Country Visits

Field visits by the Special Representative have been a central element of her advocacy strategy to bring high-level visibility to the situation and rights of children affected by armed conflict. The Special Representative has undertaken 25 country visits: Somalia/Kenya (November 2011 and November 2010), Afghanistan (February 2011, February 2010 and June 2008), Uganda (June 2010 and June 2006), Sudan (January 2007 and November 2009), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (March 2007 and April 2009), Burundi (March 2007), Lebanon and Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories (April 2007 and February 2009), Myanmar (June 2007), Côte d'Ivoire (September 2007), Iraq (April 2008), Chad (June 2011 and May 2008), Central African Republic (November 2011 and May 2008), Nepal (December 2008 and December 2009) and Philippines (April 2011 and December 2008). The Special Representative also engaged a Special Adviser, supported by her Office, to visit Sri Lanka (November 2006 and December 2009).

November 11
Somalia		 November 11
Central African Republic		 June 11
Chad
April 11
Philippines		 January 11
Afganistan		 November 10
Somalia/Kenya		 June 10
Uganda
February 10
Afghanistan		 November 09
Sudan		 April 09
DRC		 February 09
Gaza
December 08
Philippines		 December 08
Nepal		 June 08
Afghanistan		 May 08
Chad / CAR
April 08
Iraq		 Sept 07
Côte d'Ivoire 		June 07
Myanmar		 April 07
Middle East
March 07
DRC/Burundi 		January 07
Sudan		 November 06
Sri Lanka 		June 06
Uganda

The broad objectives of those visits were:

  • to make a first-hand assessment of the situation of children so as to enhance global advocacy for protection and programme interventions on their behalf, and to meet and speak with the children themselves to get a direct sense of their experience and their needs;
  • to support and facilitate the dialogue of United Nations actors with parties to conflict to conclude action plans in order to end the recruitment and use of child soldiers and release all children associated with fighting forces and to advocate for concrete measures and elicit commitments by parties to prevent other grave violations;
  • to assess, where applicable, the implementation of Security Council resolution 1612 (2005), on children and armed conflict, including implementation of the monitoring and reporting mechanism on the six types of grave violations against children;
  • to engage in dialogue with relevant national authorities at the highest levels to gain concrete commitments to prevent and address violations, and to ascertain and highlight specific child protection measures that may have been taken by Governments;
  • to engage with NGOs and local civil society groups on protection concerns for children affected by armed conflict, and to better support their work;
  • to strengthened coordination and collaboration of United Nations partners and other stakeholders on the ground around issues related to children and armed conflict.

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