POLITICS: NGOs Push U.N. to Punish Groups Using Child Soldiers

By Haider Rizvi Reprint | | Print |

Haider Rizvi

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 15 2003 (IPS) - Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and senior United Nations officials are urging the international community to move immediately to protect millions of children involved in armed conflict around the world.

Though pleased to note that the issue is being debated in the U.N. Security Council, several NGO leaders demanded at a news conference Tuesday that the Council act against governments and armed groups that use children in armed conflicts.

In December, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan released a report that ”named and shamed” 23 insurgent groups and five countries – Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Somalia – that recruit or use children as soldiers. The report is now under discussion at the Security Council.

”There’s a need to translate words into action,” said Katherine Hunt, a member of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, a global network of NGOs. ”The Security Council has to show its interest in implementation, not just reporting.”

The Coalition said the Council must adopt a strong resolution to set out ”a clear path” for protecting children, and it is pressing the body to expand the list of the countries where children are used as soldiers.

Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Columbia must be added to the list, insists the Coalition. Though groups in those countries are known to be heavy users of children in armed conflict, the nations were excluded from the list because they were not already on the Council’s agenda.

The Coalition’s demand was backed by the executive director of the United Nations Children’s Fund, Carol Bellamy.

”Can there be a more persuasive reason to act than the anguish of these children?” she asked the 15-member Council, the U.N.’s senior decision-making body, a few hours before the debate.

”It is children who represent the succeeding generations that the U.N. was founded to save – and it’s we who have the power to halt the suffering that is endured by so many children in so many countries.”

Bellamy urged the Council to establish what she called a ”culture of accountability” by holding those who use children in armed conflicts responsible for their actions. ”Much more is required to make the protection of children an explicit priority in our efforts to build peace and resolve conflict.”

UNICEF estimates about 300,000 children across the globe are serving as child soldiers. A recent report by the Coalition lists 72 parties to armed conflicts that continue to use children in war and more than 25 others who have recruited children in the past.

Coalition leaders said they met a number of Security Council members behind closed doors on Monday, asking them to support resolutions to ensure that child protection becomes a top priority in the United Nations.

Some NGOs are lobbying member states to back a resolution that would demand an annual progress report on countries that use children in conflicts. Others suggest that imposing sanctions could be an effective tool against those who defy international opinion.

Some Security Council members appeared ready to move beyond talk.

”It is a scandal that children are used in armed conflicts,” said Jean Marc De La Sabliere, the French ambassador, who is also Council president this month. ”It is necessary to take action.”

”The Council is one of the few bodies that does not have to confine itself to helpless outrage,” added Gunter Pleuger, the German envoy, urging all countries to ratify a statute of the International Criminal Court that classifies as war crimes the conscription, enlistment or use in hostilities of children under age 15.

Pleuger said he fully supports U.N. monitoring efforts but added that they would only succeed if those who refused to cooperate face consequences. ”The Council should add bite to monitoring,” he added.

Annan reiterated the call to act against those who use child soldiers.

”Those who violate standards can no longer do so with impunity,” he warned while addressing the Council. ”It is essential that publication of the list is followed by systematic monitoring and reporting, as well as the consideration of targeted measures against those who continue to flout their international obligations.”