After nearly six months of political dilly-dallying, the United Nations Security Council has taken the first ”major” step to protect children in armed conflicts — but has stopped short of penalising member states and rebel groups guilty of recruiting and abusing them.
The 15-member council unanimously voted this week on a series of measures, including the establishment of ”a comprehensive monitoring and reporting mechanism”, aimed at preventing the use of child soldiers, the abduction of children, attacks against schools and hospitals, and the denial of humanitarian access to children.
But still, says Jo Becker, advocacy director of the children’s rights division at Human Rights Watch, ”We are disappointed that the council has not yet acted to impose targeted measures such as arms bans against governments and groups that are well known to recruit and use child soldiers.”
Among the proposed targeted measures before the council were: travel restrictions on government and rebel leaders guilty of recruiting child soldiers; imposition of arms embargoes; a ban on military assistance; restrictions on the flow of financial resources; and the exclusion of government and insurgent leaders from any governance structures and amnesty provisions.
These measures were first discussed by the council during an open debate in February. But since there was a division of opinion — particularly among the United States, China, Britain, France and Russia — the resolution adopted this week skirted the issue of sanctions.
Olara Otunnu, the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, described the adoption of the resolution as ”truly a historical development”.
Under the new mechanism, he explained, UN-led task forces will be established in phases in conflict-affected countries, primarily to monitor the conduct of all parties, and to transmit regular reports to a central task force based at UN headquarters in New York. ”These reports will serve as triggers for action against the offending parties,” he added.
Otunnu said the council’s special Working Group, consisting of all 15 members, will review reports and action plans, and ”consider targeted measures against offending parties, where insufficient or no progress has been made”. Such measures, he said, might include travel restrictions on leaders, and their exclusion from government structures and amnesty provisions; a ban on military assistance; and restriction on the flow of financial resources to the parties concerned.
In the past decade, about two million children have been killed in armed conflicts, while six million have been disabled or injured, according to the UN. More than a quarter of a million child soldiers are being abused and exploited in various situations of armed conflict worldwide. — IPS