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Title | Date added | Template | Original document | Paragraph text | Body | Document type | Thematics | Topic(s) | Person(s) affected | Year |
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SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 12 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict | SRSG report |
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| 2017 | ||
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 13 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict | SRSG report |
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| 2017 | ||
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2017, para. 48 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Surrounded by such a devastating reality, children feel ready to embark on a perilous journey of uncertainty and to confront serious risks in the hope of finding a place of safety and security. Girls undertaking this journey face particularly serious risks of abuse and exploitation owing to their youth and gender. Some may be lured by traffickers with false promises of safety, an education or a future job. Others may be fleeing sexual abuse or the threat of a forced marriage; they may even have been sold into marriage by their desperate families, both to avoid the risk of rape and with the hope that the girl will acquire the citizenship of her husband. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children | SRSG report |
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| 2017 | ||
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 14 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict | SRSG report |
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| 2017 | ||
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2017, para. 76 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | There has been progress on these issues in Malawi, including the adoption in 2015 of the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act, which increased the minimum age of marriage to 18 years; the Government's commitment, in November 2016, to align the Constitution with that legislation and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; and the crucial role played by traditional leaders in mobilizing their communities to prevent the early and forced marriage of girls and to ensure their return to school to pursue their education. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children | SRSG report |
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| 2017 | ||
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2017, para. 75 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | In October 2016, in Malawi, the Special Representative promoted the further implementation of the policy agenda launched during her previous visit undertaken in response to the findings of the 2015 violence against children survey. During the follow-up visit, she paid special attention to the prevention and abandonment of harmful practices, helping to focus national attention on the prevalence of child marriage, abuse associated with sexual initiation ceremonies, attacks against children with albinism and other practices compromising the rights of children, particularly girls. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children | SRSG report |
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| 2017 | ||
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 7 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict | SRSG report |
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| 2017 | ||
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 10 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict | SRSG report |
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| 2017 | ||
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2017, para. 21 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | This is no time for complacency. Around the world, millions of girls and boys of all ages continue to be exposed to appalling levels of violence, in their neighbourhoods, in their schools, in institutions aimed at their care and protection, and also within the home. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children | SRSG report |
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| 2017 | ||
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2017, para. 8 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Trafficking in persons continues to increase, and in some regions more than 60 per cent of victims are children. Countless millions of children are involved in exploitative work and slavery-like practices. In developing countries, one in every three girls is married before age 18 and one in nine is married before age 15, and children below 15 years represent 8 per cent of victims of homicides globally. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children | SRSG report |
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| 2017 | ||
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 60 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The Special Representative encourages all actors to renew their efforts to address the impact of conflict on girls. In this regard, the Special Representative calls upon Member States to ensure that appropriate services are in place to reintegrate girls associated with parties to conflict as well as supporting communities for the return of those who have been forcibly married and/or have suffered sexual violence and/or have borne children. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict | SRSG report |
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| 2017 | ||
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 19 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Long-standing and well-established principles of detention are also being sidelined and overlooked in the context of armed conflict. For example, in many situations children are being held together with adults, and boys are also being held together with girls. Detaining children in this way exposes them to a range of risks to their physical integrity and can have harmful consequences for their psychological development. The nomenclature regarding detention is also a serious concern, as in some instances, the use of terminology such as a "reintegration", "rehabilitation" or "deradicalization" centre has been used to circumvent the applicability of safeguards and to deny the rights of those deprived of their liberty. In this regard, the Special Representative reminds concerned Member States of the importance of adhering to the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (Beijing Rules) in all instances of the deprivation of liberty of children. In all situations, priority must also be given to maintaining family ties for children in detention, and children should also have access to educational programmes, medical care and psychological support. These provisions will aid a child's reintegration into society once he or she is released. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict | SRSG report |
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| 2017 | ||
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2017, para. 16b | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [The agenda of the Special Representative has been guided by four strategic priorities: consolidating progress and mainstreaming implementation of the recommendations of the United Nations study; ensuring that violence against children is given prominence on the global agenda; reinforcing regional processes to enhance the protection of children from violence; and addressing emerging concerns. Significant results have been achieved, including:] Enhancing awareness and consolidating knowledge to prevent and respond to violence against children through international expert consultations, the development of research and the release of strategic thematic studies. As noted above, in 2016, two major studies Protecting Children Affected by Armed Violence in the Community and Ending the Torment: Tackling Bullying from the Schoolyard to Cyberspace were released. Previous studies by the Special Representative have addressed violence in schools and in the justice system; restorative justice for children; the rights of girls in the criminal justice system; child-sensitive counselling, and reporting and complaint mechanisms; protection of children from harmful practices; and the opportunities and risks for children associated with information and communications technologies. Child-friendly materials were also produced to inform and empower children concerning their right to freedom from violence, most recently issued in Braille; | Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children | SRSG report |
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| 2017 | ||
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2017, para. 5 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The year was also marked by the adoption by the World Health Assembly of resolution WHA69.5, in which the Assembly endorsed the World Health Organization (WHO) global plan of action to strengthen the role of the health system within a national multisectoral response to address interpersonal violence, in particular against women and girls, and against children. WHO also released INSPIRE, a package of evidence-based strategies to prevent and respond to violence against children. Furthermore, a global study led by ECPAT-End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking in Children for Sexual Purposes was issued to shed light on and reinforce collective efforts for the protection of children from sexual exploitation in travel and tourism. And the Terminology Guidelines for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, adopted by an inter-agency working group meeting in Luxembourg, were released to provide conceptual clarity to actions aimed at the protection of children, close legal loopholes and address misinterpretations that may put their safety at risk . | Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children | SRSG report |
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| 2017 | ||
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2017, para. 74 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | In February 2016, the Special Representative supported the launch of the results of the survey in Nigeria, conducted by the Government in cooperation with UNICEF and the Together for Girls partnership. Nigeria was the first country in West Africa to conduct a national survey on such a large scale. In response to its findings, the Year of Action to End Violence against Children was launched, along with a call to action to federal and state ministries and agencies, non-governmental organizations, faith-based organizations, the media, communities, parents and children to join together to prevent and respond to violence against children. As a key contribution to this process, the Special Representative participated in the launch of the campaign and policy agenda to end violence against children in Lagos State; Cross River State launched its campaign to end violence against children on 16 June 2016, the second state in Nigeria to respond to the call to action. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children | SRSG report |
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| 2017 | ||
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 9 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | An important dimension of the Graça Machel study was the attention given to the distinct effects of armed conflict upon girls as compared to boys. In the past 20 years, there has been progress in addressing the impact of conflict on girls, including through developments in the normative framework and enhanced accountability efforts for the crimes of rape and other forms of sexual violence. However, a significant number of the challenges that were identified in the study two decades ago still remain, as the Human Rights Council acknowledged during the reporting period when it expressed outrage at the persistence and pervasiveness of all forms of violence against girls worldwide. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict | SRSG report |
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| 2017 | ||
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 11 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | In situations of displacement, girls are particularly vulnerable. In addition to discrimination related to race, religion or ethnicity, girls are also often subject to abuses based on their sex, and therefore to multiple forms of discrimination. For example, displaced women and girls face high risks of sexual and gender-based violence, as highlighted in the 2016 report of the Secretary-General to the General Assembly entitled "In safety and dignity: addressing large movements of refugees and migrants" (A/70/59). These specific protection challenges must be recognized in order to mitigate the risks that girls are exposed to in situations of displacement. Member States are therefore urged to ensure that the needs of girls are addressed as part of their response both to refugees and to internally displaced persons. Protection measures should be implemented at all stages of the displacement cycle and girls who have suffered violations should be prioritized in refugee resettlement programmes. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict | SRSG report |
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| 2017 | ||
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2016, para. 9b | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [The following strategic dimensions of this important agenda in which significant progress has been made are highlighted in the report:] Enhancing awareness and consolidating knowledge to prevent and respond to violence against children by hosting international expert consultations, developing research on strategic topics and publishing studies. The publications included Toward a World Free from Violence: Global Survey on Violence against Children; 10 thematic studies on topics such as violence in schools and in the justice system, restorative justice for children, the rights of girls in the criminal justice system and child-sensitive counselling, and reporting and complaint mechanisms; reports on protecting children from harmful practices and from armed violence and organized crime; and a report on opportunities and risks associated with information and communication technologies (ICTs). In addition, child-friendly materials were produced to inform and empower children about their right to freedom from violence; | Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children | SRSG report |
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| 2016 | ||
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 66 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict | SRSG report |
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| 2016 | ||
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2016, para. 75c | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [Recent research on this topic has revealed a number of significant and worrying developments:] Of the content depicting children 15 years of age or younger, 93.1 per cent featured girls; | Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children | SRSG report |
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| 2016 | ||
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2016, para. 71 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The First African Girls' Summit on Ending Child Marriage in Africa was held in Lusaka in November 2015. Hosted by the African Union and the Government of Zambia, the Summit gathered Heads of State and Government, ministers responsible for gender and children, United Nations entities, development partners, civil society organizations and religious and traditional leaders, as well as young people who have experienced child marriage. The participants took stock of the progress made to end child marriage across the continent, shared evidence and good practices and renewed their commitment to bringing an end to this and other harmful practices in Africa. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children | SRSG report |
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| 2016 | ||
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2016, para. 73 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Developed by the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum, the Model Law has the potential to inform action to end child marriage. This is an area where incremental progress is being achieved, for example with recent legislative developments in the Gambia and the United Republic of Tanzania. In 2015, Malawi adopted the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act, which raised the minimum age of marriage to 18 years. The social mobilization around that process and the important partnership developed with traditional leaders helped to raise awareness of the new law and achieve important results, including a landmark initiative led by a female traditional chief that resulted in the initial annulment of 330 child marriages in a single district and since then has broken up 850 child marriages and banned the sexual initiation of girls. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children | SRSG report |
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| 2016 | ||
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 3 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | 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. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict | SRSG report |
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| 2016 | ||
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2016, para. 24b | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [The agenda of the Special Representative has been guided by four strategic priorities: consolidating progress in and mainstreaming the implementation of the recommendations of the United Nations study; enhancing awareness and consolidating knowledge on violence against children; reinforcing regional processes and national implementation efforts; and addressing emerging concerns. The following significant results have been achieved:] Enhanced awareness and consolidated knowledge to prevent and respond to violence against children through international expert consultations, the development of research and the release of thematic studies on strategic topics such as violence in schools and in the justice system, restorative justice for children, the rights of girls in the criminal justice system, and child-sensitive counselling and reporting and complaint mechanisms, as well as reports on the protection of children from harmful practices and from armed violence and organized crime and on opportunities and risks associated with information and communications technologies. Child-friendly materials were also produced to inform and empower children about their right to freedom from violence, most recently in Braille; | Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children | SRSG report |
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| 2016 | ||
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2016, para. 69 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | In February 2016, the Special Representative supported the launch of the results of the Nigeria survey, conducted by the Government in cooperation with UNICEF and the Together for Girls partnership. Nigeria was the first country in West Africa to conduct such a large-scale national survey. In response to its findings, the Year of Action to End Violence against Children was launched, along with a call to action for federal and state ministries and agencies, non-governmental organizations, faith-based organizations, the media, communities, parents and children to join together to prevent and respond to violence against children. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children | SRSG report |
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| 2016 | ||
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2016, para. 100 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Children on the move, including refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and victims of trafficking or smuggling may be placed in detention centres or cells in military bases or confined in restricted areas in airports, harbour facilities and islands. They may also be subject to involuntary transportation in vehicles, aeroplanes, boats or other vessels. Girls may be deprived of liberty supposedly for their own protection, including when they are at risk of honour crimes, trafficking or other forms of violence and, while detained, exposed to the risk?of?further?abuse and exploitation. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children | SRSG report |
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| 2016 | ||
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 77 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Recalling that the issue of the reintegration of children is crucial to ensure the long-term sustainability of peace and security, the Special Representative encourages the Member States concerned to take appropriate measures to reintegrate those children, giving special attention to the needs of girls. She also calls on all Member States to provide the necessary political, technical and financial support to reintegration programmes. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict | SRSG report |
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| 2016 | ||
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2016, para. 18 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The violence-related targets in the 2030 Agenda are achievable, but measuring progress will need to be supported by sound data and stronger national statistical capacity. Along with the consolidation of knowledge and data on children's exposure to sexual, physical and emotional violence, it is crucial to develop enhanced tools and methodologies that can capture the full magnitude and incidence of all forms of violence against all girls and boys under 18 years of age. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children | SRSG report |
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| 2016 | ||
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2016, para. 13 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | There is no time for complacency. Around the world, millions of girls and boys of all ages continue to be exposed to appalling levels of violence, in their neighbourhoods, in their schools, in institutions aimed at their care and protection and within the home. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children | SRSG report |
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| 2016 | ||
SRSG on violence against children: Annual report 2016, para. 34 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The First African Girls' Summit on Ending Child Marriage was held in Lusaka in November 2015. Hosted by the African Union and the Government of Zambia, the summit gathered Heads of State and Government, ministers responsible for gender and children, United Nations agencies, development partners, civil society organizations and religious and traditional leaders as well as young people who have experienced child marriage. The participants took stock of the progress made to end child marriage across the continent, shared evidence and good practices and renewed their commitment to end child marriage and other harmful practices in Africa. | Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children | SRSG report |
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| 2016 |