CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT - GUIDANCE ON PRST

UNCLAS STATE 043262 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: UNSC GG PHUM PREL SUBJECT: CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT - GUIDANCE ON PRST ¶1. (U) This is an action request. The Department instructs USUN to join consensus on the following PRST on Children and Armed Conflict scheduled to be adopted by the Security Council on April 29, 2009. ¶2. (U) Begin text: ¶1. At the 6114th meeting of the Security Council, held on 29 April 2009, in connection with the Council,s consideration of the item entitled &Children and armed conflict8, the President of the Security Council made the following statement on behalf of the Council: ¶2. The Security Council takes note with appreciation of the 8th report of the Secretary-General (S/2009/158) on children and armed conflict and of the positive developments referred to in the report, and notes the continuing challenges in the implementation of its resolution 1612 (2005) reflected therein. ¶3. The Security Council reaffirms its commitment to address the widespread impact of armed conflict on children, and its determination to ensure respect for, and the implementation of, its resolution 1612 (2005) and all its previous resolutions on children and armed conflict, as well as respect for other applicable international law related to the protection of children affected by armed conflict. ¶4. The Security Council stresses, in this regard, the importance of adopting a broad strategy of conflict prevention, which addresses the root causes of armed conflict in a comprehensive manner in order to enhance the protection of children on a long-term basis, including by promoting sustainable development, poverty eradication, national reconciliation, good governance, democracy, the rule of law and respect for and protection of human rights. ¶5. The Security Council acknowledges that the implementation of its resolution 1612 (2005) in situations listed in the annexes to the Secretary-General,s report (S/2009/158) has generated progress and invites the Secretary General, where applicable, to strengthen the efforts to bring the monitoring and reporting mechanism to its full capacity in order to allow for prompt advocacy and effective response to all violations and abuses committed against children. In this regard, the Council reiterates its request to the Secretary-General to provide additional administrative support to its Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict. ¶6. The Security Council reiterates its equally strong condemnation of the continuing recruitment and use of children in armed conflict in violation of applicable international law, killing and maiming of children, rape and other sexual violence, abductions, denial of humanitarian access to children and attacks against schools and hospitals by parties to armed conflict. The Council condemns all other violations of international law, including international humanitarian law, human rights law and refugee law, committed against children in situations of armed conflict. The Council demands that all relevant parties immediately put an end to such practices and take special measures to protect children. ¶7. The Security Council expresses deep concern that civilians, in particular children, continue to account for a considerable number of casualties resulting from killing and maiming in armed conflicts, including as a result of deliberate targeting, indiscriminate and excessive use of force, indiscriminate use of landmines and cluster munitions and use of children as human shields. ¶8. The Security Council further expresses deep concern with the high incidence and appalling levels of brutality of rape and other forms of sexual violence against children, girls and boys, committed in the context of and associated with armed conflict, including the use or commission of rape and other forms of sexual violence in some situations as a tactic of war. ¶9. The Security Council recognises the importance of including in the annexes to the Secretary-General,s reports on Children and armed conflict those parties to armed conflict that commit acts of killing and maiming of children that are prohibited under applicable international law or acts of rape and other sexual violence against children that are prohibited under applicable international law, in situations of armed conflict, and expresses its intention to continue its consideration of this issue, in order to take action within three months of this date. ¶10. The Security Council reiterates its call on parties to armed conflict listed in the annexes of the Secretary General,s report (S/2009/158) that have not already done so to prepare and implement, without further delay, concrete time-bound action plans to halt recruitment and use of children in violation of applicable international law, and to address all other violations and abuses committed against children and undertake specific commitments and measures in this regard, in close cooperation with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and the United Nations country-level task forces on monitoring and reporting. ¶11. The Security Council expresses its concern with situations where insufficient or no progress has been made by parties listed in the annexes to the Secretary-General,s reports in halting recruitment and use of children in violation of applicable international law, including through the preparation and implementation of concrete time-bound action plans, and reiterates its determination to ensure respect for its resolutions on children and armed conflict, making use of all the tools provided in its resolution 1612 (2005),including action as appropriate in accordance with paragraph 9 of its resolution 1612 (2005). ¶12. The Security Council strongly emphasizes the need for concerned Member States to take decisive and immediate action against persistent perpetrators of violations against children, and to bring to justice those responsible for the recruitment and use of children in violation of applicable international law and other violations against children through national justice systems and, where applicable, international justice mechanisms and mixed criminal courts and tribunals, with a view to ending impunity for those committing crimes against children. ¶13. &The Security Council reiterates the primary responsibility of States in providing effective protection and relief to all children affected by armed conflicts, and calls upon them to comply with their obligations under applicable international law, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocols thereto and encourages States to strengthen national measures for the prevention of violations against children in armed conflict, including recruitment and use of children and their use in hostilities in violation of applicable international law, inter alia, by enacting legislation that explicitly prohibits such recruitment and use as well as other violations and urges States that have not yet done so to consider ratifying or acceding this Convention and its Optional Protocols. ¶14. The Security Council reiterates the importance of the full, safe and unhindered access of humanitarian personnel and goods and the delivery of humanitarian assistance to all children affected by armed conflict, and stresses the importance for all, within the framework of humanitarian assistance, of upholding and respecting the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence. ¶15. The Security Council remains concerned with the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons and its effect on and their use by children in armed conflict. ¶16. The Security Council welcomes the sustained engagement of its Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict and requests it to adopt, with the administrative support of the Secretariat, timely conclusions and recommendations in line with resolution 1612 (2005). The Council encourages its Working Group to continue its review process, to enhance its ability to follow up the implementation of its recommendations and the development and implementation of action plans to halt recruitment and use of children, and to consider and react in a timely manner to information on situations of children and armed conflict, in collaboration with the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and UNICEF. It also invites its Working Group to enhance its communication with relevant Security Council Sanctions Committees, including by forwarding pertinent information. ¶17. The Security Council commends the work carried out by the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, and emphasizes the importance of her country visits in promoting collaboration between the United Nations and governments and enhancing dialogue with parties to armed conflict. ¶18. The Security Council also commends the work carried out by UNICEF as well as other relevant United Nations agencies, funds, programmes within their respective mandates, the Child Protection Advisers of United Nations peacekeeping, peacebuilding and political missions in cooperation with national Governments and relevant civil society actors. ¶19. The Security Council encourages the efforts of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in mainstreaming child protection into all peacekeeping missions, in close collaboration with the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict and UNICEF; and encourages the deployment of Child Protection Advisers to peacekeeping operations, as well as into relevant peacebuilding and political missions. ¶20. The Security Council invites the Peacebuilding Commission to continue to promote child protection in post-conflict situations under its consideration. ¶21. Given the regional dimension of some conflicts, the Security Council encourages Member States, United Nations peacekeeping, peacebuilding and political missions and United Nations Country Teams to establish appropriate strategies and coordination mechanisms for information exchange and cooperation on cross-border child protection concerns such as recruitment, release and reintegration of children. ¶22. The Security Council recognizes the important role of education in armed conflict areas, including as a means to achieve the goal of halting and preventing recruitment and re-recruitment of children in violation of applicable international law, and calls upon all parties concerned to continue to ensure that all children associated with armed forces and groups systematically have access to disarmament, demobilization and reintegration processes where they can benefit, inter alia, from education. ¶23. The Security Council also urges parties to armed conflict to refrain from actions that impede children,s access to education, in particular attacks or threats of attack on school children or teachers as such, the use of schools for military operations, and attacks on schools that are prohibited by applicable international law. ¶24. The Security Council requests the Secretary-General to submit his next report by May 2010 on the implementation of its resolutions on children and armed conflict. CLINTON