Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
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Summary The present report is divided into two parts. Part one gives an overview of critical themes relating to children and armed conflict and highlights significant developments over the reporting period. It emphasizes the role of field visits of the Special Representative as a key element of her advocacy strategy and outlines the main findings of missions to the Sudan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Middle East, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. The report also lists commitments made by parties to conflict during the course of those field visits, stressing the need for timely and systematic follow-up to ensure their practical implementation. Part one concludes that Member States should apply concrete and targeted measures against recalcitrant violators, particularly where they have refused to enter into dialogue or where such dialogue has failed to yield tangible protection for children. Part two of the report presents the findings of a strategic review of the study by Graça Machel entitled “Impact of armed conflict on children” (see A/51/306 and Add.1), which marked the 10-year anniversary of that groundbreaking report. In view of the scope of that report, the strategic review was co-convened with the United Nations Children’s Fund, with which a special strategic review secretariat was established.a The strategic review report was prepared with an inter-agency advisory group and featured a multi-stakeholder process involving United Nations system partners, Member States, non-governmental organizations and other representatives of civil society, as well as children themselves. The Special Representative presents part two of the report on behalf of the co-convenors as well as the multi-stakeholder partnership. __________________ aIt should be noted that work continues on a comprehensive report on the findings of the strategic review process, to be published in 2008. |
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*A/62/150.
Part one
I. Introduction
1. The present report is submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 51/77, in which the Assembly established the mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and requested the submission of an annual report on the situation of children affected by armed conflict. The Assembly has since extended the mandate of the Special Representative three times, most recently by its resolution 60/231. This is the tenth report submitted to the Assembly on children and armed conflict.
2. Part one of the present report focuses on some of the major themes and developments relating to children and armed conflict during the reporting period. A number of significant developments are highlighted in the fight to end impunity through the application of international standards for the protection of children, as well as tangible results of political-level child protection dialogue. Part one outlines progress on mainstreaming the subject of children and armed conflict in the work of the United Nations, particularly in the peace and security sector and United Nations peacekeeping. It also focuses on the field visits of the Special Representative and resultant commitments made by parties to conflict to address child rights violations.
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V. Visits of the Special Representative to situations of concern
Context and objectives of the missions
25. Since assuming my role as Special Representative in February 2006, I have committed myself to undertaking field visits as a central element of my advocacy strategy to bring high-level attention to the plight and circumstances of children affected by armed conflict.
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28. In 2007, I have visited the following areas where there are situations of concern: the Sudan (January 2007), the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi (March 2007), Lebanon and Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories (April 2007) and Myanmar (June 2007).
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Critical themes stressed during the visits
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Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories
46. In Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, I also chose to spend most of my time interacting with the children. As in Lebanon, I noted that they were playful and resilient, but I was disturbed by their expressions of fear, anxiety, anger, revenge and hopelessness. I met with the Foreign Minister and other high-level Israeli officials, and while recognizing their legitimate security concerns, I expressed my deep reservations about the barrier erected to separate the West Bank from Israel and pointed out its humanitarian consequences for children’s health, education and right to freedom of movement. I also called for the release of customs and tax revenues due to the Palestinian Authority for health and education expenditures. I raised the issue of detained Palestinian children and urged that a different approach be taken to children found responsible for minor offences. I noted that there were approximately 400 children in detention, and my conversations with some of them indicated that they were extremely hard and bitter after the experience, thus feeding the cycle of violence. While meeting with the Palestinian authorities, I expressed my concerns about the use of children for political and armed violence and about the need to engage with UNICEF to devise a plan of action to prevent the use of children in such violence.
47. During my visit, the following commitments were made:
(a) President Abbas and Foreign Minister Abu Amr committed to reviving among Palestinian groups the code of conduct by which children are not to be involved in political violence;
(b) They expressed their willingness to devise a plan of action with UNICEF to prevent the use of children in such violence;
(c) Both the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli Government indicated that they were ready to review school curricula to prevent incitement to violence and hatred, and to explore ways of reviving the tripartite commission to ensure cooperation in this field, including the integration of peace education.
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Part two
II. Changing characteristics of armed conflict and consequences for children
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25. Forced displacement uproots children and youths at a time when their lives most need stability. During flight and displacement, children can become separated from their families, further exposing them to exploitation and abuse. Analysis undertaken for this review found that in 2006, an estimated 18.1 million children were among populations living with the effects of displacement; within that group, there were an estimated 5.8 million refugee children and 8.8 million internally displaced children.20
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20Figures here result from an assessment of a combination of data from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, the United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
VI. Looking ahead: a platform of recommendations
102. The most effective way of protecting children’s rights is to prevent conflict and promote peace. To that end, the present review proposes a platform of recommendations, and encourages that their implementation be reviewed within five years.
A. Achieving universal implementation of international norms and ending impunity
Recommendation 1
103. Achieve universal adherence to international standards and norms:
(a) Member States must uphold existing international standards and operationalize those obligations through accelerated national legislative reform and systematic implementation and monitoring;
(b) Member States and the United Nations system should keep under review the need for further legal instruments and mechanisms for compliance;
(c) All Member States and other stakeholders should endorse relevant guidelines that enhance the protection of children, and ensure their systematic implementation.
Recommendation 2
104. End impunity for violations against children:
(a) Member States must ensure systematic and timely investigation and prosecution of crimes against children in the context of armed conflict, and provide assistance to victims;
(b) Member States should apply targeted measures, including sanctions where appropriate, against individuals and parties to conflict and other entities, including the private sector, within their jurisdiction that persistently commit or are complicit in the commission of grave violations against children in situations of armed conflict;
(c) For the purpose of child protection, the United Nations should, where appropriate, undertake dialogue with parties to conflict, including non-State actors, and develop systems to hold non-State actors accountable.
Recommendation 3
105. Prioritize children’s security:
(a) In all security-related matters, parties to conflict should recall that child rights are non-derogable and should ensure that children are protected from death, injury, harm, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment;
(b) All parties to conflict must ensure safe and unhindered access and delivery of humanitarian assistance to all children, in collaboration with humanitarian agencies;
(c) Member States should fulfil commitments undertaken under the Programme of Action on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons at the national, regional and global levels. They should implement existing legal instruments that address landmines and explosive remnants of war and develop a legally binding instrument on cluster munitions.
Recommendation 4
106. Strengthen monitoring and reporting:
(a) Member States, United Nations entities and NGOs must establish an inclusive system with a common framework, including agreed indicators and provisions for the disaggregation of data, for the timely collection, verification, analysis and reporting of information on all impacts on children and violations of their rights, and increase human and financial resources in this regard;
(b) Regarding Security Council resolution 1612 (2005), the capacities of the United Nations entities charged with implementation of the mechanism should be enhanced as appropriate, at both the field and the headquarters level.
Recommendation 5
107. Promote justice for children:
(a) Member States should uphold international standards, norms and guidelines on juvenile justice and ensure that their national legislation and systems treat all juveniles in a manner that takes into account their particular vulnerability, including ensuring access to legal assistance, focusing on rehabilitation, reintegration and diversion, recourse to detention only as a last resort and separation of juveniles from adults;
(b) Member States should promote the rule of law by ensuring children’s access to justice, identifying and addressing obstacles encountered by children within their legal systems;
(c) Member States should establish child-friendly mechanisms to promote the participation and protection of children in all justice systems, including transitional justice processes.
B. Caring for and protecting children in armed conflict
Recommendation 6
108. Ensure access to basic services:
(a) Member States must ensure the continuity of an integrated package of basic services including education, health, nutrition, water and sanitation, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, psychosocial support and social services; the availability of these services should be ensured and all barriers to access removed, including costs;
(b) United Nations entities, NGOs and donors should ensure that support for basic services is aligned with government systems, including when delivered by non-State providers, and is sustained through all phases of a conflict.
Recommendation 7
109. Support inclusive reintegration strategies:
(a) Stakeholders should ensure that release and reintegration strategies and activities are in line with the Paris Commitments and Principles and Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Standards; among other things, they should be inclusive of all conflict-affected girls and boys;
(b) Such strategies should ensure long-term sustainability and community-based approaches, with emphasis on education and livelihood support, including youth-oriented employment strategies and market analyses; particular attention should be given to girls, including ensuring confidential access to reintegration support to mitigate stigmatization.
Recommendation 8
110. End gender-based violence:
(a) Member States should give priority to protecting children from gender-based violence by adopting appropriate national legislation and ensuring systematic and timely investigation and prosecution of such crimes, in accordance with the wishes of survivors;
(b) All stakeholders must give particular attention to the specific needs of child survivors, as distinct from those of women, ensuring that adequate resources are invested in community-awareness campaigns and education initiatives that target boys and men;
(c) In addition to targeting perpetrator behaviour, as part of the strategy to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse, all stakeholders should prioritize livelihood support measures that focus on women and girls;
(d) Member States, especially troop-contributing countries, and the United Nations system should enhance current efforts and ensure that rigorous systems are in place to promptly investigate and address allegations of abuse, including systematic training, specialized investigation capacity, stronger sanctions against perpetrators, mechanisms for referral to child protection actors and the adoption and implementation of a comprehensive, child-friendly policy on assistance and support for victims.
C. Strengthening capacity, knowledge and partnership
Recommendation 9
111. Improve capacity and knowledge for quality care and protection of children:
To address insufficiencies in the base of expertise and programme learning, Member States and other stakeholders should invest more in building, strengthening and expanding international and national capacities, across all sectors, knowledge acquisition and management. Research should be more aligned with field needs and be documented, disseminated and applied.
Recommendation 10
112. Ensure complementarity among key actors and mainstream children and armed conflict concerns:
(a) All stakeholders, including United Nations entities, donors and NGOs, must continue to improve complementarity and cooperation across intersecting mandates. Benchmarks should be established to improve the mainstreaming of children and armed conflict concerns in the policies, priorities and programmes of United Nations entities and institutional processes;
(b) The work of the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict has demonstrated a continuous need for a high-level Special Representative to advocate for children and armed conflict. This role should strengthen that of Member States themselves, complementing United Nations-system partners such as UNICEF, peacekeeping and political missions, field leadership and other child protection actors.
Recommendation 11
113. Operationalize the engagement of regional bodies:
(a) Regional and intergovernmental bodies must more proactively address children and armed conflict concerns, including through the establishment of a high-level mechanism for advocacy, the development of action plans to implement declarations and capacity-building of child rights expertise in their secretariats;
(b) Regional intergovernmental bodies should ensure that children and armed conflict considerations are built into their peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding activities, with the support of the United Nations where necessary.
Recommendation 12
114. Ensure that funding matches children’s needs and priorities:
(a) Donors should individually and collectively ensure early, multi-year, flexible and thematic funding as called for by, inter alia, the principles of good humanitarian donorship. Donors should prioritize child-focused programming, taking into account the need for a long-term approach;
(b) In appeals for conflict-related emergencies and post-conflict reconstruction, the United Nations system, Governments and NGOs should clearly articulate child-focused objectives and disaggregated needs.
D. Preventing conflict and building peace
Recommendation 13
115. Consolidate the role of United Nations peacekeeping in child protection:
(a) The Security Council should continue to include child protection provisions in the mandates of peacekeeping operations;
(b) The Secretary-General should ensure that the need for and roles of child protection advisers are assessed during the preparation of peacekeeping mandates, ensuring effective partnerships with other key actors having protection mandates.
Recommendation 14
116. Increase the participation of and support for children and youth:
(a) Member States should make a greater commitment to address obstacles to the participation of young people in decision-making, and to actively promote their engagement in national and local-level governance, peace processes and justice, truth and reconciliation processes;
(b) Increased technical and financial investment should include focused support for youth organizations, centres and activities, secondary and tertiary education, livelihood schemes and leadership opportunities.
Recommendation 15
117. Integrate children’s rights in peacemaking, peacebuilding and preventive actions:
(a) All peacemaking and peacebuilding processes should be child-sensitive, including through specific provisions in peace agreements, the participation of children in those processes and the prioritization of resources;
(b) Member States, United Nations entities and regional intergovernmental bodies are urged to elaborate preventive approaches including, inter alia, early warning systems and community conflict resolution and reconciliation;
(c) Private sector entities must be cognizant of the impact that their activities and investments have on children in countries affected by conflict and take measures, including by regulating trade and joining corporate responsibility initiatives.
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Document symbol: A/62/228
Document Type: Annual report, Report
Document Sources: General Assembly, Secretary-General
Subject: Agenda Item, Armed conflict, Children, Protection
Publication Date: 13/08/2007
Document Type: Annual report, Report
Document Sources: General Assembly, Secretary-General
Subject: Agenda Item, Armed conflict, Children, Protection
Publication Date: 13/08/2007