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Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2023
- Document code
- A/77/895
- Date added
- Feb 28, 2024
Document
Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2023
- Document code
- A/HRC/52/60
- Date added
- Feb 28, 2024
Document
Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2022
- Document code
- A/77/143
- Date added
- Feb 28, 2024
Document
Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2022
- Document code
- A/HRC/49/58
- Date added
- Feb 28, 2024
Document
Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2021
- Document code
- A/76/231
- Date added
- Feb 28, 2024
Document
Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2020
- Document code
- A/HRC/46/39
- Date added
- Feb 28, 2024
Document
Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2020
- Document code
- A/75/203
- Date added
- Feb 28, 2024
Document
Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2019
- Document code
- A/HRC/43/38
- Date added
- Feb 28, 2024
Document
Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2019
- Document code
- A/74/249
- Date added
- Feb 28, 2024
Document
Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2018
- Document code
- A/HRC/40/49
- Date added
- Feb 28, 2024
Document
Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2018
- Document code
- A/73/278
- Date added
- Feb 28, 2024
Document
Annual report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2018
- Document code
- A/HRC/37/47
- Date added
- Feb 28, 2024
Document
Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2017
- Document code
- A/72/276
- Date added
- Feb 28, 2024
Document
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2017
- Document code
- A/HRC/34/44
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Document
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2015
- Document code
- A/70/162
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Document
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2014
- Document code
- A/69/212
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Document
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2011
- Document code
- A/66/256
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Document
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2010
- Document code
- A/65/219
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Document
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2012
- Document code
- A/67/256
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Document
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2010
- Document code
- A/HRC/15/58
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Document
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2016
- Document code
- A/71/205
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Document
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2014
- Document code
- A/HRC/25/46
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Document
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2015
- Document code
- A/HRC/28/54
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Document
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2016
- Document code
- A/HRC/31/19
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Document
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2013
- Document code
- A/68/267
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Document
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2012
- Document code
- A/HRC/21/38
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Document
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Year
- 2011
- Document code
- A/HRC/18/38
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Document
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- [Reparations for children and the restoration of children’s rights]: Previous experience with reparations for children, either administrative or court-ordered, has been limited. Past and present initiatives provide useful lessons learned and a sense of the challenges ahead. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, for example, was the first ad hoc and hybrid court mandated to order reparations to victims, albeit only of a collective and symbolic nature. The Special Court for Sierra Leone had no mandate to award reparations. Instead, the Government established an administrative reparations programme on the basis of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Resource limitations, however, have put a significant strain on the implementation of this reparations process. In Colombia, in the framework of the Justice and Peace Act, the Supreme Court ordered reparations to child victims of forced recruitment in the case against Freddy Rendón Herrera, alias “El Alemán”, who was accused of unlawful recruitment. The Court considered the needs and experience of each victim, in particular girls, to be different, and decided to focus on individual rehabilitation measures rather than collective material reparations.
- 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
- Girls
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- The element of dialogue with parties to conflict for the preparation of time-bound action plans to address grave child rights violations represents one of the centrepieces of the United Nations agenda for children and armed conflict. In the past several years, numerous parties to conflict in places such as Côte d'Ivoire, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, the Sudan, Uganda and elsewhere, have begun to implement action plans that put in place measures to prevent child recruitment and to identify and release children already associated with their forces. As such practical action to address the issue of children associated with armed forces and groups has gained traction, credibility and momentum, the process is now under way to structure similar dialogue and action plans to address other violations, such as the killing and maiming of children and rape and other forms of sexual violence. For the children, this is where the promises of protection of the international community as expressed in international law and resolutions finally become tangible. As the primary duty bearers for the protection of children, Member States are encouraged to devise ways to enable child protection dialogue with State and non-state parties as necessary.
- 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
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- [Children as victims and witnesses]: With the establishment of the International Criminal Court, it is likely that more children will participate as witnesses in legal proceedings against the violators of their rights. The Rome Statute establishing the Court requires that it “take appropriate measures to protect the safety, physical and psychological well-being, dignity and privacy of victims and witnesses”, and “have regard to all relevant factors, including age, gender [...] and health, and the nature of the crime, in particular, but not limited to, where the crime involves sexual or gender-based violence against children.” Victims and witnesses units in charge of short- and long-term protective measures and security arrangements, as well as medical and psychological support, have become an established practice in international and national courts. Special protection measures can be requested to assist a child giving evidence. However, it is not always in the best interest of child witnesses of serious violations of human rights or international humanitarian law to give evidence in a court. In some cases, it may result in grave psychological trauma and illness or renewal of despair, depression or even suicidal tendencies.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- The changing nature of conflict also carries implications and new challenges for the reintegration and rehabilitation of children. The United Nations system has invested significant resources in forging common standards and practice around disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of children. This has contributed significantly to system-wide buy-in and coordination for this critical priority. A tension exists, however, between the need for standardized practice and programmes and the fact that children face very different realities depending on the context. For instance, in settings of protracted conflict, children may be associated with armed forces and groups for many years. Others are abducted across borders, which has raised new challenges for regional coordination among many entities for family tracing, repatriation and reunification. In some contexts, children are increasingly used in terrorist activities and in counter-terrorism actions. It is also clear that the mode and rhythm for funding child disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes is increasingly under pressure where structured dialogue with parties to conflict and implementation of action plans to release children have yielded unanticipated caseloads.
- 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
- Families
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- As noted in the Special Representative's previous report to the General Assembly (A/70/162), children encountered in security operations are often treated systematically as security threats rather than victims. Increasingly, large numbers of children are being systematically arrested and detained in counter-terrorism operations for their alleged association with parties to conflict. Detention has also been employed as a tactic to recruit and use children as spies and for intelligence-gathering purposes, which puts them at serious risk. The detention of children should always be a last resort, for the shortest time possible and guided by the best interests of the child. If they are accused of a crime during their association with armed groups, children should be processed by the juvenile justice system rather than military courts, which frequently fail to apply the relevant juvenile justice standards and due process. Of greatest concern are reports that children allegedly associated with non-State armed groups have been sentenced to death, notwithstanding the stipulation under the Convention on the Rights of the Child that capital punishment or life imprisonment without the possibility of release may not be imposed on juvenile offenders.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- [Vulnerabilities and risks faced by children who are internally displaced during armed conflict – addressing their rights]: Children are disproportionately affected by internal displacement not only in terms of the numbers of those affected, but also in the risks that they face. It is important to recall the challenges faced by internally displaced children, as articulated by Graça Machel, in her 1996 landmark report to the General Assembly on the impact of armed conflict on children (A/51/306): “During flight from the dangers of conflict, families and children continue to be exposed to multiple physical dangers. They are threatened by sudden attacks, shelling, snipers and landmines, and must often walk for days with only limited quantities of water and food. Under such circumstances, children become acutely undernourished and prone to illness, and they are the first to die. Girls in flight are even more vulnerable than usual to sexual abuse. Children forced to flee on their own to ensure their survival are also at heightened risk. Many abandon home to avoid forced recruitment, only to find that being in flight still places them at risk of recruitment, especially if they have no documentation and travel without their families.”
- 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
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative has also prioritized cooperation with the universal periodic review process by submitting three contributions in the reporting period, on the Philippines, South Sudan and the Syrian Arab Republic. In this connection, she notes that during the review of Somalia, to which the Office of the Special Representative made a contribution in 2015, a significant number of Member States raised the issue of children and armed conflict, and recommended, inter alia, ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict and ensuring effective implementation of the 2012 action plans on ending the recruitment and use of children and ending the killing and maiming of children (see A/HRC/32/12). She encourages the Human Rights Council to continue to address issues related to children and armed conflict for relevant countries, welcomes the practice of adopting concrete recommendations, and encourages references to relevant findings of treaty bodies and special procedures to ensure sustained mainstreaming and follow-up by the various actors involved in the protection of children's rights. In this regard, the Special Representative will continue to explore avenues for increased cooperation with the universal periodic review 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
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- In the Philippines, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces continued to work on implementing their action plan and achieved significant progress. In an encouraging development, the United Nations was able to re-engage with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the New People's Army on their declaration and programme of action for the rights, protection and welfare of children. In Myanmar, discussions moved forward with the Karenni National Progressive Party and Karenni Army, which signalled their readiness to sign an action plan to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children. The Executive Committee of the Kachin Independence Organization and Kachin Independence Army invited UNICEF to participate in a workshop on ending child recruitment, which led to gaps being identified in internal procedures regarding child recruitment and to a commitment to revise their code of conduct. Finally, the Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army signalled its readiness to enter into discussions with the United Nations on the issue of child recruitment. Progress has, however, been constrained, pending the support of the Government for action plans to be concluded with non-State armed groups.
- 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
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- 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
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- In its 2015 Education for All Global Monitoring Report, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization highlighted that about 124 million children were out of school and that one third of those children lived in countries where there was or had recently been armed conflict. Furthermore, in many of those countries, net school enrolment had been below 50 per cent even prior to the start of the conflict. The devastating impact of war on the education system is all too visible in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Nigeria, the Syrian Arab Republic, Yemen, and in the State of Palestine. The Special Representative remains deeply concerned about the increasing number of attacks on schools in those countries, despite the fact that schools have protected status as civilian objects under international humanitarian law. The Special Representative highlighted these issues during a high-level meeting entitled “Ensuring the inclusion of the right to education in emergencies in the post-2015 development agenda”, held on the margins of the seventieth session of the General Assembly, in September 2015. The Special Representative also emphasized the need for funding for education in emergencies during the Law, Justice and Development Week organized by the World Bank in November 2015.
- 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
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Purely military and security approaches have not proved effective in addressing extreme violence; prevention must be a key component of response strategies. Extreme violence does not occur in a vacuum, which is why it is necessary, as a first step to finding a lasting solution, to identify and address its root causes and catalysts, such as poverty, lack of good governance, political grievances, the alienation of communities and lack of opportunities for youth. Action is required by the international community, regional organizations and individual Member States to mobilize resources to build resilience and strengthen protective environments for children. In countries affected by conflict, education is one tool that can help to prevent social exclusion and promote respect for human rights, peace and diversity, and reduce the vulnerability of children. In addition, the effective reintegration of children associated with armed groups is crucial. Indoctrination and trauma from exposure to extreme violence can increase the complexity of reintegrating children into their former communities. In addition, a new and compounding challenge for Member States is the regular use, by groups perpetrating extreme violence, of propaganda on the Internet and social media to recruit youth and 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
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- The General Assembly has recognized that attacks on education and health-care facilities deprive millions of children of their rights to healthy lives and to learn and realize their potential. This not only has an immediate impact on children, but also affects the future prospects of societies. In line with its recent debates and resolutions on education in emergencies and attacks on medical facilities, the Assembly welcomed the issuance of the guidance note entitled "Protect schools and hospitals: end attacks on education and health care" in May 2014, which was co-produced by the Special Representative and other organizations of the United Nations system. In her own efforts to promote the guidance note, the Special Representative attended a workshop on the protection of schools and hospitals in January 2015 in Berlin at the invitation of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany and the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. Prevention of the violation of the rights to education and health was also supported by the Security Council through its resolutions 1998 (2011), 2143 (2014) and 2225 (2015), in which the Council urged all parties to conflict to respect the civilian character of schools and to refrain from actions that impeded children's access to education and health care.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- The deprivation of liberty of children owing to their actual or alleged association with armed groups is a concern in nearly all country situations covered by the Special Representative's mandate. It is particularly worrisome that the number of children arrested and detained in the context of counter-terrorism operations has increased significantly. In such contexts, but also in more traditional conflict settings, children are no longer seen as victims but are treated as security threats. In many cases, they are either held under the authority of military actors or are handed over to national security agencies that deprive them of their liberty for long periods. Children associated with parties to conflict should be treated as victims and handed over to child protection actors. In circumstances in which children are accused of a crime, any legal process should be conducted in compliance with due process and juvenile justice standards. Accordingly, the detention of children should always be a last resort, for the shortest time possible and guided by the best interests of the child. Those principles apply to any form of deprivation of liberty, be it detention under security charges, administrative detention or deprivation of liberty for the child's own protection or rehabilitation.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- In recent years, the international community has become increasingly aware of the impact on children of attacks on schools and hospitals and taken important steps to protect those institutions. The Security Council recognized this important aspect in its resolutions 1998, and requested the Secretary-General to list in the annexes of his annual reports on children and armed conflict the armed forces and groups who attack schools and/or hospitals and related protected persons. In resolution 2143, the Security Council called for enhanced monitoring of the military use of schools. To better implement those resolutions, the Special Representative, together with UNICEF, World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), published the guidance note "Protect Schools and Hospitals" on 21 May 2014. With this guidance note, child protection actors in the field will be better equipped to monitor, report on and engage in advocacy, and work with parties to conflict to end and prevent attacks on schools and hospitals. It also calls for increased collaboration with both traditional and new partners, including a range of civil society partners whose work is crucial to protection from and monitoring of attacks on education and health care.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 82
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative calls upon Member States, regional organizations and parties to conflict to make every effort to protect schools and hospitals and to adopt concrete measures to deter the military use of schools.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 86
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative also encourages the Human Rights Council to continue to include child rights violations in its resolutions establishing or renewing the 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
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- Armed conflict goes hand in hand with the fragmentation of families, the disintegration of communities and of the “social fabric”, the breakdown of support systems and the destruction of health services. Armed conflict affects all aspects of children’s development.
- 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
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 91
- Paragraph text
- The United Nations and its partners continue to have an important role to play in this regard by ensuring that the legal protection of children is adequately taken into account when planning and funding capacity-building efforts in the area of reforming the justice sector.
- 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
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Traditional warfare, evolving technologies and terror tactics deeply disrupt children's lives in many parts of the world. In other cases, extremist groups indoctrinate and take advantage of children in conflict or specifically target children and educational institutions.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 71c
- Paragraph text
- [With regard to the prevention of the recruitment and use of children, the Special Representative calls upon relevant Member States:] To provide official development assistance to Governments in the implementation of prevention strategies.
- 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
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative again urges all armed actors to review, as a matter of priority, the use of aerial attacks, including drones, and night raids so as to prevent 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
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 69
- 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:]
- 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 added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- In 2011, 22 incidents were reported of children being used by armed groups to carry out suicide attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan, including one 8-year-old girl and one 9-year-old girl. Some of those children were victim bombers, unknowingly carrying explosive packages.
- 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
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- Member States should enact the appropriate legislation to criminalize the recruitment of children and investigate cases of recruitment and prosecute adult recruiters in a timely and systematic manner.
- 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
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 82
- Paragraph text
- Reparation programmes should be designed to meet the particular needs of children and to encourage reconciliation within communities. Governments and donors play a central role in providing sustainable resources to make such initiatives a success.
- 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
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- The relevant courts should include reparations to children affected by conflict in their judgements and sentencing hearings, providing victims with assistance in the form of physical rehabilitation, education, livelihood skills and psychosocial support.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- Member States should put in place administrative reparation programmes to address the needs of children affected by conflict, and should also include reparations in the mandates of international, hybrid and national courts.
- 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 added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- [Empowering children through education, skills and livelihood opportunities]: Ensuring children’s access to education is itself a powerful means of protecting them from becoming involved with armed forces or groups in conflict-affected countries or fragile situations. If children attend school, they are busy and less likely to join armed forces or groups because they have other alternatives. In contrast, a lack of access to education leads many young people to see military training as their only opportunity to learn. In situations of armed conflict, when the protective function of schools is most required, schools often become targets for attacks. The use of schools for military purposes equally reduces the likelihood of children attending school, and thus may increase the likelihood of voluntary association of children with armed groups. All stakeholders must therefore ensure that schools are protected. Measures that field-based practitioners in conflict settings have used to prevent schools from being attacked include physical protection, community involvement in protection of schools, alternative delivery of education, negotiations with stakeholders to make schools conflict-free zones, restrictions on the military and political use of schools, and advocacy initiatives.
- 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
- Youth
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative encourages all relevant United Nations agencies and programmes to strengthen their child protection capacity, including with dedicated capacity when appropriate, at global and field levels.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 82
- Paragraph text
- Member States contributing uniformed personnel are encouraged to incorporate a child protection module into their national predeployment training for military, police and civilian personnel.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative will continue to engage with Member States, experts and the academic community to foster greater knowledge and develop and refine knowledge and understanding of emerging challenges to the protection of children in 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
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- States are increasingly arresting and detaining children for alleged association with armed groups. Children who are captured and placed in detention are sometimes kept in conditions which do not meet the minimum standards set out in various international legal instruments.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 64
- 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.
- 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 added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- States should begin to pay particular attention 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
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 60c
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Representative urges the international community:] To monitor and compel adherence by parties to conflict to commitments made to protect children, and to hold them accountable for failure to comply with international standards;
- 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
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Since the previous report of the Special Representative, close to 10,000 children associated with armed groups have been released as a result of efforts on the ground, including agreements on actions plans for the release of children signed by the United Nations and parties to 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
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- It should be noted that the focus of international criminal justice and mixed tribunals specifically on crimes against children has also raised the stakes in the fight against impunity. The Special Court for Sierra Leone paved the way for sanctioning individuals for child-specific violations by including such crimes in the indictments of all the individuals charged by the Court. This includes former President of Liberia Charles Taylor on counts of recruitment and use of children. In addition, despite the challenges in the trial of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo by the International Criminal Court for recruiting and using children, that case has symbolized the will of the international community to act for children and as such has sent a powerful message to perpetrators. As this is the first case before the International Criminal Court on the issue of children and armed conflict, and having filed an amicus curiae, the Special Representative gave testimony before the Court on the need to adopt a case-by-case method in deciding on what constitutes enlistment and conscription in terms of the statute. The Special Representative urged an interpretation that would not exclude girl children, who play multiple roles in many groups, not only as combatants but as wives and domestic aides.
- 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
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- The Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 (2004) concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo has taken the unprecedented step of requesting further information on grave violations against children, and for the first time invited the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict to brief the Committee in May 2010. As a result, it is anticipated that several names of individuals may be included on the Committee's list of individuals and entities against whom targeted measures will be imposed on the basis of verified information regarding their recruitment and use of children. To date, such close consideration of violations against children has not extended to the work of the other country-specific sanctions committees, but it will be important to build on the precedent set in the context of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in this regard. Possibilities should also be explored for a similar focus on grave child rights violations by other thematic committees, including the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1373 (2001) concerning counter-terrorism. It is also important to consider ways by which sanctions may be imposed in contexts where there are no existing Security Council 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 added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- [Vulnerabilities and risks faced by children who are internally displaced during armed conflict – addressing their rights]: The recruitment of children by the armed forces or armed groups and internal displacement are closely linked. Evidence suggests that refugee and IDP camps are often prime recruiting grounds for child soldiers, owing to the convenient concentration of vulnerable children. The lack of security around some camps increases the likelihood of child recruitment. Internally displaced children are also at increased risk of suffering from rape and other forms of sexual violence in the camps, or during flight, as they are preyed upon by soldiers, armed groups, traffickers, border guards and other opportunists. Governments are obligated to not only criminalize such acts but to hold those who perpetrate these violations accountable. Safe locations for camps and settlements in order to prevent incursions of armed groups and protect internally displaced children from sexual violence should be prioritized. And finally, measures to alleviate the social and economic factors that cause displacement in the first place, and that subsequently render children more vulnerable to recruitment, such as trafficking, forced labour and sexual and gender-based violence, should be given serious consideration.
- 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
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- [Vulnerabilities and risks faced by children who are internally displaced during armed conflict – addressing their rights]: Regional legal instruments also affirm the main rights and guarantees provided for in international law and often elaborate upon them, including with express reference to internally displaced children. Most notably, the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention), adopted in October 2009, includes specific provisions reaffirming the right of IDPs 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 IDP children “receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance” and pays special attention to the importance of reuniting families separated by displacement. The Council of Europe has adopted a number of recommendations concerning internal displacement, including as regards 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 added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative sustained her deep engagement with the African Union throughout the reporting period. She briefed the Peace and Security Council of the African Union in Addis Ababa in May 2016 at its third open session dedicated to children affected by armed conflict, which focused on the protection of schools. During the session the Special Representative received strong backing from all members of the Council, who expressed their support for the "Children, Not Soldiers" campaign and made commitments to protect schools and hospitals, including refraining from using these for military purposes. In June, the Office of the Special Representative participated in a workshop designed to support the development of a human rights compliance framework for African Union peace support operations. As an indication of the depth of her engagement with the African Union, throughout the annual retreat of African Union special envoys and mediators on the promotion of peace, security and stability, held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in October 2016, the Special Representative worked with participants to highlight the children and armed conflict concerns relevant to their work. Lastly, the issue of violations attributed to contingents of African Union Mission in Somalia was discussed on a number of occasions during the reporting period.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- When a child who has been recruited and used is alleged to have committed clearly defined crimes under international or domestic law, the specific circumstances and best interests of the child must be taken into account. However, it is more commonplace that children are sent before courts and are accorded few safeguards or none. In this regard, the use of military or special courts is an acute concern for the Special Representative, as they frequently fail to apply fair trial standards or basic juvenile justice safeguards. In particular, instances of death sentences being handed down by these mechanisms have been documented in situations of armed conflict, notwithstanding the prohibition of capital punishment for offences committed by persons below 18 years of age, under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Special Representative urges Member States to ensure that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration in the administration of juvenile justice and that military or special courts are avoided in all circumstances. Moreover, additional special considerations for children should also be in place in regular justice systems. For example, in conflict and post-conflict settings, justice systems are often stretched to their limits: the processing of cases involving children should always take priority.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Notwithstanding these pressing concerns and their impact on children, there has been progress in the last 12 months to protect the rights of children affected by armed conflict, which is described extensively in the report. This progress has included improvements in the normative framework, additional agreements with parties to conflict to protect children, and concrete action taken to separate and release children who were allegedly associated with parties to 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- With the resumption of fighting between the Sudan People's Liberation Army and the Sudan People's Liberation Army in Opposition in July 2016, children in South Sudan have also continued to bear the brunt of a devastating ongoing conflict. In the three years since the start of the hostilities, children have had their right to life, survival and development violated on a daily basis, and at the time of writing there was little end in sight to the 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative calls upon the General Assembly to ensure that special attention is paid to children affected by armed conflict in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. In particular, it is important that the General Assembly highlight the need to give adequate resources for education in emergencies during times of armed conflict and holistic support to children disabled during 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 with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- 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
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative encourages Member States concerned by the "Children, not soldiers" campaign to redouble their efforts to fully implement their action plans in the coming year, and invites regional organizations, the international community and all relevant partners to provide increased support to the concerned Member States.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative encourages the General Assembly to highlight the rights of children displaced by conflict and the obligations of States of origin, transit and destination in the high-level meeting to address large movements of refugees and migrants and in its resolutions on country-specific situations and thematic issues.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative calls upon Member States and parties to conflict to ensure the protection of hospitals, health-care works and transports, in line with international law. She calls upon the General Assembly to continue to give due consideration to the issue and its impact on children 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)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Governments bear the primary responsibility for protecting civilians, and all parties to conflict must refrain from attacking civilian objects. Governments should adopt clear legislation and issue orders to their security forces to protect hospitals, doctors and patients. It is equally important that parties to conflict emphasize that hospitals are neutral civilian spaces and that medical personnel should be free to treat all wounded persons in line with medical ethics and without fear of repercussions.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Parties to conflict must consider the long-term impact of attacks on health care. When a community is recovering from conflict it can take decades to reinstall skilled doctors, nurses, and the physical infrastructure to provide health care. Even a short period of hostilities can have a lasting impact, in particular because efforts to repair damage from attacks are sorely lacking.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative calls upon the Human Rights Council to ensure that special attention is paid to children affected by armed conflict in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals on quality education and healthy lives for all. In particular, it is important that the Council highlight the need to give adequate resources for education in emergencies occurring during times of armed 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
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative encourages Member States and the donor community to strengthen their support to national justice systems in conflict and post-conflict situations by providing sufficient resources and technical capacity for investigating and prosecuting 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
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- The deprivation of liberty of children owing to their actual or alleged association with armed groups is a concern in nearly all countries covered by the Special Representative’s mandate. States parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict should take all feasible measures to ensure that former child soldiers are demobilized or otherwise released and that they are provided with all appropriate assistance for recovery and reintegration. It is therefore particularly worrisome that increasing numbers of children are deprived of their liberty for their association with armed groups under counter-terrorism and national security laws. In such contexts, but also in more traditional conflict settings, children are seen not as victims of violations and released but as offenders who are administratively detained for long periods or even prosecuted for association. Depriving children of liberty is contrary not only to the best interests of the child but also to the best interests of society as a whole. Indeed, the denial of access to education and health care that often comes with deprivation of liberty has long-term negative impacts not only on the child, but also on society. Moreover, children can be vulnerable to radicalization while in detention with adults.
- 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
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Throughout the reporting period, the Special Representative used other platforms to remind Member States of their obligations under international law, in particular during addresses to the General Assembly and the Security Council. Moreover, on 21 and 22 October 2015, the Special Representative participated in the African Union sixth annual retreat of special envoys and mediators on the promotion of peace, security and stability, organized on the subject of terrorism, mediation and non-State armed groups. Lastly, during the reporting period the Office of the Special Representative 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 to further mainstreaming the protection of children in the United Nations work on counter-terrorism. The Special Representative will continue to contribute to the dialogue on and work of the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council and the Secretary-General regarding extreme violence in the coming year. Her focus will be to ensure that that the protection of children is a priority in national, regional and international responses. Furthermore, given the increasingly cross-border nature of the operations of groups using extreme violence and the involvement of multinational coalition forces, multilateral coordinated action and more extensive efforts involving regional organizations will be crucial to ensure 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
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- While extreme violence is not a new phenomenon, with similar acts committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army and the atrocities perpetrated in Liberia and Sierra Leone still in recent memory, the increasing cross-border aspect of the violence has created additional challenges for those trying to formulate well-calibrated responses. Unfortunately, in a number of situations, the regional or international response to the threats have posed additional child protection challenges.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- 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
- Girls
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative calls upon Member States to continue to facilitate United Nations access to and dialogue with non-State armed groups with a view to ending and preventing grave violations of children's rights. Particular attention should be given to the inclusion of child protection concerns in ceasefire and peace negotiations with non-State armed groups.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- Noting the progress made in the "Children, not soldiers" campaign, the Special Representative calls upon the countries concerned to galvanize their efforts to finalize the implementation of their action plans. She also notes with concern the deteriorating situation in a number of countries involved in the campaign, and calls upon their leaders to uphold earlier commitments to end 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
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Ensuring access to education and health care for children in conflict and for displaced children must be a priority. The General Assembly will be endorsing the sustainable development goals at its seventieth session. In the implementation of the goals, the Special Representative urges Member States to prioritize addressing the impact of conflict on the rights of children to education and health.
- 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
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- The accountability of those who attack schools and hospitals is a key aspect of prevention. The Special Representative appreciates the importance conferred to the protection of education and health of children by Member States and reiterates her call to them to consider, where needed, changes in national policies, military procedures and legislation. Those who deliberately target schools and hospitals must be investigated and prosecuted.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative welcomes General Assembly resolution 69/157 on the rights of the child, in which the Assembly invited the Secretary-General to commission an in-depth global study on children deprived of liberty. Her Office has taken part in the initial phase of and continues to contribute to the study, in close cooperation with relevant United Nations agencies and offices outlined in the resolution.
- 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
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- The reintegration of children associated with extremist groups poses challenges. Indoctrination and trauma from exposure to extreme violence make it more difficult for children to reintegrate into their former communities. The Special Representative calls upon the international community to prioritize developing specialized reintegration programmes to address the psychological harm experienced by children who are exposed to extreme violence.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative calls upon States to consider alternatives to prosecution and detention of children for their alleged or actual association with armed groups or as part of counter-terrorism measures, and to ensure, at a minimum, that trials and procedures are consistent with international juvenile justice standards and the principle of prioritizing 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
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative welcomes national and international progress in achieving accountability on the part of perpetrators for grave violations against children. Governments 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 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
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative notes with appreciation the attention paid by the special procedures mandate holders and commissions of inquiry to including child-protection concerns in their work. She encourages them to continue to include the plight of children affected by armed conflict in their monitoring, reports and recommendations, and to bring those concerns to her attention.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Attacks on schools and hospitals are becoming an all-too familiar aspect of conflict, depriving millions of children of their right to education and health. The Special Representative remained deeply concerned by the increasing number of attacks on schools and hospitals, despite their protected status under international law. In almost every situation relating to the children and armed conflict agenda, the right to education and health was gravely affected by attacks on and the widespread military use of schools and hospitals as well as by attacks and threats of attacks against teachers and doctors. In many situations, such as in Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Israel and the State of Palestine and the Syrian Arab Republic, parties to conflict destroyed schools and hospitals by indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas or in targeted attacks against education facilities, teachers, school children, health workers and clinics. In 2014, we witnessed attacks on schools and ideological opposition to standard school curricula in places as varied as Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, southern Thailand, Somalia and the Syrian Arab Republic. Attempts by certain groups to radicalize teachings or exclude girls or minorities from education pose an even greater risk to the fundamental right of all children to an education. Health centres and health workers were also targeted, leading to the resurgence of preventable diseases, such as polio.
- 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
- Girls
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative calls upon the Human Rights Council to use all available tools to promote alternatives to the prosecution and detention of children for their alleged association with armed groups, in particular under counter-terrorism responses. In that regard, she commends the work of the Human Rights Council on detention and welcomes the panel discussion at the 27th session of the Council on the protection of the human rights of persons deprived of their liberty. The Special Representative attended the global consultation on the right to challenge the lawfulness of detention before court, organized by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in Geneva, on 1 and 2 September 2014. The Working Group will submit draft basic principles and guidelines to the Human Rights Council in 2015. The Special Representative anticipates that those documents will address the impact of detention on children in armed conflict. Lastly, the Special Representative welcomes the invitation by the General Assembly, in resolution 69/157 of 18 December 2014, to request the Secretary-General to commission an in-depth global study on children deprived of their liberty, conducted in close cooperation with relevant United Nations partners, including the Office of the Special Representative. The study will aim to formulate recommendations for action to effectively realize the rights of the child and will be submitted to the General Assembly at its seventy-second session.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- That approach has assisted in the effort to gain commitments and positive developments from a number of non-State actors on the recruitment and use of children and the prevention of other grave violations throughout the reporting period. In the Philippines, during the course of 2014, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front renewed its commitment to its Action Plan to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children, which was signed in August 2009.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Despite the ongoing challenges in respect of access to and dialogue with non-State armed groups to end grave violations against children, the number of public statements and command orders issued by armed groups prohibiting the recruitment and use of children has increased. That trend was observed in a number of situations and provided a basis for building momentum to address grave violations against children by 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
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative calls upon Member States and civil society to ensure that particular attention is paid to the plight of girls and boys and to promote specific provisions for children in global efforts to end, prevent and respond to sexual violence in conflict.
- 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
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 81
- 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 and 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
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative calls upon Member States to seek alternatives to the prosecution and detention of children for their alleged association with armed groups or under counter-terrorism mechanisms or to ensure, at a minimum, that trials and procedures are consistent with international juvenile justice standards.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative calls upon Member States and regional organizations to continue to facilitate United Nations access to and dialogue with non-State armed groups with a view to ending and preventing grave violations of children's rights, including through mainstreaming child protection concerns in ceasefire and peace negotiations and within implementation mechanisms.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative calls upon the Member States that are the focus of the Children, Not Soldiers campaign to redouble their efforts and intensify their collaboration with the United Nations and other child protection actors towards compliance with their commitments. In that regard, she calls upon donors to provide adequate and sustained funding for the implementation of action plans.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- The elaboration of the post-2015 development agenda provides an additional opportunity to reflect on expertise and lessons learned from decades of reintegration programmes. The Special Representative is convinced that best practices in respect of reintegration should be included in the new development agenda as an essential aspect of community-building in post-conflict societies.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- Partnerships between concerned Governments, donor countries, the United Nations and civil society must encompass all phases of post-conflict intervention, from recovery to peacebuilding and development. The reintegration needs of children separated from armed forces or groups should be increasingly reflected in peacebuilding strategies with a view to making children and youth programming a foundation for durable peace.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 87
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative takes note with appreciation of the attention paid by the special procedures mandate holders to including child-protection concerns in their work. She encourages the mandate holders to continue to take into account the challenges faced by children, during their missions and in their reports and recommendations, insofar as they are relevant to their respective mandates, and to bring those concerns to her attention.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 85
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative encourages the Human Rights Council, when considering or adopting resolutions on country-specific situations or thematic issues, to include recommendations on or references to the 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
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- States should begin to accord priority to reporting on the implementation of the relevant recommendations by the Security Council Working Group in the universal periodic review process, 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
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- Given the resource implications and reporting requirements that ratification and implementation entail, the Special Representative encourages initiatives by one or more members that have already ratified the Optional Protocol, as well as by regional and intergovernmental organizations, to provide guidance and technical assistance to those Member States willing to ratify.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- [Children’s access to health care in times of armed conflict]: Armed conflict has a dramatic impact on children’s lives. The wounds are not only physical, but also psychological, emotional and social. Being a victim of violence, living in constant fear, and experiencing extreme hardship, such as lack of shelter and medical treatment, can cause severe physical and mental suffering with devastating long-term consequences.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- The confirmation of the conviction of former Liberian president Charles Taylor on 26 September 2013 by the Appeal Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone sent a clear message to leaders across the world that no one is immune from justice. The former president was convicted to 50 years in prison on 11 counts of war crimes, including the conscription, enlistment and use of child soldiers.
- 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
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- The engagement by the United Nations in favour of strong rule of law at the international level is also essential to addressing global accountability challenges. While the primary responsibility to ensure accountability for grave violations committed against children rests with Member States, the work of international criminal tribunals and courts is particularly important to strengthen law enforcement and protection against right violations at the international level.
- 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
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative welcomes alternative strategies, such as mobile courts, to support access to justice in remote areas, to tackle impunity and to provide redress for victims of grave violations in the aftermath of conflict. Mobile courts have been used effectively in several countries such as the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone and Timor-Leste.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- Furthermore, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, which was created in 2010 and is composed of a number of United Nations agencies and civil society organizations, has spearheaded a process, in close consultation with military experts, child-protection actors, education specialists, and international humanitarian and human rights lawyers, to devise guidelines for protecting schools from use by armed forces and armed groups, known as the Lucens Guidelines.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 102
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative welcomes the draft Lucens guidelines to protect schools from being used by armed forces and groups for military purposes. She calls upon Member States to lead the way in supporting that process and in incorporating those principles into their national legislation and military guidance.
- 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
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 98
- Paragraph text
- The detention and prosecution of children, including for acts committed while associated with armed groups, should at all times remain a measure of last resort. The Special Representative calls upon Member States to seek alternatives to prosecution and detention for children, consistent with international juvenile justice standards.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 89
- Paragraph text
- Investigations, prosecutions and trials of adult perpetrators of grave violations against children have remained extremely rare overall, however. Ending impunity for grave violations is a crucial element in enforcing compliance by parties with international obligations to protect children. The weak capacity of justice systems in countries affected by conflict requires specific support to ensure institutional responses to the needs of children affected by armed 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
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 85
- Paragraph text
- Ceasefire arrangements and peace agreements should include explicit demands for the immediate cessation of the recruitment and use of children, as well as the swift and orderly release, return and reintegration of children associated with armed actors. In view of the elevated number of child victims of mines and unexploded ordnance, parties should commit to refraining from any further use of those weapons and should swiftly undertake and facilitate efforts to eliminate explosive remnants of war.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- Any peace agreement should explicitly recognize that children's lives have been affected by the armed conflict, in particular through forced recruitment, displacement and sexual and gender-based violence. At a minimum, parties to the conflict should commit to immediately stopping and protecting children from all violations, including their recruitment and use, killing and maiming, rape and sexual violation.
- 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
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 82
- Paragraph text
- Only minimal references to children's rights and needs have been incorporated in recent peace agreements, however, and the mainstreaming of children's issues in peace processes has not yet been translated into a systematic practice. While each conflict poses specific challenges for children, there are core principles that should guide peacemaking efforts and be referenced in peace agreements when appropriate.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- The concerted effort by both the General Assembly, through its resolution 64/290 on the right to education in emergencies, and the Security Council, through its resolution 1998 (2011) on attacks on schools and hospitals, has put children's access to education and health care in times of armed conflict firmly on the international agenda.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- Children constitute the majority of the population in many conflict and post-conflict societies. Conflict destroys social capital and disrupts the development of children and youth, thus acting as a powerful factor of exclusion. Once a conflict has ceased, the lack of educational and socioeconomic opportunities can fuel a legacy of violence and contribute to a relapse into conflict.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- A growing body of reporting also contributes to an enhanced understanding of the multiple indirect adverse effects of drone strikes on children. Boys and girls have been the victims of drone strikes on schools, funeral processions and other community gatherings. Drone attacks have also led to weakening of the social fabric and of community protection mechanisms.
- 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
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- In many countries children are arrested and detained without due process or legal safeguards, including under antiterrorism laws, either because they are perceived as a threat to national security or for acts allegedly committed while associated with armed groups. Children are also captured in the course of military operations and held in formal or informal detention facilities without any legal basis, sometimes incommunicado and for prolonged periods of time.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- The reporting period was marked by the escalation of the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic and by the conflict and military intervention in northern Mali, as well as by renewed instability in the Central African Republic. Children have also been severely affected in the many protracted conflict situations in which they continue to be victims of grave violations, including their recruitment and use by armed forces and groups.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- In some post-conflict situations, where the root causes of conflict have remained unaddressed, cyclic relapses into violence have occurred, reversing important gains for children and exposing them to the risk of rerecruitment. This illustrates the need to enhance the mainstreaming of child protection concerns into national peacebuilding priorities and plans, including in resource allocation processes.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- [Empowering children through education, skills and livelihood opportunities]: In many contexts, joining armed forces or groups is a deliberate choice for children who otherwise lack opportunities and a sense of purpose in life. It is unlikely that children will want to leave an armed group or refrain from rejoining unless the reasons why they originally volunteered have been addressed.
- 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
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- Given the complex set of factors influencing child recruitment, prevention strategies, to be successful, require a holistic approach. Broadly, three approaches to prevention can be identified: effective legal prevention mechanisms at the national level, strengthening community protection mechanisms at the local level and providing children with alternatives to mobilization.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative encourages Member States to continue to support the mainstreaming of child protection in United Nations activities, both in field missions and at Headquarters, and to facilitate the authorization and timely deployment of child protection advisers in peacekeeping operations and special political missions, 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative reiterates her call for States to sign, ratify and/or accede to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, and in so doing, to establish 18 years as the minimum age for voluntary recruitment into their 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
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 71b
- Paragraph text
- [With regard to the prevention of the recruitment and use of children, the Special Representative calls upon relevant Member States:] To develop prevention strategies, including through the provision of formal and/or informal education services to children and young people, in addition to the establishment of job-creation and income-generation programmes;
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 71a
- Paragraph text
- [With regard to the prevention of the recruitment and use of children, the Special Representative calls upon relevant Member States:] To ensure enforcement of legislation prohibiting child recruitment and to strengthen community-based child protection mechanisms as a critical measure to prevent child recruitment;
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 69c
- 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:] Ensuring that those using explosive weapons in contravention of international law are held accountable.
- 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 added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 69b
- 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:] Supporting the collection of data on the impact of explosive weapons on children, including by collecting and sharing such information with the United Nations;
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- In addition, the Special Representative encourages further engagement on the children and armed conflict agenda by other regional organizations with a view to developing awareness of and political commitment to the agenda, in addition to, where relevant, appropriate policy and operational guidance.
- 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 added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative, encouraged by the continuing efforts of regional organizations to develop measures to ensure the mainstreaming of child protection concerns in activities related to conflict prevention, mediation and peace support operations, calls upon these regional organizations to fully implement the guidance developed.
- 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 added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- [Empowering children through education, skills and livelihood opportunities]: Ensuring children’s access to education is itself a powerful means of reducing the risk of joining armed forces or groups in conflict-affected countries or fragile situations. Research has suggested that, in some contexts, the higher the level of education received, the less likely a child is to mobilize voluntarily. If children attend school, they are less likely to join armed forces or groups because they have other alternatives. In contrast, a lack of access to education leads many young people to see military training as their only opportunity to provide for themselves and their families. In situations of armed conflict, when the protective function of schools is most required, schools often become targets for attacks. The use of schools for military purposes equally reduces the likelihood of children attending school. All stakeholders must therefore ensure that schools are protected. Measures that field-based practitioners in conflict settings have used to prevent schools from being attacked include physical protection, community involvement in protection of schools, alternative delivery of education, negotiations with stakeholders to make schools zones of peace, restrictions on the military and political use of schools, and advocacy initiatives.
- 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
- Youth
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- Lastly, the Special Representative urges all special procedures mandate holders, during their missions and in their reports and recommendations, to take into account the challenges faced by children insofar as they are relevant to their respective mandates, and to bring those concerns to her attention.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- The concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on reports submitted by States parties under the Optional Protocol to the Convention should also be taken into consideration by the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review when reviewing a State submission under the review process.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- Since ratification and the implementation processes of the Optional Protocol place a clear burden on the resources of those States willing to ratify the instrument, leadership by one or more countries that have already ratified is encouraged, to provide guidance and other forms of assistance.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- States are encouraged to establish 18 years as the minimum age for voluntary recruitment into armed forces when depositing their binding declaration upon ratification of the Optional Protocol. Those States that have ratified but not adopted what is known as the “straight-18 position” are urged to reconsider their declarations and to raise the minimum age to 18 years.
- 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
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- States parties should also establish mechanisms to identify children who have been or may have been recruited or used in hostilities, and provide such children with the necessary assistance, including psychological and psychological rehabilitation and social integration, and prohibit the export of arms to countries where children are being recruited or used in hostilities.
- 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
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- [Explosive weapons: an emerging concern]: An emerging concern is the use of explosive weapons by Governments and non-State actors, especially in populated areas, which has a devastating impact on civilians, including children. A particular cause for concern has been the use of heavy explosive weapons that can have wide-area effects, such as multiple-launch rockets, high-explosive artillery and mortars, car bombs and other improvised explosive devices.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- [Empowering children through education, skills and livelihood opportunities]: In many contexts, joining armed forces or groups is a deliberate choice for children who otherwise lack opportunities and a sense of purpose in life. It is unlikely that children will want to leave an armed group or refrain from rejoining unless the reasons why they originally volunteered have been addressed.
- 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
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- [Development, dissemination and enforcement of the law]: Measures to foster the dissemination of the law are also critical for prevention. These may include the creation of child protection units in the military, which have played an important role in some countries. 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
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- [Reparations for children and the restoration of children’s rights]: Reparations are intended to acknowledge the suffering of victims and harm inflicted upon them, and to provide compensation, restitution and redress for violations, with the aim of returning victims to their previous condition to the maximum extent possible. The principles underlying reparations can be found in the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law (2005), which were adopted by the General Assembly in resolution 60/147. According to the Basic Principles and Guidelines, States must, as required under international law, ensure that their domestic law is consistent with their international legal obligations by making available adequate, effective, prompt and appropriate remedies to victims, including reparations, defining them as restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition. Reparations can take various forms and may be individual, collective and/or community-based. The effectiveness of any form of reparations is limited when the objective is only to return victims to the situation that existed before the violations, without addressing underlying gender inequalities and pre-existing discriminatory practices.
- 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
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative encourages Member States to continue to support the mainstreaming of child protection in United Nations activities, both in field missions and at Headquarters, and to facilitate the timely deployment of child protection advisers in peacekeeping and peacebuilding, as appropriate, as well as the authorization of adequate resources for this purpose.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative calls upon Member States to end impunity and to prosecute and punish those who commit grave violations against children during armed conflict. The international community should support Member States whenever appropriate by developing their capacity to deal with issues of justice during conflict situations.
- 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 added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative reiterates her call for States 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 to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in 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
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- Cognizant of the primary responsibility of States in the protection of children, the Special Representative urges Member States to strengthen policies and practices that ensure prevention of violation and abuse and stands ready to facilitate the sharing of best practices between Member States in that regard.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- With significant challenges remaining to the protection of children affected by conflict, advocacy is critical in developing awareness and instigating behaviour change with a view to ultimately ending grave violations against children in conflict. The Special Representative’s advocacy efforts will continue to highlight key issues of concern with a view to creating greater political and donor support for Governments and operational partners working on the protection of children affected by 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
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Efforts to end violations and abuses against children during conflict must stem from a thorough understanding of the structural causes of conflict and the circumstances that give rise to these violations and abuses. Poverty, discrimination, environmental degradation, social and economic marginalization and inequity are some of the factors that create the conditions for children to be associated with armed forces or groups, forcibly or voluntarily.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Humanitarian
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Secondly, the reintegration of children formerly associated with armed forces and groups often involves a repatriation component, where the child, operating alongside the armed force or group on foreign soil, returns to his or her country of origin for reintegration into civilian life. In such cases, close contact and coordination between national authorities and child protection partners is essential.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Ultimately, ensuring that security institutions uphold and practice child protection is a long-term endeavour, requiring dedicated and focused efforts on the part of national actors: the Government, legislative bodies, the judiciary and civil society. It is through a partnership between national actors, with international support, that child protection can be mainstreamed into the security sector.
- 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
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Awareness-raising and training on child protection is critical to strengthening accountability and respect for human rights within the security forces. Such training must be administered to all actors in the security sector and should cover the international and national normative framework and its application, as well as the care and treatment of children in conflict with the law.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Given the often forced nature of their association with armed groups, and considering their age, children should be treated primarily as victims, not as perpetrators. Emphasis should be placed on prosecuting individuals based on the concept of command responsibility. States should also prosecute adult recruiters and commanders not only for the crime of child recruitment, but also for other crimes they may have forced children to commit.
- 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 added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- In some situations, States place children in administrative detention, rather than charging them with a criminal offence and bringing them before a court. These children are often detained for long periods without being granted access to a lawyer and without other legal safeguards being applied. Evidence abounds that, when deprived of their liberty, children are particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses, including degrading and inhuman treatment and/or acts tantamount to torture.
- 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
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Of growing concern is the use of children — sometimes unbeknownst to them — to carry or wear explosives. The reporting period has seen a steady increase in the number of girls and boys being used by armed groups for such purposes. These children, sometimes as young as eight, are often unaware of the actions or consequences of the acts they are instigated to commit. Such acts often lead to their own death and the killing of civilians, including other children.
- 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
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- Finally, the Special Representative urges all special procedures mandate holders to continue to take into account during their missions the challenges faced by children, as well as in their reports and recommendations insofar as they pertain to their respective mandates, and to bring those concerns to the attention of the Special Representative.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- The concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on reports submitted by State parties under the Optional Protocol to the Convention should also be taken into consideration by the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review when reviewing a State submissions under the review process.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- In the light of the fact that ratification and the implementation processes of the Optional Protocol place a clear burden on the resources of certain States willing to ratify the instrument, leadership by one or more countries that have already ratified is encouraged, to provide guidance and other forms of assistance.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- States are encouraged to establish 18 years as the minimum age for voluntary recruitment into armed forces when depositing their binding declaration upon ratification of the Optional Protocol. States that have ratified but not adopted the “straight-18 position” are urged to reconsider their declarations and to raise the minimum age to 18 years.
- 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
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- In some cases, such as in the Sudan and the Philippines, the implementation of action plans has been delayed owing to lack of funding. In places such as the Central African Republic, the Philippines, Darfur and South Sudan, children are associated with armed groups having close links to the local community, which complicates their formal release.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Dialogue between the United Nations and non-State armed groups for the development of action plans has been delayed in some cases for a variety of reasons, including lack of access to armed groups and of political will, fragmentation within armed groups or the inability to identify and hold groups accountable for violations committed. Countries affected by these constraints include Afghanistan, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Philippines, Somalia, the Sudan and Yemen.
- 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
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Despite the progress made, however, significant challenges in addressing grave violations against children remain. In several countries, such as in the Central African Republic, Somalia and the Sudan, access constraints for security reasons hamper the systematic monitoring and reporting of grave violations. In addition, information gathering is challenged by underreporting of grave violations, particularly in the case of sexual violence.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- In view of continued concerns regarding the detention of children, Member States are urged to ensure that such measures are in line with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice, and emphasis should be placed on alternatives to institutionalization of children and on non-judicial and restorative processes. Child protection actors should also have access to any children detained by multinational forces.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- Member States are urged to ensure that child protection aspects are also explicitly reflected in relevant peacebuilding mandates and in the work of the Peacebuilding Commission through its country configurations, and that adequate provision is made for child protection expertise in peacebuilding missions.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- The General Assembly, particularly in the context of the work of the Fifth Committee, the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions and the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, should continue to support adequate budgetary provision for the deployment of child protection advisors to United Nations peacekeeping and political missions to ensure effective implementation of resolutions and mandates on child protection.
- 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 added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- Member States are urged to continue to include child protection as a priority in the mandates of United Nations peacekeeping operations and political missions, and furthermore to ensure that key child protection responsibilities are specified as overall mission success criteria and performance benchmarks for which heads of mission are directly accountable.
- 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 added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- Given the primacy of protecting children, Member States are urged to facilitate as necessary dialogue with all parties to a conflict for the exclusive purpose of eliciting concrete child protection commitments and action plans to address grave violations. Such dialogue is not intended to prejudge the legal status of non-state parties, nor does it confer legitimacy upon them.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- To address the scourge of sexual violence in conflict, Member States are strongly encouraged to prepare and implement, with the support of the United Nations, comprehensive national strategies on sexual violence that address accountability of perpetrators and programmatic response and services for survivors. Donors are urged to ensure that adequate funding is allocated to such initiatives.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- Recalling the recommendations of the 10-year strategic review of the Machel study, as presented to the General Assembly in the Report of the Special Representative (A/62/228), Member States, United Nations agencies, funds and programmes and NGOs are urged to continue to reinforce efforts to ensure timely implementation of the range of protection and programmatic measures outlined in the recommendation.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- In negotiation terms, the universal moral consensus on the protection of children should be viewed as a comparative advantage, a common point of agreement around which parties can be brought to the negotiating table, and a goodwill prerequisite for broader negotiations. It is imperative that children are not made to wait until peace is settled. Parties should be required to make child protection commitments at all stages of peace processes, whether a ceasefire or peace agreement is close or not.
- 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 added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- Other specific issues that should be reflected as integral provisions of peace agreements themselves may include terms for child disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, care of internally displaced children, participation of children in transitional justice frameworks, and specific attention and resources for children in recovery and reconstruction phases.
- 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
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- The key principles also address the issue of the appropriate form of accountability for alleged child perpetrators, and alternatives to judicial proceedings for children. They highlight the issue that children may simultaneously be victims, witnesses and alleged perpetrators of violations, but stress that they must be viewed primarily as victims in all circumstances.
- 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
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- The key principles consist of overarching considerations for children in transitional justice processes as a whole, as well as specific precepts as related to judicial mechanisms, truth commissions and truth-seeking mechanisms, local, traditional and restorative justice processes, reparations for children and institutional reform.
- 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
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- The imperative of child participation in transitional justice has gained both credence and clarity in past years. The importance and potential of transitional justice for children is evident. At the same time, it is more widely recognized that their views and experience provide unique and critical contributions to these processes and to national reconciliation.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- It should be noted that this is consistent with General Assembly resolution 64/146 on the rights of the child, which urges State and non-state actors to end grave violations against children by taking time-bound and concrete protection measures. This presupposes a possibility of dialogue between parties to conflict and protection actors to establish the modalities and verification of such measures.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- Even as it is understood that sanctions are a measure of last resort, it is evident that the viability of the children and armed conflict agenda in which Member States have invested so much over the past years depends on the imposition of such measures against those who continue to flout international law and standards 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
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- First and foremost, this requires commitment to action at the national level, through local legal and judicial infrastructure and on the basis of national legislation. In addition, such action should extend equally to Government functionaries or high-ranking members of armed forces where evidence of violations exists.
- 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
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Those who continue to commit grave child rights violations do so in part because they see that there are few, if any, personal consequences for abusing children. This perception, which is reinforced by the continued lack of direct action against perpetrators, must be redressed. Essentially, the cost of committing grave violations against children must be made prohibitive in terms of the personal consequences for perpetrators.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Such an examination of the premises for child disarmament, demobilization and reintegration could be undertaken in the context of the Paris Principles and Guidelines on Children associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups, which provide guidance on the basis of lessons learned over the past 10 years. The Paris Principles also call, as appropriate, for thorough needs assessments and review and reformulation of reintegration programmes through broad consultation of all relevant stakeholders.
- 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 added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Such considerations beg the question of whether current disarmament, demobilization and reintegration approaches and programmes are adequate and reflective of the variety of contexts in which children are being recruited and used or the range of their experiences. Another question is whether reintegration programmes are flexible or adaptable enough to address an increasingly broad range of scenarios for children in conflict situations.
- 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 added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- The Office of the Special Representative continues to focus on this issue as a mandate priority, and in this regard is preparing a working paper stressing the particular vulnerabilities of displaced children and the responsibilities of Governments and other stakeholders in providing them with adequate and timely protection and services.
- 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 added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Girls remain the main victims of sexual violence in armed conflict. However, there are increasing reports of sexual abuse committed against boys. This phenomenon is still not adequately understood, and is yet to be comprehensively addressed in advocacy, monitoring, reporting and response. Knowledge about sexual violence against boys continues to be thin, in part because boys are more reluctant to speak out about sexual violence and there is inherently a bias against questioning boys about such abuse.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- It is imperative that schools and other educational facilities be considered as zones of peace for children - safe havens even in contexts of conflict and instability. The concept of schools as zones of peace should extend also to school instruction and curricula, with emphasis on peace education and fostering cultures of tolerance. There are examples in numerous contexts of educational institutions being hotbeds for radicalization and recruitment of children, a trend that must be countered.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Attacks against schools and hospitals have been designated as one of six grave violations that are now systematically recorded under the Secretary-General's monitoring and reporting mechanism on grave violations against children in armed conflict. However, such attacks are still underreported and there remains a lack of knowledge concerning the context of attacks, the perpetrators and their specific motivations, and other factors that need to be understood in order to address the problem.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Another positive development is the recent creation of the interdisciplinary Global Coalition for Protecting Education from Attack, comprising United Nations organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and researchers. The Coalition will focus on the prevention of attacks on education, effective response, enhanced monitoring and reporting, increased accountability and development of stronger international norms.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- A marked characteristic of the changing nature of conflict is deliberate attacks against and destruction of educational infrastructure, including the targeting of schoolchildren and teachers. This is illustrated by data which indicate that over one third of the 72 million out-of-school children of primary school age reside in low-income countries affected by conflict.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Children being detained by multinational forces is also a concern that must be addressed by Member States. In such cases, access by child protection actors to all facilities, including high-security sites, is necessary for ensuring that procedures of detention and due process for children are in line with international standards. Beyond the responsibility and imperative to protect children, this represents a critical issue in respect of the credibility of international and multinational forces.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Detention of children should be in line with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice, which include specific protection with regard to the age of the child, access granted to child protection partners, appropriate legal counsel and provision of psychosocial support and activities. The treatment of children must be based on the objective of their future reintegration into society.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Detention of children for alleged association with armed groups or other threats to security remains a significant concern. This includes the use of administrative detention in several conflict scenarios. An unknown number of children have been captured, arrested and detained by security and law enforcement forces in contravention of international standards for juvenile justice.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- Member States should continue to insist that parties listed in the annexes to the Secretary-General’s report for the recruitment and use of children, killing and maiming of children, and/or rape and other sexual violence against children, in contravention of applicable international law, prepare and implement concrete time-bound action plans to halt those violations and abuses, and to take 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)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- All special procedures mandate holders are urged to continue to take into account during their missions the challenges faced by children, as well as in their reports and recommendations, insofar as they are relevant to their respective mandates, and to bring those concerns to the attention of the Special Representative.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- Concluding observations made by the Committee on the Rights of the Child on reports submitted by State parties under the Optional Protocol to the Convention should also be taken into consideration by the Working Group on the UPR when reviewing a State submission under the UPR process.
- 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
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- During the universal periodic review process, States are urged to systematically include in their recommendations to the State under review, specific references to any information from the monitoring and reporting mechanism on grave violations against children established in accordance with Security Council resolution 1612 (2005), as well as 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
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- In light of the fact that ratification and the implementation processes of the Optional Protocol place a clear resource burden on some States which are willing to ratify the instrument, leadership by one or more countries which have already ratified is encouraged, to provide both financial and technical assistance.
- 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
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- [Vulnerabilities and risks faced by children who are internally displaced during armed conflict – addressing their rights]: The Special Representative therefore, continues to raise the key protection concerns for children displaced as a result of conflict, and to advocate for the rights and guarantees that should be accorded to every internally displaced child. These rights and guarantees were outlined in her reports to the General Assembly and Human Rights Council last year. Since then, the Office of the Special Representative has embarked, in consultation with the Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNICEF, and non-governmental organization (NGO) partners, on producing a working paper drawing attention to the particular vulnerabilities and risks faced by children who are internally displaced in armed conflict, as well as to the responsibilities of governments and all other authorities to provide internally displaced children with the protection that they require, and to which they have a right. The objective of the working paper is to guide and support advocacy efforts, especially in relation to governments, as they bear primary responsibility for protecting, assisting and securing the rights of 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- The Office of the Special Representative contributed to the development of NATO policies and guidelines on children and armed conflict, including the "standard operating procedure on reporting and information-sharing in support of children and armed conflict", which was adopted in September 2016 and identifies the role of NATO in support of the United Nations in protecting children affected by armed conflict. In addition, staff of the Office of the Special Representative attended the NATO-United Nations staff talks held in March.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative encourages national and international partners to focus on developing national capacity for the establishment of community structures to protect children, economic stabilization and the creation of livelihood opportunities, including youth-oriented employment strategies and programmes. Coordinated and holistic interventions are required to build effective and accountable institutions that provide people, in particular children and young people, with education, security, justice and jobs.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- The challenges and concerns outlined herein are not new. While the joint efforts of Member States, the United Nations system and international partners have contributed to mitigating the impact of armed conflict on children, much remains to be done. The Special Representative has made it a priority to encourage Member States to renew their political engagement, which is crucial in translating international and national child protection standards and legislation into concrete gains for children 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
- Children
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- Nevertheless, children continue to bear the brunt of today's conflicts. Violations of children's rights occur daily in new and deepening crises, often on a large scale. The challenges of delivering humanitarian assistance to children affected by conflict are often exacerbated by the difficulty of reaching populations displaced as a result of insecurity across different regions. Similarly, the cross-border recruitment of children has become a common trait in many conflict situations, deepening the protection crisis.
- 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
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Children become associated with armed forces and groups for various reasons. In some situations, they are forcibly recruited or abducted by armed elements, or coerced and intimidated into joining them. Recruitment of children also takes place in the context of poverty, discrimination, revenge and loyalty to an ethnic, religious or tribal group. Often, insecurity and displacement propel children, especially those who have become separated from their families, to join an armed group for protection and survival.
- 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
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- The use of explosive weapons by armed forces and groups often results in the commission of violations against children, including the injury, maiming and killing of children, the recruitment of children as suicide and victim bombers, the damaging and/or destruction of civilian installations such as schools and hospitals, and the denial of humanitarian access, for example through the planting of landmines. They also cause long-lasting harm by damaging children’s emotional stability, education and future opportunities.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- Explosive weapons, defined as weapons that cause injury, death or damage by projecting explosive blast, and often fragmentation, from the detonation of an explosive device, have a devastating impact on civilians, including children, especially when used in highly populated areas. Such weapons, which include air-dropped bombs, grenades, landmines, improvised explosive devices and mortars, tend to have effects that users cannot foresee or control accurately and therefore carry a great risk of being indiscriminate in their impact.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative urges Member States to ensure that their engagement in hostilities and responses to all threats to peace and security, including in efforts to counter violent extremism, are conducted in full compliance with international humanitarian law, human rights law and refugee law. She also calls upon all parties to conflict to refrain from using explosive weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas, and to consider making a commitment to this effect.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative calls upon Member States to consider alternatives to the deprivation of liberty of children for their alleged or actual association with armed groups or as part of counter-terrorism measures. She calls upon Member States to treat children associated with armed groups primarily as victims and to ensure that the deprivation of liberty, for any purpose whatsoever, should be 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)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2015, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- The indoctrination of children by extremist groups poses new challenges with regard to their protection and psychosocial rehabilitation and reintegration. The Special Representative encourages the Human Rights Council to make use of its mechanisms to highlight and address the need for appropriate measures to rehabilitate those children, in compliance with the principle of the best interest of the child and respecting the child's primary status as a victim.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- Noting the importance of early consideration and long-term planning to the process of reintegrating and rehabilitating children affected by armed conflict, which lies at the heart of the security-development nexus, the Special Representative calls for the inclusion of the issue in the peacebuilding, recovery and development agenda of international agencies and bilateral donors and its adequate reflection in the formulation of sustainable development goals.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 99
- Paragraph text
- Mindful of the severe effects that explosive weapons, including small arms and light weapons, have on children in armed conflict, the Special Representative urges all Member States to sign, ratify and swiftly implement the provisions of the Arms Trade Treaty. In particular, Member States are urged to ensure that the impact on children of arms transfers is systematically assessed and that child protection concerns are duly taken into account, in accordance with the Arms Trade Treaty.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- International and national courts should continue to investigate, prosecute and sentence perpetrators of the crime of recruitment and use of children. 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 Court’s legal interpretations of the terms “conscription and enlistment of children” and “using them to participate actively 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 66
- 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 (see annexes I and II), in contravention of applicable international law, prepare and implement concrete time-bound action plans to halt those violations and abuses and to take 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)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- The General Assembly has recognized that attacks upon medical and health personnel result in the loss of life and human suffering, weaken the ability of health systems to deliver essential life-saving services and produce setbacks for health development. Numerous attacks on medical facilities, including aerial bombardment, have heightened concerns about the protection of health care in conflict in recent months. However, hospitals, doctors, nurses, ambulances and patients have long suffered from acts that challenge the most basic principles of international humanitarian law.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- In the context of her mandate, the Special Representative has continued to engage with mediators, special envoys and regional organizations to integrate the protection of children into peacemaking initiatives on a case-by-case basis, trying to ensure that all those who can influence and have access to parties in a conflict do not overlook issues related to conflict-affected children. This has implied reaching out to and holding regular meetings with special representatives and special envoys to find mutually reinforcing ways to cooperate.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2014, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- [Children’s access to education in times of armed conflict]: The Special Representative emphasizes the need to further coordinate efforts to restore schooling for children and rebuild education systems. She highlights the need to support countries affected by emergencies, including host countries, in order to ensure education for all, with a view to accommodating internally displaced persons and refugees in existing schools, by the provision of additional resources and innovative self-learning solutions to improve the access to quality education for every child in all 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
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 97
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative calls upon Member States, regional organizations and any other actors involved in peace processes to systematically mainstream children protection concerns by including specific child protection expertise in mediation teams and by integrating child protection provisions in ceasefire arrangements, political settlements, peace agreements and relevant implementation mechanisms. In this regard, she also encourages United Nations partners to work together to develop technical guidance.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- In line with her initiative to end the recruitment and use of children by government armed forces in conflict by 2016, the Special Representative calls upon the Member States concerned to intensify their collaboration with the United Nations and other child protection actors and share best practices. In this regard, she calls upon donors to provide adequate and sustained funding for the implementation of action plans. She also calls upon those Member States that have not yet signed an action plan with the United Nations to do so without delay.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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 added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2012, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- [Prevention of child recruitment]: Children become associated with armed forces and groups for various reasons. In some situations, they are forcibly recruited or abducted by armed elements, or coerced and intimidated into joining them. Recruitment of children also takes place in the context of poverty, discrimination, revenge and loyalty to an ethnic, religious or tribal group. Often, insecurity and displacement propel children, especially those who have become separated from their families, to voluntarily join an armed group for protection and survival.
- 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
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2011, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Studies suggest that there is a strong correlation between a disproportionately large youth population and civil strife. While demographics alone do not instigate conflict, systematically engaging and targeting young people as the beneficiaries of development programmes, particularly in countries with a youth bulge, could mitigate the risk. The need to promote youth employment and the development of skills among young people during peacetime and in post-conflict periods must be an important component of reconstruction and development strategies.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Youth
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Beyond the destruction of educational facilities through deliberate targeting or as collateral damage during armed confrontation, attacks against education also present other faces. For instance, there are reports of the use of acid and gas on girl students on their way to or at school, as well as shootings and suicide bombings in school premises. In some contexts, schools are a prime recruiting ground of children by armed groups. Elsewhere, school buildings are used as training centres or as military bases, turning them into high-value military targets.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2013, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Sexual violence remains widespread in many conflict situations, affecting both girls and boys. Although underreported, sexual violence and the forced marriage of girls to members of armed groups continued to be a pervasive threat.
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- As the end of the first UPR cycle is approaching, States should begin paying particular attention to the implementation of relevant recommendations by the Working Group on the UPR, 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
- 2010
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2010, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- These explicit expressions of commitment by the Security Council to take measures against perpetrators represent a credible threat of action that has been the basis for negotiation with many parties to conflict for commitments and action plans to address the grave violations for which they have been cited. The lack of action against some of the most persistent and egregious violators over the years is increasingly conspicuous, however, and reflects on the overall credibility of the United Nations agenda for children and armed conflict and on Member States and the Council itself.
- 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 added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative has continued to work with regional organizations that have a mandate on conflict-related matters. In particular, engagement with NATO was ongoing, with a view to deepening the partnership on the issue of children and armed conflict and supporting the ongoing mainstreaming efforts. In January 2016, the Special Representative met in Brussels with the incoming Assistant Secretary-General for Operations and the Deputy Secretary-General to discuss ways to further strengthen the protection of children in NATO-led operations. She also briefed the Operations Policy Committee and underscored the responsibility and role of NATO in protecting children in armed conflict. During her visit to Afghanistan in February 2016, the Special Representative met with the Commander of the NATO Resolute Support Mission and the NATO Senior Civilian Representative to voice concerns about rising child casualties and to advocate for the appointment of an adviser on children and armed conflict, within the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan. The position was filled 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- The Special Representative continued to strengthen her partnership with the European Union, which is a key interlocutor that engages in human rights dialogue and capacity-building with many of the countries on the children and armed conflict agenda. In January she addressed the European Parliament Subcommittee on Security and Defence at an interactive session in which views and information were exchanged on the impact of armed conflict on children, the challenges of reintegration, and the challenges for Common Security and Defence Policy missions when they face issues 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2017, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- In the same vein, the Office of the Special Representative has sustained its efforts to improve the principles of protection for children deprived of liberty in situations of armed conflict. In November, in Geneva, the Special Representative attended the twenty-fifth anniversary of the creation of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and emphasized the importance of focusing on children in efforts to end arbitrary detention. The Office of the Special Representative also worked closely with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime throughout the reporting period, including by providing child protection expertise at two workshops with government officials on the issue of children recruited and used by violent extremist groups, which were held in Amman and Dakar. The Office of the Special Representative also took part in an event in association with the steering group for the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (Paris Principles), at Wilton Park, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, on protecting children from extreme violence, which focused on the treatment of those who have been recruited and used. The outcomes of that conference will be used to prepare for an event for the tenth anniversary of the Paris Principles, which will be held in Paris in February 2017. Lastly, the Special Representative also continued to contribute to the initial phase of the in-depth global study on children deprived of liberty, in line with General Assembly resolution 69/157, and took part in an event in November in Geneva with the independent expert and lead author of the global study, Manfred Nowak.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph