Trends in Killing, Maiming, Recruitment of Child Soldiers Remain at ‘Shockingly High Level’ Warns Special Representative
With cycles of conflict becoming more intense, frequent and complex, the global community must prioritize risk assessments that raise red flags about potential violence against children, senior officials told the Security Council today, as members took stock of progress made in implementing their “children in armed conflict” agenda.
Two Special Representatives of the Secretary-General, along with a young woman representing civil society, also briefed the 15-member Council about the importance of early conflict prevention and including the voices of children themselves in designing the interventions intended to protect them.
Virginia Gamba, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children in Armed Conflict, said 25 situations — including one region — are currently being monitored by the United Nations children and armed conflict agenda. Noting that trends in violations again remain “at a shockingly high level” for 2022, the year for which her office is now compiling data, she cited ongoing instances of killing, maiming, recruitment to armed conflict, abduction and the denial of humanitarian access to children around the globe. Children most at risk are those who lacked education or livelihood opportunities, or were in situations of poverty and displacement, before conflict even arrived.
Calling for more systematic risk and vulnerability assessments — including through an intersectional gender lens — she said such factors as gender stereotyping could be warnings that conflict-related sexual violence is possible. She urged investments that tackle the root causes of conflict, noting that the children and armed conflict agenda already has many robust tools to protect children from violations. Its strength has been dialogue with parties to conflict, she said, noting that since the mandate’s inception, it has seen hundreds of commitments — including 41 action plans — put in place by warring parties to better protect children. Meanwhile, 172 States parties have ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, while other agreements such as the Safe Schools Declaration have been endorsed by more than 100 countries.
Najat Maalla M’jid, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, agreed that crises and conflict amplify pre-existing social inequalities — especially for children living in poor and remote areas, those in detention or in institutional care, on streets or from minority communities, as well as migrants, refugees, stateless children and others. When children’s educational, developmental, mental health and psychosocial needs are neglected, the consequences can last a lifetime. Stressing that such trauma is not inevitable, she called for more efforts to prevent the six grave violations against children — killing and maiming, recruitment and use of children by armed groups, sexual violence, attacks against schools or hospitals, abduction and denial of humanitarian access — and their risk factors, before conflict erupts.
Underscoring that all actions to address child protection must be informed and shaped by children’s own experiences, she said children affected by conflict around the world are already taking actions that provide peer support, promote peace and prevent radicalization. In Syria and Ukraine, for example, girls have shared their stories with the world to promote peace, while in Africa and Latin America young leaders have been actively engaged in peacebuilding. Enhancing the participation of children — both boys and girls — in decision-making, as well as in developing long-term policies to address their aspirations, is fundamental to sustainable peace, she stressed.
Also briefing was Divina Maloum, a civil society representative from Cameroon, who observed that thousands of children in Africa have been forced by armed groups to serve as combatants, mine testers, messengers and cooks, with some even used as human shields. Girls and women are targeted as sex slaves for military or armed-group leaders. In response, in 2015 she created “Children for Peace”, a movement led by children working across Cameroon and other African countries. Among other things, it seeks to promote inclusive governance, greater political and economic expression for children and an increased number of children in peacebuilding. One of the movement’s projects, “Silence the Guns”, reached 5.5 million people and facilitated support for the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of 5,000 children formerly associated with armed groups, she said.
As Council members took the floor, Ecuador’s representative was among those speakers noting that, despite strides made by the international community since the inception of the children in armed conflict agenda, the situation today remains disheartening. It is critical to pinpoint the roots of conflict — such as inequality, social injustice, gender injustice and lack of opportunities — which lay the groundwork for violations against children, he said, calling for lasting solutions. Meanwhile, he agreed that children’s participation in political transitions and peace negotiations is critical — as is the case for young girls and women in Afghanistan, whose access to education and public life has once again been severely curtailed.
Albania’s representative cited troubling situations for children in Burkina Faso, Mali, Sudan, Yemen and Myanmar, among others, as well as disturbing reports of violations against children emerging from the conflict in Ukraine. His own Government has repatriated children who are nationals of Albania from hellish refugee camps in Syria and Iraq. More concrete, timebound action plans aimed at ending abuses against children should be agreed between Governments and the United Nations, he said, joining several other speakers in voicing his delegation’s support for the inclusion of violations against children as a standalone criteria for the imposition of Security Council sanctions.
The representative of Mozambique declared that “the adoption of resolution 1261 (1999) was a historic milestone” for the Council, as it formally placed the issue of children and armed conflict on the Council’s agenda. Despite the progress achieved since that time, he said much more remains to be done. While Mozambique has enshrined the rights of children in its Constitution and acceded to many relevant regional and international legal instruments, he warned that terrorist attacks in the country’s Cabo Delgado region are today the greatest challenge facing children.
The representative of the Russian Federation, noting that the issue of children is also addressed by the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council, underlined the need to uphold a clear division of labour between the United Nations different entities. On the situation in Ukraine, he said that hundreds of children have been killed in the Donbas region — with many more injured — while Ukrainian armed forces continue to destroy educational infrastructure. He also voiced concern over the situation faced by children in parts of Syria located outside Government control and urged countries to take measures to repatriate their child nationals from conflict zones.
The United States’ delegate, also addressing the situation of children in Ukraine, said the Russian Federation’s brutal full-scale invasion is having a devastating impact. Among other violations, he cited the issuance of Russian Federation passports to unaccompanied children, noting that Moscow is engaged in the relocation and deportation of Ukrainian children and, in some cases, their placement with Russian families. Turning to other specific situations, he drew attention to sexual violence suffered by children in Ethiopia during the recent conflict there, and to the plight of women and girls — many of whom endure the practice of early or forced marriage — under Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
Source: UN Security Council