Mainstreaming the issue of children and armed conflict

Mainstreaming the issue of children and armed conflict in United Nations system-wide activities and within United Nations entities is a central strategy to ensure the practical application of standards and norms for the protection of children. Significant progress has been made, particularly in the peace and security sector The General Assembly and the Security Council have led the way in enabling more concerted action by the United Nations system as a whole on children affected by armed conflict.

The General Assembly has consistently emphasized the issue of children and armed conflict since the release of the study by Graca Machel in 1996 on the impact of armed conflict on children. In direct response to key recommendations in the study, the Assembly mandated, through resolution 51/77 on the rights of the child, the appointment of a Special Representative on the impact of armed conflict on children as the United Nations system focal point on the issue, to foster international cooperation and ensure a more concerted and coordinated response to the issue of children and armed conflict. The Assembly has consistently renewed the mandate of the Special Representative since 1997, thereby acting as the principal enabler of a concerted United Nations children and armed conflict agenda. The annual omnibus resolution on the rights of the child of the General Assembly has included a specific section on children and armed conflict since 1997.

Through seven resolutions since 1999, the Security Council has increasingly operationalized its engagement on children in situations of armed conflict, including by mandating the Secretary-General to list parties to conflict who commit grave violations against children, instituting a mechanism to monitor and report on such violations, and establishing a dedicated Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, consisting of all members of the Council, to review information emanating from the monitoring mechanism and to recommend remedial measures to the Council.

The Department of Peacekeeping Operations has significantly expanded the incorporation of children's issues into peacekeeping operations, including child rights and protection in training for peacekeepers and the deployment of child protection expertise in peacekeeping missions. On 1 June 2009, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, jointly with the Department of Field Support, adopted the child protection policy directive of 1 June 2009 on mainstreaming the protection, rights and well-being of children affected by armed conflict within United Nations peacekeeping operations. The policy further institutionalizes the role and responsibility of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations to protect children pursuant to Security Council resolutions.

Member States have called on all relevant United Nations entities to take specific measures to ensure the systematic mainstreaming of children and armed conflict issues within their respective institutions, offices and departments and on the ground, and to enhance, within their respective mandates, their cooperation and coordination when addressing the protection of children in armed conflict.

The field presences of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and its deployment of human rights monitors to peacekeeping missions is an important contribution to the monitoring and reporting of violations against children. OHCHR also continues to encourage the mainstreaming of child rights issues into the work of human rights mechanisms, including the recent universal periodic review of the Human Rights Council, and treaty bodies such as the Committee on the Rights of the Child, as well as special procedures. Since the entry into force in 2002 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the number of ratifications by Member States has increased to 128 countries.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has played a major role in drawing attention to the needs and acute vulnerabilities of refugee and internally displaced children. UNHCR has recently developed and rolled out an age, gender and diversity mainstreaming strategy, which includes provisions for mainstreaming the protection and rights of children into UNHCR programmes and prevention and response measures. Child-specific indicators, such as on child recruitment, are now included in the UNHCR standards and indicators reporting tools.

The International Labour Organization (ILO), primarily through its International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, works to facilitate the socio-economic reintegration of former child soldiers, as well as the prevention of the recruitment of children.ILO is currently co-chairing the United Nations sub-group on reintegration, which is responsible for addressing the reintegration needs of children formerly associated with armed forces and groups. In 2008, ILO allocated additional human and financial resources to develop methods and tools to address the specific violation of children involved in the worst forms of child labour in conflict and post-conflict situations.

The Department of Political Affairs has developed, with the Office of the Special Representative, specific guidance on child protection for United Nations mediators, which has been included in its "UN Peacemaker" database. The Department has also recently revised its operational guidance note on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration to integrate the consideration of children and armed conflict issues that facilitate or impede peace processes, and identified the release of children as a factor that promotes confidence between parties to conflict in its guidance on confidence-building measures. The Department's newly established United Nations mediation focal point system also seeks to ensure that children and armed conflict issues are taken into account early in the strategic thinking and planning stages of a peace process.

Other United Nations entities with an important role to play in the protection of children affected by armed conflict include the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), UNFPA, the Office for Disarmament Affairs and the Peacebuilding Commission. These entities should also continue to reinforce their efforts to mainstream concerns relating to children and armed conflict into their policies, priorities and programmes.