UN envoy calls on Security Council to address plight of children trapped in armed conflicts

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, has underscored the need for Security Council to “come together” on the current plight of children affected by armed conflicts across the globe.

Recalling that 2019 marks 20 years since the 15-member Council first passed a resolution on children and armed conflict, and the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, she said the open debate, which comes on the heels of the release of the Secretary-General's annual report on the issue earlier this week,  “provides a milestone” to take stock of our collective efforts to date.

“It is vital that this Council redoubles its efforts to ensure that all parties abide by the principals of distinction, proportionality and military necessity,” Ms. Gamba told the Security Council, while urging the conflict’s parties to issue “specific command orders that address reducing child casualties”.

Noting that unexploded ordinates, improvised explosive devices and landmines are “a real preoccupation” for her office, the Special Representative said “quick wins” could be achieved if explosive remnants of war (ERW) were cleared up when peace agreements were made.

Saying that rape and other forms of sexual violence are “significantly under reported”, Ms Gamba cited the fear of stigma and retaliation and a lack of survivors’ services and witnesses protection as discouraging children from coming forward.

“Unfortunately, this violation has proved difficult to address”, she lamented, advocating for “greater accountability” and “adapted responsive care services” to make significant progress.

Moreover, she said, too many children continued to be detained as a result of conflict.

“Children exposed to alarming levels of violence should not be further ostracized once released from armed groups and armed forces”, she upheld. “We must allow these children to be considered as what they are: victims of a conflict”.

She asked the Council to work for humanitarian access in resolutions and bilateral relations, explaining that “we can strain every sinew at the highest level to prevent violations, but we also need to be able to respond quickly to violations when they occur”.

Additionally, Ms Gamba underscored the need for more dialogue and engagement.

“We cannot afford to lose children once they are released and we cannot afford to make them wait their turn for reintegration assistance”, she said, flagging the need for real reintegration of boys and girls globally.

She implored the Council’s support to engage with conflict parties to end and prevent violations and to ensure sufficient pressure to make commitments mean something.

“And, most of all, we need your support to ensure that there is the requisite child protection capacity to give children affected by conflict all the support they need,” concluded the Special Representative.

In her remarks, Henrietta Fore, Executive Director the UN Children’s Fund, spotlighted the stark figures from the report, pointing to the 24,000 violations against conflict-affected children documented in 2018. Half of these cases involve the killing and maiming of children, she said, adding: “Those are just the verified incidents; we must do better.”

She also expressed deep distress over the continued rampant use of explosive weapons and their impact on children, who account for more than two thirds of all civilians killed and maimed by these weapons. “Ten years after the Council adopted resolution 1882 (2009), the facts tell us that we have miles to go to end grave violations against children in armed conflict,” she said.

“But they do not tell the whole story; there is so much we can do to come to the aid of children at risk.”

While stressing that governments are responsible for preventing the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict, she said UNICEF was supporting related projects, including an age-verification workshop with the armed forces of Sudan.

Authorities must also exercise maximum restraint in preventing the excessive use of military force against people engaging in peaceful protest.

UNICEF remained especially concerned about the mental health, physical security and basic rights of children associated with armed groups.

“Tens of thousands of these children are languishing in camps, detention centres and orphanages in Syria, Iraq and other countries”, she maintained. “They are shunned by their communities because of perceived or actual links with groups designated as terrorists”.

When children leave these groups, after years of harrowing experiences, they should receive protection and humanitarian assistance. But instead, they are ostracized, rejected and locked up, Ms Fore said.

Boys and girls often join armed groups under extreme duress, coercion, fear or manipulation – or simply as a matter of survival. Evidence suggests that they are rarely driven by ideology.

“Rather than being detained, they should be reintegrated into society with a holistic approach that addresses their complex needs”, Ms. Fore stressed. “UNICEF calls on all Member States to reintegrate children associated with armed groups into society and to support holistic, evidence-based reintegration programming”.

“Protecting the lives and futures of children affected by armed conflict is not just the right thing to do, it is in our collective self-interest,” Ms. Fore emphasized. “They are the adults and the leaders of tomorrow. Let us do more to protect vulnerable children. Our global future may depend on it.”