2010 NO.1 2 June 2010 SECURITY COUNCIL REPORT This report is available online and can be viewed together with Monthly Forecast Reports and Update Reports at cross-cutting REPORT www.securitycouncilreport.org Children and Armed Conflict For over ten years the impact of war on children has been a significant thematic focus for the Security Council. There is now much greater awareness of the issue and some evidence that the inclusion of child protection principles in Council decisions in specific cases is having some impact. However, the Council still encounters some resistance from some governments. And the difficulty of applying effective pressure on non-state actors who recruit child soldiers is a continuing challenge. This is our third Cross-Cutting Report on Children and Armed Conflict. It builds on two previous reports released in 2008 and 2009 which developed a groundbreaking methodology for reviewing, in a cross-cutting format, the effectiveness of Council thematic decisions on children and armed conflict decisions in individual country-specific situations. Our 2010 report details key trends over the past year and provides options for continued Council involvement. Table of Contents 1. Executive Summary examines the details of resolution 1882 1. Executive Summary and and Conclusions and the political process that led to its Conclusions .............................. 2 adoption. However, we have not tried to 2. Background and Normative This is Security Council Report’s third include resolution 1882 in our analysis of Framework ................................ 3 Cross-Cutting Report on Children the Council’s results in incorporating its 3. Key Developments at the and Armed Conflict. The first report in thematic decisions in country-specific Thematic Level .......................... 4 2008 examined relevant data from work. Resolution 1882 was adopted only 3.1 Security Council Activity 2003 to 2007 in resolutions, presidential in August 2009 and we felt it was too on Children and Armed statements, Council missions, early to expect to see the effects of this Conflict in 2009............................ 4 Secretary-General’s reports, peace resolution reflected in a statistically 3.2 Office of the Special agreements and peacekeeping man- meaningful way. Representative of the dates in order to assess the degree to Among the findings: Secretary-General for which the thematic issue of children and n There is evidence that the inclusion of Children and Armed Conflict ...... 5 armed conflict has been addressed and child protection issues has now 3.3 Application of International reflected in the mainstream of the Coun- become an established practice in Norms in 2009 ............................. 6 cil’s overall work on country-specific Council resolutions and Secretary- 4. Analysis of Council Action in situations. That report also examined the General’s reports in a number of Specific Cases .......................... 7 impact of the 2005 adoption of resolu- country-specific situations such as 4.1 Working Group on Children and tion 1612, which set up a monitoring and Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Armed Conflict ............................ 7 reporting mechanism and established Republic of the Congo (DRC) and 4.2 Statistics: Country-Specific the Security Council Working Group on Sudan. The quality of the references Decisions ................................... 10 Children and Armed Conflict. for these situations shows greater 4.3 Reports of Security Council Our 2008 report also provided a base- awareness of the key issues on Visiting Missions ........................ 14 line for our second report published in protection of children. 4.4 Progress on Dialogue, Action April 2009. The second report built on n Peacekeeping missions with child Plans, DDR, Convictions and the historical background of the issue protection advisers appear to be a National Legislation................... 14 and analysed data for 2008. It also high- successful tool for providing more 4.5 Issues Involving lighted key trends in 2008 and options detailed and relevant information on Peacekeeping ........................... 16 for the Council and the Working Group concerns about children in a situa- 5. Case Studies ...........................16 on Children and Armed Conflict during a tion of armed conflict. By contrast 5.1 Nepal ......................................... 16 period when a new resolution was start- political missions like the UN 5.2 Uganda ...................................... 19 ing to be discussed. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan 6. Council Dynamics...................22 (UNAMA) and the UN Assistance 7. Future Options ........................23 Continuing with this series of reports, Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) have been 8. UN Documents ........................24 our 2010 Cross-Cutting Report on Chil- less responsive and slower to put 9. Useful Additional Sources .....29 dren and Armed Conflict provides data child protection advisers in place 10. Annexes ..................................29 on and analysis of how successful the and the reporting on child protection 10.1 Methods of Research ................ 29 Council was in 2009 in incorporating the in these missions is less comprehen- 10.2 Background Information ........... 30 discussions, principles and norms sive. (Greater awareness and higher developed at the thematic level in its priority for children’s issues in the country-specific decisions. It also pro- Department of Peacekeeping Opera- vides an updated assessment of the tions (DPKO) than in the Department trends seen in the previous two reports. of Political Affairs (DPA) may be a A significant development in 2009 was critical factor in this regard.) the adoption of a new resolution on n The Secretary-General’s reports on children and armed conflict. This report peacekeeping missions that are also 2 Security Council Report One Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, 885 Second Avenue, 31st Floor, New York, NY 10017 T:1 212 759 9429 F:1 212 759 4038 www.securitycouncilreport.org SECURITY COUNCIL REPORT cross-cutting REPORT monitoring children and armed con- noted in our last report, has contin- Working Group reinforcing the same flict violations now generally have a ued. All six conclusions issued by the message can have considerable separate section on child protection. Working Group in 2009 were on the impact, as seen in Nepal. This is an improvement on previous Council’s formal agenda but there n There may be problems arising from years where there might have been were no recommendations for direct viewing all situations through the inclusion of some issues related to action by any president of the Council. strictly country-specific lens, as seen children but rarely a separate section. n There has been little effort to expand in the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) n In situations where references to chil- the tools used by the Working Group case which could have benefited from dren have been mainstreamed, the and little or no pressure towards a regional perspective and better quality of the references has contin- implementation in cases where the exchange of information between the ued to improve with relevant new Working Group members are resis- Council and the Working Group from details often being added. Even when tant. Some members of the Working the start. a situation has been delisted, as in the Group are still reluctant to use case of Côte d’Ivoire, good reporting stronger measures, such as targeted on children’s issues has continued. sanctions, and prefer limiting the tools 2. Background and n There continues to be progress in the that can be used even against groups Normative Framework release of child soldiers and commit- appearing on the Secretary-General’s Since 1999 the issue of children in war ment to action plans from groups “list of shame” for many years. zones has been a significant theme on involved in recruiting and using n Political sensitivities and Council the agenda of the Security Council. children in armed conflict. In 2009 the dynamics regarding country-specific Between 1999 and 2005 the Council Forces de defense et securities des issues are increasingly a factor in the adopted six resolutions, each one forces nouvelles and all four pro- Working Group’s ability to reach containing progressively more con- government militia groups in Côte agreement on its conclusions. This crete provisions to protect children. d’Ivoire were delisted from the was clearly seen in the Myanmar Resolution 1612 of July 2005 was annexes of the Secretary-General’s discussions in 2008 and in the long groundbreaking. It authorised the report. In 2010 Burundi was delisted stalemate over the Afghanistan con- establishment of a monitoring and from the Secretary-General’s clusions in 2009. reporting mechanism first specified by annexes as there are now no known n The time gap between the Working the Secretary-General in his report children associated with groups in Group considering a report and issu- (S/2005/72) to focus on six grave viola- Burundi. Having a working group, a ing conclusions is still very wide. tions against children: recruiting and monitoring and reporting mechanism n References to resolution 1882 began use of child soldiers; killing and maim- and an active special representative to be included in a number of resolu- ing of children; rape and other grave has given this issue a high profile tions after its adoption in August 2009, sexual violence against children; which has proven useful in persuad- but it was too early to see any signifi-