Statement by Chairman of Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict
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| Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York |
Statement by Chairman of Security Council Working Group
on Children and Armed Conflict
The following statement by the Chairman of the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict was issued in New York, 18 March:
At the twenty-ninth meeting of the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, held on 25 February 2011, the Working Group agreed, in connection with the consideration of the report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (document S/2010/369), and subject to and consistent with applicable international law and Security Council resolutions on children and armed conflict, including Security Council resolutions 1612 (2005) and 1882 (2009), to address messages to all the parties to the armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in particular the Forces armées de la République démocratique du Congo (FARDC), former Congrès national pour la défense du peuple (CNDP), Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR), Forces de résistance patriotique en Ituri (FRPI), Front des nationalistes et intégrationnistes (FNI), Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), various Mai Mai groups and Coalition des patriotes résistants congolais (PARECO), as mentioned in the report of the Secretary-General, through public statements by its Chairman on behalf of the Working Group:
(a) Calling their attention to the fact that the Security Council has received a fourth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (S/2010/369).
(b) Recalling the Working Group’s strong condemnation of the recruitment and use of children by armed groups, in violation of applicable international law, and all other violations and abuses committed against children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and expressing deep concern about the fact that parties to the conflict continue to perpetrate violations and abuses against children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
(c) Welcoming the final report of the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo dated 29 November 2010 (S/2010/596), and expressing concern regarding the Group’s findings of direct and command responsibility for the recruitment and use of children by the leaders of Congolese armed groups as well as two military commanders from FARDC.
(d) Recalling the Working Group’s readiness to communicate to the Security Council pertinent information with a view to assisting the Council in the imposition of targeted measures on persistent perpetrators.
(e) Recalling also that Security Council resolution 1952 (2010) renewed until 30 November 2011 the financial and travel measures imposed by resolution 1807 (2008), which apply to individuals and, as appropriate, entities, as designated by the Committee, and which include, inter alia:
i. Political and military leaders operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and recruiting or using children in armed conflicts in violation of applicable international law;
ii. Individuals operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and committing serious violations of international law involving the targeting of children or women in situations of armed conflict, including killing and maiming, sexual violence, abduction and forced displacement.
(f) Further recalling that, on 13 August 2010, the Committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 (2004) concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo updated its sanctions list to include the charges of recruitment and use of children against nine individuals[1] already designated on the Committee’s List of Individuals and Entities Subject to the Measures Imposed by Paragraphs 13 and 15 of Security Council Resolution 1596 (2005), as Renewed by Paragraph 3 of Resolution 1952 (2010).
(g) Further stressing that, on 1 December 2010, the Committee added four individuals to its sanctions list[2], one of whom was designated for holding direct and command responsibility for child recruitment and for maintaining children within troops under his command[3].
(h) Urging parties to the conflict to end the recruitment and use of children in accordance with applicable international law and to release all children within their ranks in a manner that allows effective confirmation by the United Nations country-level task force on monitoring and reporting.
(i) Emphasizing the Council’s expectation that when the Government adopts an action plan, all groups which are integrated into FARDC come into immediate compliance with said action plan, in line with Security Council resolutions 1539 (2004), 1612 (2005) and 1882 (2009), and stressing that compliance has to be confirmed by the United Nations Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting.
(j) Urging all non-State armed groups to immediately stop the recruitment and use of children, killing and maiming of children as well as rape or sexual violence against children, and to enter into dialogue with the United Nations to prepare and implement action plans to cease these violations, in line with Security Council resolutions 1539 (2004), 1612 (2005), 1882 (2009).
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[1]http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2010/sc10018.doc.htm
For information media • not an official record