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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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 69a
- Paragraph text
- [With regard to the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, the Special Representative urges Member States to take steps to reduce the impact of such weapons on children, including by:] Refraining from using explosive weapons with wide-area effect in populated areas, including by revising and strengthening military policies and procedures, as necessary, and ensuring that all military operations are in compliance with international humanitarian law and underpinned by the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution;
- 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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- In contemporary armed conflicts, children are increasingly the subject of targeted attacks, sexual violence and military recruitment. Many are forced to witness or even to take part in horrifying acts of violence. As a result, it is often difficult to assess whether a child is a victim or a perpetrator; depending on the child’s age and maturity and the forced nature of involvement, it may be both. Hence, in the search for justice for serious violations committed during armed conflict, children are often involved in justice processes in two different and opposite ways: on the one hand, children who have suffered grave violations seek justice for the violations of their rights; on the other, children having been forced by adults to perpetrate heinous crimes are being held accountable for their acts.
- 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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- The motivations for attacking teachers, students and school buildings are numerous and cynical, including to achieve military, political or sociocultural objectives. In some cases, attacks are perpetrated as a means of creating a general climate of insecurity, to destabilize local communities or target them for retribution for perceived support of the Government, or to undermine the Government by destroying symbols of State institutions. The result is a growing disregard for the sanctity of schools, the notion that schools, above all other places, are safe havens for children. The consequence is a growing fear among children to attend school, among teachers to give classes, and among parents to send their children to school.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2010
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- The 1996 Graça Machel study on the impact of armed conflict on children (A/51/306 and Add.1) and the 2007 10-year review of that study (see A/62/228) noted that the changing nature of conflict put children at a higher risk than ever before. Children have become more vulnerable to new tactics of war, including the blurring of lines between military and civilian targets, constriction of humanitarian space and access to affected populations, deliberate targeting of traditional safe havens and critical infrastructures such as educational institutions and medical facilities, and the rise of terrorism as well as counter-terrorism measures. Studies have also shown that armed conflicts hamper the achievement of the eight Millennium Development Goals, six of which promote the rights and well-being of children. Conflicts create an environment in which grave violations are committed against children and, by interrupting or slowing development, children are denied opportunities for a better future. Therefore, the changing nature of conflict and the impact on children continues to be an overarching framework of analysis for the agenda on children and armed conflict.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- [Vulnerabilities and risks faced by children who are internally displaced during armed conflict – addressing their rights]: States and all parties to conflict have obligations under international humanitarian and international human rights law to protect internally displaced children in all phases of displacement. The most fundamental of their rights is the right to life, dignity and physical, mental and moral integrity. Displacement almost inevitably entails severe threats to the right to life. Therefore, the physical safety of the affected population, particularly women and children, in zones of armed conflict should be the highest priority. Protected safe spaces for displaced children should be guaranteed - both for those seeking to escape imminent harm, as well as for those who have reached a place of safety such as an IDP camp but who continue to face security threats, or are at risk of further displacement. Children should also have access to the fullest extent and with the least possible delay to the humanitarian assistance they require, including food, potable water, shelter, health care and psychosocial services.
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2010
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- Member States and relevant United Nations entities are urged to ensure that United Nations-led and regional mediation processes prioritize the protection of children at all stages of peace processes and that ceasefire and peace agreements include specific child protection provisions. Child protection elements should be routinely included in guidance materials for mediators, in mediation training programmes and in development of mediation tools, and modalities should be established for regular briefings and exchange between child protection actors and mediators and mediation support focal points.
- 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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph