch of the Charter on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action at the World Humanitarian Summit. The initiative will help to ensure that the many children who are permanently disabled during conflict, sometimes purely as a result of the lack of basic medical services to treat minor conditions, are not forgotten.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- The protection of health care from attack is vital and the primary responsibility for upholding international humanitarian law lies with parties to conflict. The United Nations can support such efforts, but cannot make up for the lack of political will to comply with basic legal obligations. Clear and concrete actions are required; the Security Council, in its resolution 1998 (2011), called upon the parties listed in the annexes to the report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict that commit recurrent attacks on schools and/or hospitals and recurrent attacks or threats of attacks against protected persons in relation to schools and/or hospitals, in situations of armed conflict, to prepare concrete time-bound action plans to halt those violations and abuses. The Special Representative urges listed parties to heed the Council's request and enter into dialogue with the United Nations regarding an action plan. Other parties to conflict should also take the necessary measures to protect schools and hospitals.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Armed conflict has resulted not only in human casualties and physical destruction, but also in forced displacement. Over the course of the past year, an ever-growing number of people have fled armed conflict and sought refuge. The most recent estimates by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees indicate that an unprecedented 65.3 million people around the world have been forced from their homes. Among them are nearly 21.3 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18. In addition, unaccompanied or separated children submitted 98,400 asylum requests in 2015, most of whom were from conflict-affected countries, which is the largest number ever recorded. Displacement has a critical impact on children, since parties to conflict take advantage of the vulnerability and concentration of displaced populations to recruit children in camps and commit other violations, such as abduction, sexual violence, forced marriage and human trafficking.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- The international community and countries of origin, transit and destination should take all feasible measures to protect the rights of refugee and internally displaced children affected by armed conflict. The need for more equitable sharing of responsibilities is also clearly evident, as 90 per cent of all refugees are hosted in developing countries in close proximity to conflict areas. In September 2016, the General Assembly will host a high-level meeting to address large movements of refugees and migrants, with the aim of bringing countries together behind a more humane and coordinated approach. In line with other United Nations partners, the Special Representative emphasizes that the fundamental principles of the best interests of the child and non-discrimination should be given primary consideration at the meeting and in the development of all relevant policies on internally displaced and refugee children. In particular, the institution of asylum needs more than ever to be respected, preserved and reinforced, particularly in relation to children.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Throughout the reporting period, the Special Representative continued to remind Member States of their obligations under international law, in particular during addresses to the General Assembly and the Security Council. In October 2015, she participated in the sixth high-level retreat on the promotion of peace, security and stability in Africa, convened by the African Union, on the theme "Terrorism, mediation and non-State armed groups". On the margins of the International Forum on Peace and Security in Africa, held in Dakar in November 2015, the Special Representative met with the newly appointed National Security Adviser of Nigeria, who expressed interest in working to improve the protection of children separated from Boko Haram. During the same event, she met with the Force Commander of the Multinational Joint Task Force and advocated for enhanced protection of children in Task Force operations against Boko Haram.
- 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
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- During the reporting period, the Office of the Special Representative also joined the Working Group on Promoting and Protecting Human Rights and the Rule of Law while Countering Terrorism of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force, with the aim of further mainstreaming the protection of children. The Special Representative will continue contributing to the dialogue and work of the General Assembly, Security Council and Human Rights Council and of the Secretary-General regarding violent extremism in the coming year to ensure that the protection of children is a priority in national, regional and international responses. In that regard, the Special Representative urges the Assembly to prioritize the protection of children and to take into account the above-mentioned elements in the upcoming review of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Notwithstanding the challenges to ending grave violations, the United Nations continued to utilize, inter alia, the "Children, Not Soldiers" campaign and peace processes to engage with a wide spectrum of parties to conflict in order to gain additional commitments to protect the rights of children affected by armed conflict. When there is political will and political space, action plans are one of the strongest available mechanisms to improve the protection of children, and three were concluded in the reporting period. Throughout 2016, interactions took place between the United Nations and parties to conflict from the Central African Republic, Colombia, Mali, Myanmar, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Sudan and the Sudan. A number of the discussions took place in the context of a meeting convened by the non-governmental organization Geneva Call, which was held in Geneva in November and provided an important opportunity to engage with non-State armed groups from six country situations on the children and armed conflict agenda.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- The international community, as well as countries of origin, transit and destination, should take all feasible measures to protect the rights of refugee and internally displaced children, particularly those living in areas affected by armed conflict. Increased efforts should be made, not only to identify long-term solutions that will reduce and mitigate the root causes and structural factors of displacement, but also to provide support to displaced children and ensure family reunification, keeping in mind the best interests of the child.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- The Human Rights Council is encouraged, when considering or adopting resolutions on country-specific situations or thematic issues, to include therein recommendations on, or references to, protection of children affected by armed conflict.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- Experience has shown that long-term sustainability of peace also depends on addressing specific needs of children in peace mediation processes and resultant agreements. Not to do so carries the risk of children ultimately becoming "spoilers" into the future.
- 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 2012, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- States should further begin to accord priority to the implementation of relevant recommendations by the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review with the assistance of the international community, wherever it is needed.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- [Vulnerabilities and risks faced by children who are internally displaced during armed conflict – addressing their rights]: Most people fleeing armed conflict do so within the borders of their own countries. They are unable or reluctant to leave their homelands and increasingly find countries of asylum less willing to accept them. Of the estimated 27.1 million people around the world today who have been forced to flee their homes due to armed conflict, and who remain within their countries as IDPs, at least half, and likely more, are children.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- [Vulnerabilities and risks faced by children who are internally displaced during armed conflict – addressing their rights]: Displacement is an especially destabilizing and traumatic experience for children as it exposes them to risks at a time in their lives when they most need protection and stability. Moreover, the difficult conditions that IDPs endure typically persist for years, even decades, without a solution. Worldwide, the average duration of displacement situations today is nearly 20 years, meaning that many children grow up only ever experiencing life as an IDP.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 90
- Paragraph text
- Therefore, even when adequate legal and policy frameworks to protect children exist, they seldom translate into effective legal protection. To ensure that violations against children are addressed, rule of law programming and justice sector reform initiatives should include a short-term focus on creating a rapid response capacity in the criminal justice system. Swift accountability for violations against children is not only an important deterrent to ongoing violations, but also contributes to fostering a culture of national reconciliation in the longer term.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- While disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes are crucial to addressing the recruitment and use of children, the reintegration aspect is fundamental to mitigating the risks of rerecruitment by armed groups by providing appealing and durable options to children. Family tracing and reunification, community reintegration, psycho-social assistance, education and skills training are just a few of the services that are essential to helping children to recover from the impact of conflict and to transition into adulthood.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- The rise in extreme violence has been a significant factor in the increase in incidents of abduction in recent years. In that regard, the information gathered through the monitoring and reporting mechanism on grave violations against children in situations of armed conflict informed and helped to galvanize international action on abductions during the reporting period. This resulted in the Security Council adding abduction as a trigger for listing in the annual report of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict (see resolution 2225 (2015), para. 3).
- 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
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Addressing grave violations of children’s rights is imperative and all parties to conflict who commit crimes must be held to account. In 2014, progress at the national and international levels was made in ensuring appropriate judicial responses to address grave violations against children during conflict. However, the wave of violence, in particular by extremist groups, that has affected children has compounded the challenge of addressing accountability comprehensively owing to the breakdown of law and order in areas under the control of non-State armed groups.
- 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
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Initiatives to raise community awareness about the rights of children and the long-term implications of children’s association with armed groups and to promote attitudinal change or encourage the intervention of community and religious leaders to halt child recruitment should be conducted in close collaboration with parents, community and religious leaders, teachers and children themselves. Dialogue to foster community ownership is crucial, as are consultations that aim at identifying and building on existing positive practices.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- International humanitarian law prohibits armed forces and groups from using schools while children and teachers are using them for educational purposes. Parties to conflict are urged to fully comply with this obligation and not to use schools for any purpose in support of their military efforts. They are called upon to urgently take all precautionary measures not to endanger civilians and civilian objects in the vicinity of military targets and to exercise caution, especially when indentifying military targets among buildings that are normally dedicated to civilian purposes.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Furthermore, children detained by security forces are often held in poor conditions, in blatant disregard of basic human rights and minimum standards applicable to any person in captivity. When deprived of their liberty, children are particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses, including sexual violence. Parties to the conflict are urged to recognize children associated with armed forces and groups primarily as victims, and in all circumstances children should be treated in accordance with international norms and standards in the area of juvenile justice.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative reiterates her urgent call upon States to sign and ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict; to enact legislation to explicitly prohibit and criminalize the recruitment of children into armed forces or groups, and the use of children in hostilities; and to establish 18 years as the minimum age for voluntary recruitment into the armed forces when depositing their binding declaration (under article 3), upon ratification of the Optional Protocol.
- 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
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative welcomes the continued attention to both progress and challenges regarding the impact of armed conflict on children in States parties' reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Human Rights Committee. In this regard, all relevant Member States are urged to include, as appropriate, specific references to information on grave violations against children, on gaps in their applicable legal and policy frameworks and on accountability initiatives, in their own submissions to these bodies.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- Member States which have not already done so are encouraged to sign and/or ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on involvement of children in armed conflict, to secure universal ratification of the Protocol by 2012. To facilitate the process, Member States with the capacity to do so are encouraged to take the lead at the regional level to advocate for ratification in the context of the regional organizations of which they are members.
- 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. 81
- Paragraph text
- Taking into account the changing nature of conflict and consequently the diverse experience and circumstances of children associated with armed forces and groups, key stakeholders, including UNICEF, other United Nations actors and child protection NGOs are encouraged to continue to review existing conceptual frameworks and programmes for child rehabilitation and reintegration with a view to rendering such interventions more timely, effective and sustainable.
- 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. 85
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative brings to the attention of Member States the key principles for child protection and participation in transitional justice and the overarching considerations in this regard as outlined in the annex to the present report, and encourages all relevant stakeholders to endorse and implement those principles. The Special Representative supports the call for the development of common minimum standards on children and transitional justice.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- State parties to the Convention and to the Optional Protocol are called upon to implement the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and to submit timely reports to the Committee under the Optional Protocol. To this end, State parties are encouraged to establish effective inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms with a view to ensure comprehensive measures to prevent and protect children from offences under the Optional Protocol.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
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. 38
- Paragraph text
- [Vulnerabilities and risks faced by children who are internally displaced during armed conflict – addressing their rights]: The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement also pay specific attention to the situation of internally displaced children. Although not a binding document, the Principles are based on and reflect existing standards of international law, which are binding. The authoritative nature of the Principles is further reinforced by their broad international acceptance; they have been recognized by States as “an important international framework for the protection of internally displaced persons,” as well as a “tool” and “standard” to guide governments, international organizations and all other relevant actors in situations of internal displacement.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- 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 2011, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- [Children as victims and witnesses]: In some countries, traditional justice mechanisms are commonly used to resolve disputes and feuds between families and clans and to bring about settlement and reconciliation. For many children in these countries, traditional justice may be the only readily accessible form of justice, meaningful to their families and communities. As with all other forms of justice, however, there are limitations, particularly in the aftermath of armed conflict. Traditional justice relies on oral tradition and customary practice, which can be lost as a result of displacement, dissipation of collective memory and loss of traditional authority in times of breakdown of social structures. In addition, traditional authority often resides with the elder males of the community. This patriarchal structure does not always take into account or reflect children’s rights, and especially the rights of girls and their need for protection.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- [Accountability of children involved in armed conflict]: Although the general view is that children who are associated with an armed force or armed group should not be prosecuted but rather be treated primarily as victims, some children may, nevertheless, be detained and face prosecution before a national court. When determining whether to prosecute children, States should take into account the Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Groups, which stipulate that the purpose of any sanction imposed on a child accused of international crimes committed during association with armed groups should be to promote the child’s rehabilitation and reintegration into the community, not to punish it. Prosecution of children for crimes arising from active participation in hostilities in a criminal court should be a matter of last resort.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- State parties are also encouraged to support the process towards the adoption of the optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to provide a communications procedure, which will strengthen the protection of children involved in armed conflict. Under the new optional protocol, individuals or groups of individuals, including children themselves, who claim to be victims of violations under the Convention and its two optional protocols — on the involvement of children in armed conflict and the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography — will be able to submit communications to the Committee for examination.
- 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
- 2011
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 2011, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- In other situations, States charge children for allegedly having committed acts during their association with an armed group that are regarded as crimes under national or international law. These children sometimes languish in prolonged pretrial detention without access to legal assistance. In addition, trials before national courts or military tribunals do not generally apply juvenile justice standards and due process safeguards. As a result, children are frequently tried without legal representation or assistance, are not accompanied by their parents or a legal guardian and do not have a clear understanding of the charges brought against them.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- The detention and prosecution of children for crimes arising from active participation in hostilities should always be a measure of last resort. Many children who are charged with such crimes may themselves have been forced or enticed to join armed groups. During their association with an armed group, children are often abused, beaten, exploited and manipulated by commanders to commit criminal acts, ranging from minor security offences to war crimes. Although the need for some form of formal accountability is acknowledged, diversion from the judicial system is more suitable for children. Alternatives that take the best interest of the child into consideration and promote the reintegration of the child into his or her family and community include non-judicial mechanisms such as restorative justice measures, truth-telling, traditional healing ceremonies and reintegration programmes.
- 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
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- The Office of the Special Representative is finalizing a working paper which will explore the issue of the responsibility and accountability of children who have committed criminal acts during armed conflict and the alternatives that can be used to assist children in reintegrating into society. The purpose will be to bring conceptual clarity to the issue by examining the international legal framework related to the detention of children; the treatment and rights of children in detention; and the protection of children who are subject to prosecution and trial. It will also discuss other, non-judicial justice mechanisms with more rehabilitative functions.
- 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
- 2011
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
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- In its resolution 64/146, the General Assembly called on States and other parties to armed conflict that engage in violations and abuses against children in contravention of applicable international law to take time-bound and effective measures to end such practices. The delivery of protection and assistance to child victims of violations and abuses in armed conflict by States, together with United Nations entities, civil society and regional organizations, necessitates a dialogue among all partners involved, in order to ensure coordination and the establishment of appropriate response mechanisms. Partnerships with Governments are critical in ending grave violations against children. In this regard, inter-ministerial committees composed of relevant Government entities can serve as effective forums for coordination and dialogue with United Nations counterparts.
- 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
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- [Children as victims and witnesses]: Access to justice for victims and witnesses in conflict and post-conflict situations is achieved through judicial and non-judicial justice mechanisms. International crimes are generally punishable in national courts, but in many countries where there has been armed conflict, the infrastructure of the judicial system is often either virtually non-existent or inadequate. Recognizing this, and in order to put an end to a culture of impunity, the international community has over the past 20 years set up new accountability mechanisms, such as ad hoc tribunals, hybrid courts, human rights panels and truth and reconciliation commissions. Children are increasingly playing a role in these mechanisms, as victims and, in some cases, as witnesses.
- 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
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- [Children as victims and witnesses]: For a range of reasons, only a small proportion of children who have suffered harm in armed conflict are likely to be called as witnesses in trials heard by the International Criminal Court. For many children, non-judicial mechanisms may provide a better opportunity to have their voices heard and to have the wrongs done to them recorded. The general view is that non-judicial mechanisms can provide more immediate accountability, enable community reconciliation, provide reparation for losses and damages, and allow children to move on with their lives. Nevertheless, there are significant challenges to the effective participation of children, such as the limits and focus of the mandate, the financial and human resources available, the expectations raised and disappointment with outcomes, and the need to secure long-term political support.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- [Strengthening family and community protection mechanisms]: Communities can prevent the voluntary or forced association of children with armed forces and groups in several ways. Community-based child protection systems can warn of the threat of recruitment or rerecruitment. Where armed groups depend on the moral or material support of local people, community structures may be able to put pressure on local commanders to release children and provide support for their protection. Community figures such as elders and traditional leaders can also reach non-State parties to promote child protection commitments and prevent recruitment. In Afghanistan, for example, elders have in some cases reached agreements with local commanders to impede the recruitment of children. Community-based child protection systems can also help to reduce the overall vulnerability of children and provide special protection to children living and working in the streets, orphans and separated children, who are at particular risk of recruitment.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- The international community should also support reparations mechanisms in countries emerging from armed conflict. Reparations are a way of providing social justice in post-conflict societies, and are an effective additional accountability mechanism. This is particularly the case in areas where access to justice and redress through the courts is difficult or not possible because of a weak judicial system or a lack of confidence in the judiciary, where the identity of perpetrators are unknown, or where, for political reasons, perpetrators of human rights abuses are exempted from judicial accountability processes.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- [Development, dissemination and enforcement of the law]: The criminalization of under-age recruitment and the domestication of international norms and standards against the recruitment and use of children are crucial measures for the prevention of under-age recruitment. It is crucial that States enact legislation to explicitly criminalize under-age recruitment and use of children by armed forces and groups in their penal codes. Effective criminalization can be hindered by amnesties and de facto immunities granted to members of armed forces suspected of serious human rights abuses and/or armed groups that will become part of a national army in the framework of a peace process. In developing legal provisions, care must be taken to ensure that amnesties are not applicable to individuals who recruit 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
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- Where societies are emerging from conflict, transitional justice mechanisms should be put in place by national authorities to ensure that wartime crimes against children are accounted for. Transitional justice mechanisms based on judicial processes may be complemented by non-judicial accountability mechanisms. These mechanisms, which can include truth-seeking and restorative approaches, can provide the cathartic effect required for reconciliation and are appropriate for child perpetrators who, as children, should be spared from prosecution. The recently passed Victims Law in Colombia, for example, is a laudable initiative aiming at ensuring that child victims of violations and abuses during conflict receive reparations from the Government.
- 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
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- Advocacy efforts will focus on a number of key priority areas. These include the delivery of comprehensive and long-term reintegration assistance for children, based on identified programmatic best practice; the rights of internally displaced children, particularly with regard to access to education and security; the rights of children in contact with justice systems, both as victims and perpetrators; the relationship between conflict and poverty, with particular reference to Millennium Development Goal indicators; and the protection challenges raised by the changing nature of conflict and the exposure of children to 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
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- Given the serious impact that military operations, particularly those involving aerial attacks, including by drone and helicopter, and night raids, have on children, the Special Representative welcomes efforts by multinational forces to adopt and implement tactical directives and standard operating procedures to minimize civilian casualties and destruction of civilian installations and urges all multinational forces and peacekeeping operations to ensure that appropriate policies and procedures be put in place, and the requisite training of military personnel conducted.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- [Children’s access to health care in times of armed conflict]: Realities on the ground in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen indicate that patients, medical facilities, workers and ambulances are increasingly being targets of attack. This is a direct violation of the rules and customs enshrined in international humanitarian law, and is happening in many conflicts around the world. Both the recent initiative by the International Committee of the Red Cross, entitled Health Care in Danger, and the recent report by the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (A/68/297), have emphasized that the provision of medical care has come to the centre stage of armed conflict, and is increasingly under attack.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Where State institutions are weak, prevention must begin at the community level. Establishing and strengthening community protection mechanisms and raising the awareness of families, communities and their leaders of the issue are other critical factors for prevention. Child protection and recruitment prevention policies are unlikely to work in contexts in which the community promotes the association of children with armed groups. Children are also most vulnerable to recruitment when family and community protection systems are weakened. In some contexts, children join armed groups because they are encouraged to do so by their families and/or communities. Abusive family environments can also propel children on to the streets, where they are more vulnerable to recruitment, or directly into the ranks of an armed group. In Colombia, for example, the decision of children, mainly girls, to run away and join an armed group has been found to be closely linked to domestic exploitation and physical and sexual abuse.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Each year, thousands of children are trapped in armed conflict, and they are killed and maimed by explosive weapons, while in the direct line of fire or as collateral damage. Tactics relying heavily on explosive weaponry continued to have a disproportionate effect on children. Air strikes and the use of cluster munitions in populated areas, especially near schools and hospitals, continue to have a devastating impact on civilians, including children. In addition, children have been the victims of suicide attacks, both as bystanders and through their recruitment as suicide bombers. Improvised explosive devices, rockets, landmines, unexploded ordnance and remnants of war continued to take the lives and limbs of children in numerous countries.
- 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
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Under international humanitarian law, both schools and hospitals are protected civilian objects and therefore benefit from the humanitarian principles of distinction. However, attacks on schools and hospitals during armed conflict are alarmingly widespread and carry grave risks for children. In its resolutions 1998 (2011) and 2143 (2014), the Security Council highlighted the violation of attacks on schools and hospitals, provided clear direction on the need to monitor and report on this grave violation, expressed deep concern over the military use of schools, and encouraged Member States to formulate concrete measures to deter such practices. Similarly, the General Assembly has called upon States to ensure continuous access to education for children affected by armed 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
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- In order to promote the implementation of those resolutions, the Special Representative, in collaboration with UNESCO, UNICEF and WHO, developed the guidance note entitled "Protect schools and hospitals: end attacks on education and health care". The guidance note, which was launched on 21 May, aims to strengthen monitoring of and reporting on attacks on schools and hospitals by providing key definitions and practical advice. The guidance note also promotes advocacy and dialogue with parties to conflict and the deepening of partnerships between various stakeholders in addressing the plight of children seeking access to education and health care. In addition, it provides practical advice on how to advocate with parties to conflict in order to prevent the military use of schools and hospitals. With a view to ensuring wide dissemination and effective implementation, the guidance is being published in English, French and Arabic. The Special Representative strongly encourages Member States to promote the guidance note and to institute changes in national policies and legislation, and to include the guidelines in military doctrine, manuals and training.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Children recruited and used by armed forces and groups have been out of their communities and out of school, sometimes for years; they must often reacquire the social skills needed to interact with their communities and to access economic and livelihood opportunities. The concept of sustainable community-based reintegration is not new. It was part of the recommendations of the 1996 report prepared by Graça Machel on the impact of armed conflict on children. However, implementing effective reintegration programmes continues to be a challenge. Adequate resources to provide effective programmes are too often lacking.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- When there is an opportunity for dialogue, parties to the conflict should be prompted to commit to immediately protecting children from all grave violations. The inclusion of those provisions would pave the way for child protection actors to implement protection and prevention activities and would open doors for dialogue with the parties to end and prevent grave violations. In that regard, the cessation-of-hostilities agreement between armed groups in the Central African Republic signed during the Central African national reconciliation forum, held in Brazzaville on 23 July, is an example of how the inclusion of specific and explicit commitments by signatories constitutes a first step to ensure the protection of children within the wider political process.
- 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
- 2014
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Fifty-one armed groups are included in the lists annexed to the report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict (A/68/878-S/2014/339). Those groups are very diverse in nature, which requires different strategies of engagement, and the implementation of child protection commitments may vary considerably. Advocacy strategies require the identification of specific incentives based on the military structure, size, modus operandi and other characteristics of armed groups. Taking those aspects into account, concrete commitments are then identified by the United Nations and translated into activities and measures with the armed group concerned, culminating in an agreed action plan.
- 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
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- A multi-dimensional approach is also required to engage non-State armed groups to advocate for compliance with international human rights and humanitarian law by all parties to a conflict. In that spirit, the Special Representative continued to engage with mediators, special envoys and regional organizations to integrate the protection of children into peace-making initiatives on a case-by-case basis. During the reporting period, the Special Representative maintained dialogue with the Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region, the former Joint Special Representative of the United Nations and the League of Arab States for Syria, the Deputy Mediator of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) for South Sudan, the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Yemen and representatives of the Gulf Initiative. She also engaged regularly with mediators involved in peace efforts, including representatives of third-party governments, the African Union, the Economic Community of Central African States, IGAD and the United Nations.
- 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
- 2015
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- To break this vicious cycle, measures must be put in place to protect children from recruitment and rerecruitment and provide them with viable alternatives. Reintegration can serve as an effective tool for the prevention of recruitment through education, skills training, socioeconomic development for children and community sensitization programmes. With such opportunities, the likelihood that children will return to armed groups or engage in criminal activities is significantly reduced. This, in turn, contributes to the building of resilient communities and to social stability. The effectiveness of reintegration measures depends, however, on their continuity and sustainability, as well as the on extent to which the underlying causes of recruitment are being addressed.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- In regard to education, as the Secretary-General noted in his report on addressing large movements of refugees and migrants (A/70/59), with millions of children currently out of school, the promise made by the General Assembly one year ago to leave no one behind in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals risks becoming a meaningless cliché. The Special Representative echoes the Secretary-General's message that primary education should be compulsory and available to all refugee children, and that educational opportunities should be expanded. In that regard, a key achievement of the World Humanitarian Summit was the launch of the Education Cannot Wait Fund. On 23 May 2016, the Special Representative attended an event by the Global Business Coalition for Education during which the private sector announced its intention to mobilize $100 million for the Fund in financial and in-kind contributions. The Special Representative encourages Member States and other partners to further support initiatives aimed at helping displaced children to rebuild their lives.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- Almost half of all medical facilities in the Syrian Arab Republic are closed or only partially functioning. In Aleppo, there have been a number of air strikes on hospitals in the last six months, and children living there are confronted with the almost impossible task of obtaining basic health care in order to survive. In May, a Syrian doctor wrote in response to one attack that what was most heart-breaking was the need for doctors to choose which patients to save because there were not enough doctors to treat everyone; their hospitals, though they were the targets of bombs, still overflowed with the sick and injured. In Afghanistan, the attack on the Médecins sans frontières hospital in Kunduz in October 2015 caused deaths and injuries of 49 medical staff. The hospital was the only fully functioning trauma care facility for the north-eastern region of Afghanistan and had provided lifesaving procedures to 5,000 people in the period running up to the attack. In Yemen, to give one example, in Taiz, three health facilities were repeatedly hit in 23 separate incidents throughout 2015.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- While protecting displaced children and providing for health care and education are important steps, it is clear that strong leadership is needed by Member States to end conflict and create conditions conducive to sustainable return. Increased efforts should be made to identify long-term solutions that will mitigate the root causes and structural factors of displacement, provide support to displaced children and ensure family reunification, keeping in mind the best interests of the child. Only when children are reunited with their families, in a safe environment and with access to basic services, will they be able to flourish and fully contribute to the future of their society.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- In Afghanistan, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen, the right of children to health has been severely compromised by attacks on hospitals and health-care professionals. A number of highly publicized attacks have taken place in 2016, which are indicative of trends that have seen increasing numbers of attacks and threats of attacks on health care in recent years. The right of girls to education has also continued to suffer, with attacks or threats of attacks on schools, teachers and female pupils in situations such as in Iraq, Nigeria and the Syrian Arab Republic, as well as in Afghanistan and Mali.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Concrete commitments also resulted during the reporting period from engagement by the United Nations with non-State armed groups, including the signing of two action plans. In the Sudan, following a meeting between the Special Representative and the Secretary-General of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North, held in Addis Ababa in May 2016, and the engagement of United Nations partners on the ground, an action plan was signed in Geneva in November, on the margins of the Geneva Call meeting, to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children, and was witnessed by the Special Representative. In South Sudan, in January 2016, an action plan was concluded with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children and to ensure their release to child protection actors. The action plan also covers the killing and maiming of children, as well as other grave violations. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, in December 2016, little effective action had been taken by the group to implement the action plan.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Dialogue on the separation and handover of children has continued in the Central African Republic with the anti-Balaka and Révolution et justice, as well as with a number of ex-Séléka factions that expressed interest in signing an action plan. In Mali, the Mouvement national de libération de l'Azawad and its coordinating body, the Coordination des mouvements de l'Azawad, began discussions with the United Nations regarding an action plan aimed at ending and preventing the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict, and sexual violence and other grave violations against children; consultations were still ongoing at the time of writing, in December 2016. In Nigeria, a formal dialogue has begun between UNICEF and the senior leadership of the Civilian Joint Task Force, who have expressed interest in cooperating with the United Nations in halting child recruitment and use, and separating children, including through the formal signing of an action plan.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- Despite the significant efforts to end impunity, girls continue to be targeted in incidents of rape and other forms of sexual violence, often in order to terrorize, humiliate and weaken their communities. Armed conflicts are also characterized by a breakdown of the rule of law as well as of community structures; this exacerbates the vulnerability of girls to sexual violence, as armed elements can take advantage of the vacuum to commit human rights abuses. Violations of this nature are frequently compounded by an inadequate response to help survivors as well as children born of war. While the provision of dedicated services for girls has improved in recent years, there are still significant gaps in the form of non-existent, limited or disrupted access to essential services in some situations of armed conflict, as a result of a lack of medical workers, supplies and the necessary infrastructure and also due to insecurity and restrictions on movement. For example, the Special Representative notes that in 2016 in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, girls who have been abducted and suffered sexual violence by armed groups have rarely been able to access services, due to ongoing conflict.
- 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
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- In November, the Special Representative was invited to the thematic debate of the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission, of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, on protecting and promoting the rights of children during situations of armed conflict, foreign occupation, emergencies and disasters. She delivered an address in which she encouraged further interaction between her Office and the Commission. Pursuant to the cooperation agreement between the League of Arab States and the Office of the Special Representative, signed in 2014, the Office of the Special Representative also participated in the general meeting of cooperation between the United Nations and the League of Arab States that was held in May 2016.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- In Somalia, also following the Special Representative's visit and wide-ranging advocacy efforts, 26 children aged between 12 and 14 who had been detained by authorities in Puntland for association with a non-State armed group were released; however, 38 children, assessed to be above the age of 14 and subsequently sentenced as adults, remained detained at the time of writing, some of whom have been condemned to death. In December, the United Nations was continuing efforts to secure the release of those children. These concerns are elaborated upon in the present report in the section on field visits. The release of the 26 children follows the handover to child protection actors of over 100 children detained in the Serendi and Hiil-Walaal centres as well as in Galmudug, in late 2015 and in 2016.
- 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
- 2017
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- In this regard, one of the most disturbing trends documented in 2016, noted earlier in the present report, is the increasing incidence of attacks on health facilities, which has had a grave impact on children's right to health. Hospitals, ambulances and medical personnel have been attacked or threatened with attack in many countries that are on the children and armed conflict agenda, including Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Iraq, Libya, Mali, South Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen. The Special Representative has engaged strongly on this issue with parties to conflict and has taken part in a number of United Nations system-wide initiatives. For example, the Office of the Special Representative has supported the development of recommendations on measures to enhance protection of the wounded and sick and of medical personnel and humanitarian personnel exclusively engaged in medical duties, and of their means of transport and equipment and of hospitals and other medical facilities, including through recommendations to parties to conflict, in line with the request made by the Security Council in its resolution 2286 (2016).
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
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. 49
- Paragraph text
- The emphasis on institutional reform introduces a number of new issues such as the importance of working with educational experts and officials, the need to undertake legal reform and the urgency of creating economic opportunities for children and young people.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- Member States are urged to ensure that child protection concerns, including support for reintegration efforts and youth employment, are also explicitly reflected in relevant peacebuilding mandates and in the work of the Peacebuilding Commission through its country configurations.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative calls upon Member States to protect children caught up in conflict in line with international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law, particularly in the context of counteracting terrorism and extremist groups.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
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 2012, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- Member States should continue to insist that parties listed in the annexes to the report of the Secretary-General on the recruitment and use of children, killing and maiming of children, and/or rape and other sexual violence against children, in addition to attacks against schools and hospitals (see annexes I and II to the present report), in contravention of applicable international law, prepare and implement specific time-bound action plans to halt those violations and abuses, and take punitive measures against any parties that fail to comply.
- 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
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- Member States should accord priority to funding the strengthening of community-based child protection mechanisms as a critical measure in preventing child recruitment and linking community-based protection systems to formal child protection systems. Children and young people should be provided with alternatives through high-quality education, both formal and non-formal, and national programmes for job creation and income generation for young people should be the main priorities in national prevention strategies.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Education
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative urges Member States to enact appropriate national legislation to criminalize grave violations against children, including the recruitment and use of children in armed forces and armed groups, which has been defined in the Rome Statute as a war crime, and also to bring adult recruiters to justice in national courts. In this regard, the international community should support Member States, where appropriate, to develop and strengthen national capacity for the administration of justice.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph