By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 16 2002 (IPS)

The United Nations is for the first time ”naming and shaming” governments and armed groups that continue to deploy child soldiers in violation of international agreements, identifying 23 insurgent groups and five member states.

The United Nations is for the first time ”naming and shaming” governments and armed groups that continue to deploy child soldiers in violation of international agreements.

In a 14-page report to the U.N. Security Council, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has identified 23 insurgent groups and five member states – Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Somalia – that still recruit or use children as soldiers.

”This report breaks new ground,” U.N. Under-Secretary-General Olara Otunnu told reporters Monday.

Otunnu, U.N. special representative for children and armed conflict, said that ”for the first time in an official report to the Security Council, those who violate standards for the protection of war-affected children have been specifically named and listed”.

The 23 armed groups listed include Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), the Juba Valley Alliance and Rahanwein Resistance Army in Somalia, Mai-Mai and the Union des Patriotes Congolais in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Front pour la defense de la democratie of Burundi and several factions associated with the former Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.

Last year, the Security Council asked Annan to submit a report on child soldiers – specifically naming governments and insurgent groups – involved in conflicts currently on its agenda.

In requesting the list, Otunnu said, the Council sent a message that those who violate children’s rights during conflicts cannot continue to do so with impunity and that they will be held accountable for their actions.

”It is a bold step forward in global efforts to render unacceptable the exploitation and victimisation of children during times of conflict,” he added.

The study also lists several countries whose conflicts are not on the Security Council agenda but where armed groups continue to use child soldiers. These include some of the world’s worst offenders – Colombia and Myanmar – along with Nepal, the Philippines, Sudan, Uganda and Sri Lanka.

The study also singles out Angola, Kosovo, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau as nations where demobilisation of child soldiers is under way.

The London-based ‘Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers’ reacted positively to the report.

”We see this report as a solid foundation for acting to end this shameful practice. Now that the names of some governments and armed groups abusing children are public, the challenge to the Security Council is to demand accountability and take action to stop children being used as soldiers,” Coalition Coordinator Casey Kelso told IPS.

The coalition, which includes Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Defence for Children International, the Quaker United Nations Office and the International Save the Children Alliance, has also urged the 15-member Council to make field visits ”to the gravest situations threatening children”.

In a 195-page study released last month, the Coalition listed 72 parties to armed conflicts that continue to use children in war and more than 25 others that have recruited children in the past.

The study described Myanmar (formerly Burma) as the world’s largest single user of child soldiers, estimated at more than 70,000. ”Children as young as 11 are forcibly recruited into Myanmar’s national army,” said Kelso.

Ranking behind Myanmar is Colombia, which is estimated to have 6,000 to 14,000 child soldiers. Boys and girls as young as eight years old there are recruited into armed groups, para-militaries and militias.

In Sri Lanka, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which has been battling a separatist war in the north-east of that country, ”has a long record of using child soldiers as well as a record of breaking commitments to end their recruitment and use”, the coalition said.

Kelso said he hopes that when the Security Council discusses the report in January next year it will also focus on child soldiers in conflicts that are not on its agenda.

Jo Becker of Human Rights Watch said her organisation has documented large-scale forced recruitment of children by Burma’s national army, and believes the country may have the largest number of child soldiers in the world.

In northern Uganda, she pointed out, the abduction of children for use as soldiers by the Lord’s Resistance Army has increased dramatically in recent months. At least 10,000 children have been abducted over the last 15 years.

”We urge the Security Council to actively monitor the countries named on the Secretary-General’s list, and to demand progress or suffer possible sanctions,” Becker added.

”The Security Council should also expand its scrutiny to include all countries where children are being recruited or used in violation of international law.”

The 1990 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) set the legal minimum age for recruitment at 15.

But an ‘Optional Protocol’ to the CRC, which came into force in February this year, outlaws the involvement of children under 18 in any hostilities and sets strict standards for the recruitment anyone younger.

Excerpt:

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 16 2002 (IPS)

The United Nations is for the first time ”naming and shaming” governments and armed groups that continue to deploy child soldiers in violation of international agreements.

In a 14-page report to the U.N. Security Council, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has identified 23 insurgent groups and five member states – Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Somalia – that still recruit or use children as soldiers.

”This report breaks new ground,” U.N. Under-Secretary-General Olara Otunnu told reporters Monday.

Otunnu, U.N. special representative for children and armed conflict, said that ”for the first time in an official report to the Security Council, those who violate standards for the protection of war-affected children have been specifically named and listed”.

The 23 armed groups listed include Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), the Juba Valley Alliance and Rahanwein Resistance Army in Somalia, Mai-Mai and the Union des Patriotes Congolais in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Front pour la defense de la democratie of Burundi and several factions associated with the former Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.

Last year, the Security Council asked Annan to submit a report on child soldiers – specifically naming governments and insurgent groups – involved in conflicts currently on its agenda.

In requesting the list, Otunnu said, the Council sent a message that those who violate children’s rights during conflicts cannot continue to do so with impunity and that they will be held accountable for their actions.

”It is a bold step forward in global efforts to render unacceptable the exploitation and victimisation of children during times of conflict,” he added.

The study also lists several countries whose conflicts are not on the Security Council agenda but where armed groups continue to use child soldiers. These include some of the world’s worst offenders – Colombia and Myanmar – along with Nepal, the Philippines, Sudan, Uganda and Sri Lanka.

The study also singles out Angola, Kosovo, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau as nations where demobilisation of child soldiers is under way.

The London-based ‘Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers’ reacted positively to the report.

”We see this report as a solid foundation for acting to end this shameful practice. Now that the names of some governments and armed groups abusing children are public, the challenge to the Security Council is to demand accountability and take action to stop children being used as soldiers,” Coalition Coordinator Casey Kelso told IPS.

The coalition, which includes Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Defence for Children International, the Quaker United Nations Office and the International Save the Children Alliance, has also urged the 15-member Council to make field visits ”to the gravest situations threatening children”.

In a 195-page study released last month, the Coalition listed 72 parties to armed conflicts that continue to use children in war and more than 25 others that have recruited children in the past.

The study described Myanmar (formerly Burma) as the world’s largest single user of child soldiers, estimated at more than 70,000. ”Children as young as 11 are forcibly recruited into Myanmar’s national army,” said Kelso.

Ranking behind Myanmar is Colombia, which is estimated to have 6,000 to 14,000 child soldiers. Boys and girls as young as eight years old there are recruited into armed groups, para-militaries and militias.

In Sri Lanka, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which has been battling a separatist war in the north-east of that country, ”has a long record of using child soldiers as well as a record of breaking commitments to end their recruitment and use”, the coalition said.

Kelso said he hopes that when the Security Council discusses the report in January next year it will also focus on child soldiers in conflicts that are not on its agenda.

Jo Becker of Human Rights Watch said her organisation has documented large-scale forced recruitment of children by Burma’s national army, and believes the country may have the largest number of child soldiers in the world.

In northern Uganda, she pointed out, the abduction of children for use as soldiers by the Lord’s Resistance Army has increased dramatically in recent months. At least 10,000 children have been abducted over the last 15 years.

”We urge the Security Council to actively monitor the countries named on the Secretary-General’s list, and to demand progress or suffer possible sanctions,” Becker added.

”The Security Council should also expand its scrutiny to include all countries where children are being recruited or used in violation of international law.”

The 1990 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) set the legal minimum age for recruitment at 15. But an ‘Optional Protocol’ to the CRC, which came into force in February this year, outlaws the involvement of children under 18 in any hostilities and sets strict standards for the recruitment of those under 18.

Excerpt:

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 16 2002 (IPS)

The United Nations is for the first time “naming and shaming” governments and armed groups that continue to deploy child soldiers in violation of international agreements.

In a 14-page report to the U.N. Security Council, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has identified 23 insurgent groups and five member states – Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Somalia – that still recruit or use children as soldiers.

“This report breaks new ground,” U.N. Under-Secretary-General Olara Otunnu told reporters Monday.

Otunnu, U.N. special representative for children and armed conflict, said that “for the first time in an official report to the Security Council, those who violate standards for the protection of war-affected children have been specifically named and listed”.

The 23 armed groups listed include Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), the Juba Valley Alliance and Rahanwein Resistance Army in Somalia, Mai-Mai and the Union des Patriotes Congolais in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Front pour la defense de la democratie of Burundi and several factions associated with the former Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.

Last year, the Security Council asked Annan to submit a report on child soldiers – specifically naming governments and insurgent groups – involved in conflicts currently on its agenda.

In requesting the list, Otunnu said, the Council sent a message that those who violate children’s rights during conflicts cannot continue to do so with impunity and that they will be held accountable for their actions.

“It is a bold step forward in global efforts to render unacceptable the exploitation and victimisation of children during times of conflict,” he added.

The study also lists several countries whose conflicts are not on the Security Council agenda but where armed groups continue to use child soldiers. These include some of the world’s worst offenders – Colombia and Myanmar – along with Nepal, the Philippines, Sudan, Uganda and Sri Lanka.

The study also singles out Angola, Kosovo, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau as nations where demobilisation of child soldiers is under way.

The London-based ‘Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers’ reacted positively to the report.

“We see this report as a solid foundation for acting to end this shameful practice. Now that the names of some governments and armed groups abusing children are public, the challenge to the Security Council is to demand accountability and take action to stop children being used as soldiers,” Coalition Coordinator Casey Kelso told IPS.

The coalition, which includes Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Defence for Children International, the Quaker United Nations Office and the International Save the Children Alliance, has also urged the 15-member Council to make field visits “to the gravest situations threatening children”.

In a 195-page study released last month, the Coalition listed 72 parties to armed conflicts that continue to use children in war and more than 25 others that have recruited children in the past.

The study described Myanmar (formerly Burma) as the world’s largest single user of child soldiers, estimated at more than 70,000. “Children as young as 11 are forcibly recruited into Myanmar’s national army,” said Kelso.

Ranking behind Myanmar is Colombia, which is estimated to have 6,000 to 14,000 child soldiers. Boys and girls as young as eight years old there are recruited into armed groups, para-militaries and militias.

In Sri Lanka, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which has been battling a separatist war in the north-east of that country, “has a long record of using child soldiers as well as a record of breaking commitments to end their recruitment and use”, the coalition said.

Kelso said he hopes that when the Security Council discusses the report in January next year it will also focus on child soldiers in conflicts that are not on its agenda.

Jo Becker of Human Rights Watch said her organisation has documented large-scale forced recruitment of children by Burma’s national army, and believes the country may have the largest number of child soldiers in the world.

In northern Uganda, she pointed out, the abduction of children for use as soldiers by the Lord’s Resistance Army has increased dramatically in recent months. At least 10,000 children have been abducted over the last 15 years.

“We urge the Security Council to actively monitor the countries named on the Secretary-General’s list, and to demand progress or suffer possible sanctions,” Becker added.

“The Security Council should also expand its scrutiny to include all countries where children are being recruited or used in violation of international law.”

The 1990 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) set the legal minimum age for recruitment at 15. But an ‘Optional Protocol’ to the CRC, which came into force in February this year, outlaws the involvement of children under 18 in any hostilities and sets strict standards for the recruitment of those under 18.

Excerpt: